Five Seattle parishes will see changes under archdiocese’s strategic planning effort

SEATTLE – Five parishes in the archdiocese’s South Seattle Deanery — Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Mount Virgin, St. Mary, St. Patrick and St. Therese — will see changes under strategic planning recommendations made by the deanery’s pastors and parish leaders.

“We have the opportunity to strengthen the church’s presence and work in this region, providing better pastoral care and more effectively serving the mission of Jesus Christ,” said Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Mueggenborg, who leads the archdiocese’s strategic planning committee.

In the South Seattle Deanery, 12 priests serve 11,700 registered households in 15 different parishes. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, these parishes offered 44 Masses per weekend.

After studying the deanery and the larger Catholic community, the pastors and parish leaders made recommendations to Archbishop Paul D. Etienne for ways to provide stronger pastoral support, more robust evangelization efforts and excellent Catholic education in the deanery.

The archdiocese’s structure “is less effective now than in the past,” Bishop Mueggenborg said. “Times have changed and so we too must change. Making some changes will be challenging, but will ultimately strengthen our mission effectiveness now and in the future.”

Now the strategic planning team will begin working with the five parish communities by hosting parish-wide meetings to discuss the new direction and vision for their parishes as set by the strategic planning committee. The parishioners of each parish will help determine how that vision is implemented.

The work can be difficult, Bishop Mueggenborg noted.

“People love their parish communities, and changes can be hard to accept,” he said. “I want to recognize the grief that can come with change and journey along with these parish communities.”

In March, the archdiocese announced that four Tacoma parishes will merge under the first phase of its renewed strategic planning efforts. Other deaneries across the archdiocese are at different stages of the process, either starting new rounds of strategic planning discussions or reviewing recommendations from completed research and planning work.

Bishop Mueggenborg encouraged parishioners “to actively participate in shaping the future of the church in Western Washington so that we can all share the joy and love of Christ with others.”