South Seattle Strategic Planning

The Strategic Planning process is underway in the South Seattle Deanery. The goal is to strengthen the local Catholic community and balance available resources across the archdiocese to better serve the mission of the Church.

Communication & Decrees

On July 8, 2022 Archbishop Etienne issued the following decrees and letters:

On May 27, 2022 the following letters and decrees were issued:

Archbishop Paul D. Etienne issued a decree and wrote a cover letter to Our Lady of Mount Virgin parish.

Archbishop Paul D. Etienne wrote a letter to all the parishes involved in strategic planning in the South Seattle deanery.

September 23, 2021 Archbishop Letter to South Seattle Deanery

The Process and History

While strategic planning has been underway for decades, it intensified in 2015 in South Seattle. Pastoral leaders and members of the parish communities engaged in a consultative process, with the support of an outside consultant and made recommendations to Archbishop J. Peter Sartain. These recommendations were paused when Archbishop Sartain announced his retirement.

Archbishop Paul D. Etienne inherited the recommendations and created the Strategic Planning Committee to review them, recognizing the concentration of resources in the South Seattle region, and balancing them with the need for more pastoral care in other areas of the archdiocese.

The Strategic Planning Committee reviewed the previous recommendations, explored new items, and began a larger discussion around strengthening ministries to support the mission of the Church.

Archbishop Etienne shared the recommendations with the Presbyteral Council, before asking members of the Strategic Planning Committee to begin a dialog with the parishes about the proposed directions.

Why South Seattle?

Overall, there is a concentration of parishes, ministries, and resources in the South Seattle compared to other areas of the archdiocese. In some cases, parishes are located less than 2 miles from each other, while in other parts of the archdiocese parishioners must travel 45 minutes or more to their closest parish.

Within the South Seattle deanery, no single factor determined changes for a parish. Instead, the strategic planning process includes many factors like:

Parishes with New Directions

These five parishes were given a new proposed direction in April 2021. Currently their Stakeholder groups, supported by the Archdiocese Strategic Planning team, are working through the planning process.

St. Patrick

The new proposed direction for St. Patrick is to either merge with Sacred Heart parish, where there is pastor who is fluent in American Sign Language, merge with St. Joseph parish, or divide between both parishes. St. Patrick parishioners will collaborate and provide input to the process to decide the best direction moving forward.

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St. Therese

The proposed changes affecting St. Therese are two-fold. First, St. Mary’s parish will merge with St. Therese. Then, St. Therese will be re-envisioning itself as a parish to enhance its vitality and mission effectiveness, according to the vision articulated by the Holy Father, so that it can effectively minister to the broader needs of all people living in its boundaries.

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St. Mary

The proposed direction for St. Mary parish is to merge with St. Therese parish. During this time, the parishioners of St. Mary and St. Therese parishes will participate in the planning process. They will collaborate to set the vision for the critical Food Bank outreach, which has been serving the community since 1949.

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Immaculate Conception

In partnership with the Archdiocese, Immaculate Conception will be re-envisioning itself as a parish driven by the vision articulated by our Holy Father, Pope Francis. Immaculate Conception will work to enhance its vitality and mission effectiveness, so that it may effectively minister to the surrounding community and beyond.

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Our Lady of Mount Virgin

Our Lady of Mount Virgin, which was established to serve immigrant communities, and currently serves a diverse multicultural community of Vietnamese, Chinese and Laotian parishioners, will be closed. Its Stakeholders will work with the Archdiocese to ensure parishioners will be welcomed by other parishes offering multi-cultural ministries.

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