ISSAQUAH – After planning and preparing since October, members of St. Joseph Parish welcomed Ukrainian war refugees — a mother and her three children — on Feb. 2.

“When they walked out, the look on their faces was unbelievable,” said Tom Raabe, a St. Joseph parishioner who helped welcome the family at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The family’s oldest son remained in Ukraine, where he is a soldier. 

The Issaquah parish is among a growing number of parishes and Catholics in the archdiocese sponsoring refugees through the Ukrainian Welcome Circle program started by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The program provides displaced families the support they need to become self-sufficient while staying in the U.S. for up to two years.

Welcome Circle volunteers at St. Joseph secured housing for the family before their arrival and are now busy helping the family members sign up for social services, enroll in school and learn about the bus system, Raabe said. The mom is looking forward to finding a job.

“She wants to do whatever it takes to earn an income,” Raabe said.

Families have already been sponsored by St. James Cathedral, Holy Family Parish in Kirkland, St. John the Baptist Parish in Covington and a Catholic group in north Seattle. Other parishes are in the process of discerning, forming or organizing Welcome Circle groups: St. Luke in Shoreline, St. Joseph in Vancouver, St. Vincent de Paul in Federal Way, St. Mary Magdalen in Everett and the South Seattle cluster of four parishes, according to Amy Nash, one of two Welcome Circle coordinators for the archdiocese’s Immigrant and Refugee Ministry office.

“Our hope is every parish sees itself as a refuge,” Nash said.

A Ukrainian family reunites in Seattle through the efforts of Welcome Circles at two parishes. A mother and two of her children arrived in September, sponsored by a group at St. James Cathedral, while another daughter arrived in January under the sponsorship of St. John the Baptist Parish in Covington. (Courtesy Amy Nash).

St. Joseph in Issaquah started laying the groundwork for its family in October when the Welcome Circle program was advertised during the parish’s ministry fair. Since then, about 10 parish families have worked together to raise money and find permanent housing for the Ukrainian family. 

“We hope to have a much larger supporting cast,” as they help meet the family’s needs and help them become self-sufficient, according to parishioner Karl Leist. 

Leist, who participated in the Welcome Circle at Holy Family in Kirkland, said parish groups are receiving help from Nash and the archdiocesan immigration office to maneuver through the process of welcoming Ukrainian families to a new life in the U.S.

“The archdiocese has really geared up when it comes to supporting these parishes in the sponsoring process,” Leist said.

“It’s a safe way and prepared way for the church to learn how to receive refugees,” Nash said. 

Waiting to welcome two Ukrainian refugees are Amy Nash, left, a Ukrainian Welcome Circle coordinator for the archdiocese’s Immigrant and Refugee Ministry office, and members of the Welcome Circles from St. John the Baptist Parish in Covington, St. James Cathedral and a north Seattle group. (Courtesy Amy Nash)

Opening their home

Verne Schweiger and his wife, Mary Syslo, parishioners at St. John the Baptist in Covington, have opened their home to Alina, a Ukrainian woman whose mother and two of her siblings arrived in Seattle last September under the sponsorship of the St. James Cathedral Welcome Circle.

Last year, Schweiger and Syslo hosted a couple from Afghanistan for more than four months.

“We always decided we’d have a room available,” Schweiger said. (Some Welcome Circles decide to host a family in a parishioner’s home, while others secure families their own housing.)

Learning English is Alina’s first goal, Schweiger said, so she will enroll in ESL courses. She is also applying for jobs and will attend a job fair specifically for immigrants. 

“She’s such a delight,” Schweiger said. “It’s a nice experience every evening having dinner together.”

A mother and her three children, refugees from Ukraine, arrive at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Feb. 2 under the sponsorship of a Ukrainian Welcome Circle group at St. John the Baptist Parish in Covington. (Courtesy Amy Nash)

At St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Federal Way, Father John Patrick DePalma, the parochial vicar, is helping organize a Welcome Circle. The effort is attracting people from all walks of life, within and outside the parish, who want to get involved, Father DePalma said — he’s heard from health care workers, educators, translators, real estate professionals and property managers. 

“It’s an opportunity to partner with the local community” and make a global difference at a local level, Father DePalma said. “It’s a perfect combination of applying everything we stand for in the church.”

Nash said she has a relationship with Hallelujah Catholic Community in Poland, which has received refugees from Ukraine and helps with transportation to their sponsor families in the U.S. At the end of a family’s two-year stay here, the Hallelujah community will help families reintegrate into Ukraine, according to Nash. 

Learn more

For more information about Welcome Circles in the Archdiocese of Seattle, click here or call Amy Nash at 206-550-1204.