SEATTLE — The 600 families at Assumption Parish are “a welcoming community,” said the pastor, Father Oliver Duggan, that provides outreach ministries to help their neighbors in northeast Seattle.

The parish, which celebrated its centennial Oct. 7 with Mass and a pasta dinner, organizes blood drives in the spring and fall, provides Thanksgiving baskets and has a Christmas giving tree, said Nina Stuyt, pastoral assistant for administration.

Assumption also has busy Society of St. Vincent de Paul conference that “has gotten very strong and helps a lot of people,” said lifelong parishioner Ed Wartelle.

“Most of our neighbors in need are in the Magnuson Park area,” which includes low-income housing and has residents needing assistance with rent, said Scott Pelton, president of the Assumption-St. Bridget St. Vincent de Paul Conference. (The individual parish-based conferences merged a couple of years ago).

About 30 active members respond to as many as 10 calls for assistance each week. They operate a food pantry at the parish and donate food to the Georgetown food bank operated by St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County. The Assumption-St. Bridget conference organizes monthly food drives with the parish school, which is also operated jointly by the parishes. In addition, the conference financially assists the St. Vincent de Paul group at Holy Spirit Parish in Kent, Pelton said.

Father Oliver Duggan, seen in a 2021 photo, has been pastor of Assumption Parish in Seattle since 2001. (Courtesy of Assumption Parish)

From temporary quarters to solar panels

When Bishop Edward O’Dea created Assumption Parish from territory that had been part of Blessed Sacrament Parish, he chose the Benedictine monks at St. Martin’s Abbey to serve the new parish, according to history on the parish website.

The site for the new church was chosen on May 26, 1923, and a temporary church was built in March 1924. The present church building was built in 1931, but “it’s been changed so many times,” Father Duggan said. For instance, in the 1980s, seating was reduced so the altar could be moved closer to the people.

The parish school opened in 1947 in temporary quarters; the permanent building was completed in 1949, and a convent was built for the Tacoma Dominican sisters who taught there for many years.

The area continued growing, and in 1968, St. Bridget Parish was created from part of Assumption’s parish boundaries. In 1995, both parishes starting supporting the school, now known as Assumption-St. Bridget School.

In 1973, a large gymnasium/meeting hall was completed. In the early 2000s, a new social hall and a Blessed Sacrament chapel were added.

Assumption Church in Seattle was filled for its first Communion Mass in 2022. (Courtesy of Assumption Parish Facebook)

Last summer, solar panels were installed on the church roof; the parish’s rebate from the Annual Catholic Appeal helped pay for the project, Father Duggan said. The project was inspired by a 12-year-old parishioner who wrote asking that solar panels be installed, as well as Pope Francis’ writings about care for the environment, Father Duggan said.

Benedictine priests served as pastors of Assumption until 1982, when the first diocesan priest was assigned as pastor, according to the parish history. Father Duggan arrived as pastor in 2001.

Parishioner Jan Alkire said she came to Assumption in 1975 so her twin daughters could attend the parish school and became an active parishioner. Over the years, she has been a choir member, extraordinary minister of holy Communion and helper for the RCIA program; she currently serves as a lector.

“I expect not to be consumer of parish life, I expect to be a giver,” Alkire said. “This is my spiritual family.”