North American Martyrs Parish

North American Martyrs Parish is a Roman Catholic parish in Edmonds, Washington, served by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP). The FSSP offers the Mass according to the form that was in use prior to the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Following the publication of Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum in 2007, North American Martyrs Catholic Church became the first Tridentine Mass parish in Seattle to be directly supported by the Archdiocese of Seattle since Vatican II.[3] Established as a quasi-parish, it was elevated to parish status in 2015. The parish is named after the North American Martyrs, eight Jesuit missionaries martyred in the mid-17th century.

North American Martyrs Parish
Location9924 232nd St SW
Edmonds, Washington
CountryUnited States
DenominationCatholic
TraditionTraditional Catholic
Religious orderPriestly Fraternity of Saint Peter
Membership240 families [1]
Websitenorthamericanmartyrs.org
History
StatusParish
Founded5 October 2008 (2008-10-05)
Founder(s)Fr. Gerard Saguto, FSSP [2]
Consecrated23 November 2019
Administration
DeanerySnohomish
ArchdioceseSeattle
Clergy
ArchbishopMost Rev. Paul D. Etienne
Assistant priest(s)Fr. Caleb Insco, FSSP
Pastor(s)Fr. Joseph Heffernan, FSSP

History
The Josephinum, now Christ Our Hope Parish, previously the site of Seattle's weekly Latin Mass from 2001 to 2008
St. Alphonsus Church in Ballard, Seattle, which hosted North American Martyrs Parish from 2008 to 2019

Before the arrival of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in Seattle in 2008, the traditional Catholic community in Seattle was served by Father James Reichmann, SJ, a Seattle University professor who offered a weekly Latin mass in the St. Joseph Chapel at the Josephinum in Downtown Seattle.[4] After the traditional Catholic community moved to Ballard, Christ Our Hope Parish was established at the Josephinum, focusing on inner-city outreach.[5]

On September 28, 2008, Archbishop Brunett invited the FSSP to Seattle and established a quasi-parish under the patronage of the North American Martyrs and placed the community under the leadership of Father Gerard Saguto, FSSP.[6] The following year, on the patronal feast of North American Martyrs, Archbishop Brunett visited for the first pontifical high mass celebrated in the Archdiocese of Seattle in over 40 years.[7]

From 2008 to 2019, North American Martyrs offered most Masses at St. Alphonsus Church in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, with a weekly mass at Holyrood Cemetery in Shoreline and Holy Week liturgies at the Bastyr University Chapel (formerly St. Edward Seminary) in Kenmore.

In 2015, change came to the Seattle area traditional Catholic community when Archbishop J. Peter Sartain invited the FSSP to St. Joseph Parish in Tacoma.[8] St. Joseph became the second FSSP parish in the Seattle area. Also in 2015, Fr. Saguto, the founding pastor of North American Martyrs Parish, was succeeded by Fr. Joseph Heffernan. Fr. Saguto was appointed District Superior of North America for the FSSP.[9]

On September 30, 2018, the parish celebrated its tenth anniversary with a Solemn Mass with Archbishop Sartain in attendance. During his homily, Archbishop Sartain remarked, "The Church gives us a beautiful liturgy, with fitting prayers and readings, to remind us that each of us is called to be a witness — literally a martyr, in Greek — by steadfastly holding on to our faith in Jesus in His holy Church."[10]

In July 2019, Father Reichmann passed away and days later the parish purchased the property and building of a defunct Lutheran church in Edmonds, Washington, which became its permanent home in November 2019. This is the first time in the parish's eleven-year history that it has had its own church building.[11] On November 23, 2019, Archbishop Paul D. Etienne blessed the new church.[12]

Its current pastor is Fr. Joseph Heffernan, FSSP.[13]

References
  1. "North American Martyrs". Archdiocese of Seattle. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  2. "Seattle's first parish centered on traditional Latin Mass". Seattle Times. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  3. Connelly, Joel (September 26, 2009), "Dominus vobiscum: Latin mass returns to Seattle", Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  4. "First Seattle Latin Mass". Una Voce of Western Washington. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  5. Connelly, Joel (August 27, 2010). "A Catholic "parish without boundaries" for Downtown". Seattle P-I.
  6. "+ Deo Gratias! + The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter has Come to Seattle!". Una Voce of Western Washington. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  7. "Solemn High Mass - September 25th, 2009". Church of the North American Martyrs. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  8. "Parish History". St Joseph Catholic Church. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  9. "Fr Gerard Saguto". IHM Conferences. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  10. Bruno, Michelle. "North American Martyrs celebrates 10 years as a Latin Mass parish". Northwest Catholic. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  11. LeBlanc, Brian. "North American Martyrs Parish finally gets its own church building". Northwest Catholic. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  12. "Bulletin 2019-11-17" (PDF). North American Martyrs Parish. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  13. "North American Martyrs Parish". Retrieved 3 November 2017.

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