SEATTLE — When Annabelle Larson moved to Seattle in 2022, she jumped at the opportunity to help launch a local chapter of Young Catholic Professionals.

“I had such a positive experience in Portland,” said Larson, who was the Portland chapter’s vice president and marketing director. Starting a Seattle chapter, she said, was “very much a Holy Spirit moment for me. It was the right place, at the right time, with the right people.”

Started in 2010, Young Catholic Professionals, also known as YCP, brings workers in their 20s and 30s together with seasoned business professionals, offering a variety of programs to foster Catholic identity, encourage community and inspire action.

Larson, who is serving as president of YCP Seattle, works for a construction company and is a member of St. Andrew Parish in Sumner. She said her experience in Portland helped her make friends, bring more faith into her daily life and become more involved with her parish.

“There’s a need for connection, a connection with other people in the same place in life,” Larson said. “It’s growing people in their faith and their work, and I think it’s fantastic.”

Larson said she found YCP was the connection between her faith being “only on Sunday” and becoming part of her daily routine.

“I feel my Christianity and Catholicism more deeply,” she said.

The chapter’s founding members are inviting young Catholic adults to join them at the YCP Seattle launch party from 7-9 p.m. March 25 at St. Bridget Parish in Seattle. The free event is a time for socializing, networking and learning more about YCP, according to Larson. Sean Magennis, chair of the national YCP board, is scheduled to speak. (Register here.)

Planning for the chapter began about a year and a half ago. Larson said Tom and Lori Carmody, members of St. Joseph Parish in Issaquah, were instrumental in starting the Seattle chapter and are serving on the local board. Other board members include Ricardo Coronado Hernandez, a member of Mary, Queen of Peace Parish in Sammamish; Angela Connelly from St. Patrick Parish in Tacoma; Terry Rossi, also from Mary, Queen of Peace; and Jeff and Molly Akers, members of St Louise Parish in Bellevue.

Members of the Young Catholic Professionals Seattle team include Annabelle Larson, second from right, who is president of the newly formed Seattle chapter. Third from left is Father Justin Ryan, vocations director for the Archdiocese of Seattle and one of the chaplains for YCP Seattle. (Courtesy YCP Seattle)

The founding team members also represent a variety of parishes in the Puget Sound area:

  • Joseph A’Hearn, St. Columban Parish, Yelm
  • Marcus Bach, St. Anthony Parish, Renton
  • Kristy Cooley and Anthony Laus, Blessed Sacrament Parish, Seattle
  • Ansel Dsouza, Prince of Peace Newman Center at the University of Washington
  • Angela Maccarrone, Holy Family Parish, Kirkland
  • Brandon Pittaway, St. Michael Parish, Snohomish
  • Anne Sweeney, St. Stephen the Martyr Parish, Renton

YCP Seattle has three chaplains: Father Justin Ryan, vocations director for the Archdiocese of Seattle; Dominican Father Chrysostom Mijinke, assistant director at the Prince of Peace Newman Center; and Father Chad Hill, parochial vicar at Christ the King Parish in Seattle. 

The Seattle chapter plans to host monthly meetings, with offerings to include networking happy hours, an executive speaker series, an executive panel discussion and a retreat. Members may be paired with mentors in the Seattle area or across the country, so YCP Seattle is welcoming older professionals to participate. Chapter dues are $3 or $7 per month. (Learn more here.)

In a video inviting young Catholics to join YCP, Father Ryan said he is often asked, “How can I live in the workplace as a Catholic and as a young person?”

“It’s quite difficult, whether you’ve moved to the Seattle area or if you grew up in the Pacific Northwest like myself,” Father Ryan said in the video on the YCP Seattle Facebook page and Instagram account.

“We’re not meant to live this Catholic life alone,” Father Ryan said.

Learn more

Visit the YCP-Seattle Facebook page or follow the chapter on Instagram: ycpseattle.