SUMNER – As a world traveler doing the Lord’s work, Father Larry Gosselin has visited beautiful places, but it’s St. Andrew Catholic Church and the Sumner valley where he grew up among the rhubarb and daffodil fields in the shadow of Mount Rainier that he fondly remembers as the church approaches its centennial celebration. 

“It’s home. My roots are embedded there. They go deep,” said the Franciscan who was baptized there and plans to be buried there. “It’s small and quaint and a wonderful place to grow up. The rich soil of the earth and the rich soil of the life that was there.

Father Gosselin treasures the area so much, he included it in his latest book, Landscapes: Ballad of a Franciscan Troubadour, and although he does not anticipate making it up from California for the celebration with Archbishop Paul D. Etienne August 22, he does hope to visit soon.

St. Andrew is where Father Gosselin said he learned reverence for the Mass and an appreciation for the Catholic faith in the first church on Kincade Avenue. As an altar server, he recalls, “my Latin was not very good,” but Father James Hamilton was patient, and the experience planted the seed for his priesthood.

Years of steady growth

According to its history, St. Andrew got its start in 1920 as a mission of Puyallup’s All Saints Parish. The first Mass was celebrated in 1921. At the time of its founding, St. Andrew included about 20 families or 100 parishioners.

In 1935 Father Rosol became the pastor of St. Andrew. He is remembered as a linguist, able to hear confessions in five languages. The parish continued to grow and expand in the 1950s, enlarging seating capacity by more than 100 and adding more Masses, a hall, and acreage on Valley Avenue for future expansion.

By the 1970s, religious education was taking off. A second story was built onto the CCD building and the parish hall was expanded.

In the 1980s, St. Andrew added a Spanish Mass and increased the parish staff to meet the needs of the 670 families. The little church was bursting. In 1998, parish leaders broke ground on the Valley Avenue site, and in 1999 Mass was first celebrated in the current 900-seat church. The property also includes a chapel, parish offices, formation buildings, the former fellowship hall, rectory, food pantry and more.

Today, approximately 1,800 families pass through its doors and participate in a host of ministries including the Emmanuel Food Pantry and support services, which serve the area.

A miracle in the making

In addition to celebrating the parish centennial, St. Andrew parishioners will be leading guided tours during an open house August 21 commemorating the completion of Blessed Charles de Foucauld Hall, named after the priest and martyr whom current pastor Father Jerry Burns calls “a simple person that just saw Christ in everything.”

In addition to acknowledging the hall’s completion, Father Burns said the parish is celebrating a “miracle.” In the final stages of construction, he said, there was a “massive failure of the roof.” Seven carpenters escaped injury and “we didn’t know if we would have finished the project.”

The hall is like a community center. It has music and meeting rooms and a full kitchen, and is set up for the parish’s large youth population to play basketball and volleyball inside. Father Burns also anticipates the parish using the space, which can accommodate 250 people, to host wedding and funeral receptions, quinceañeras and conventions.

A light into the future

Since the 1920s, St. Andrew has served generations of Sumner families and continues to draw in new Catholic families as they move into the growing community.

Father Burns would like to see St. Andrew continue to be a beacon calling people to the Church into the next 100 years. The parish installed floodlights on the church’s towering dome so it can continue to serve as a light in the valley, he said. The cupola was designed by Father Tom Belleque in the shape of Roman cross with the cross of St. Andrew superimposed. 

“We’re just going to try to evangelize by the things we say and the things we do,” Father Burns said.