Young adult hikes combine outdoors with Mass, adoration, connection

SEATTLE – A group of around 20 young adults ventured to the Central Cascades Aug. 17 to explore Lake Serene and Bridal Veil Falls. During the eight-mile round-trip hike, which included a 2,000-foot elevation gain, Father Justin Ryan celebrated Mass.

The young adults are part of Frassati Seattle, which organizes day hikes, overnight backpacking trips and other activities throughout the year. 

“It’s just kind of beautiful being in the open air,” said Father Ryan, who was hiking with the Frassati group for the first time. “You’re celebrating Mass on a rock.”

He noted there were a lot of people hiking on the trail that day. Father Ryan said one passerby asked, “You got some kind of baptism going on today?” On the return trip, he said he provided a blessing to a hiker who worked at St. James Cathedral and another who was a parishioner at St. Monica on Mercer Island. 

The Frassati Seattle group began in 2013 and is a ministry of the Newman Center at the University of Washington and Blessed Sacrament Parish in Seattle, both of which are operated by the Dominicans.

Father Ryan was filling in for Dominican Father Chrysostom Mijinke, who is the assistant director of the Newman Center at the University of Washington.

Father Mijinke said the day-hiking trips generally take place monthly, except for around December when trails might not be accessible. Frassati Seattle also organizes overnight backpacking trips three or four times a year. Past excursions include the Olympic Peninsula and Snow Lake. 

He said the hikes have various difficulty levels, noting a more entry-level hike took place at Baker Lake. The next excursion is a sunrise hike and Mass on Sept. 29 at Dirty Harry’s Balcony near Snoqualmie Pass. The group will meet at Blessed Sacrament at 4 a.m.

Father Mijinke said he received permission from Archbishop Paul D. Etienne to celebrate Mass and provide time for adoration during the hike. 

‘Good way to connect’

More young adult groups throughout the Archdiocese of Seattle are offering outdoor adventures, too. For example, a group from Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Bremerton spent nearly a week camping in Idaho in August. St. Michael Parish in Olympia organizes hikes, and a group from St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Federal Way planned a kayaking trip in August, but it was thwarted by rain.

Father Mijinke described such trips as low-barrier events: “It’s really easy to invite your friends to it.”

Hung Nguyen, a parishioner at Blessed Sacrament who has helped organize hikes, said a lot of people who are new to Seattle, either through a job or school, show up. 

“One of the most amazing things you can do in the Pacific Northwest is go on a hike,” Nguyen said. He explained that the hikes are a good way to connect people in community, and during a hike, people have time for conversations and make friends. 

Nguyen said he would like to see other activities, including kayaking, fishing and camping.

Father Mijinke said the hikes have attracted fallen-away Catholics as well as people who have been married outside the church and want to talk to him about convalidation or sacramental marriage. 

Will Sogge participated in the Frassati Seattle backpacking trips before entering the Dominican novitiate earlier in August. He said the excursions are a chance to have reverence for God’s creation and give thanks for it. 

“There’s something beautiful being so far out there yet being so close to Christ to celebrate that with other people,” Sogge said. “It really drives home that wherever you go, God is with you.”

And you never know who you will meet along the way.

During a hike about a year ago, Sogge said, the group encountered a passing hiker who was a Catholic and joined the group for Mass. 

The hikes also provide an opportunity to get to know a priest, talk with him and learn his vocation story. 

Father Ryan, who is the vocations director for the Archdiocese of Seattle, said one of the most important parts of vocation ministry is the one-on-one accompaniment of men and women. 

“It’s nice, too, for the priest to have this informal setting,” Father Ryan said. He noted he had a talk on the hike with someone who was a former FOCUS missionary and now a bartender, which included a conversation about discipleship in the workplace. 

Why hiking?

The Frassati hikes took place before Father Mijinke arrived at the Newman Center three years ago. He soon made them a monthly event. 

He said the hikes, as well as the young adult Mass and dinner at Blessed Sacrament Parish on Sunday evenings, are events where new people just show up.

That builds community, he said, citing the second chapter of Acts of the Apostles and the pillars of fellowship, prayer, breaking of bread and the teachings of the Apostles. 

“When there’s a robust, live church, those four qualities manifest,” he said.

Nguyen pointed to the numbers of young adults who participated in a snowshoeing excursion that took place in March. During a trip to Artist Point in the Mount Baker area, 80 young adults from the Seattle area and British Columbia participated as well as Dominican sisters serving in Bremerton and Canada. Two priests – Father Mijinke and Father Derek Lappe, pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea and Holy Trinity parishes in Bremerton — came along. 

Father Mijinke said there are efforts to expand outdoor ministry. As an example, he highlighted COR Expeditions, which is an outreach program of Wyoming Catholic College. Founded in 2016, COR seeks to share encounters with Christ through backcountry experiences and outdoor education, according to the COR Expeditions website.

“Seattle is such an outdoor culture that we could do it here,” Father Mijinke said. “We need to create community around this in Seattle because we have a hiking culture. It’s not a one-off thing for us.”