Initial Reflections on the Quasquicentennial

This past Sunday, my parish of Holy Rosary celebrated its 125th anniversary – our Quasquicentennial. The project for this celebration was started several years ago by Dr Michael Barkley, a gentleman from the parish who deserves all credit for getting this ball rolling. His great-grandparents were in fact the first couple married at the parish, back in October of 1891.

The Noon Mass was celebrated by Most Rev. Eusebio Elizondo, M.Sp.S., Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle. Concelebrating with him were Rev. Nicholas Wichert, our Pastor, as well as former pastors Rev. Jacob Maurer and Rev. Tuan Nguyen, and two priests of Opus Sanctorum Angelorum, Rev. Wolfgang Seitz, O.R.C. and Rev. Matthew Hincks, O.R.C.

Rev. Mr. Mike Teskey served as Deacon of the Mass.

They were assisted by two MCs and 35 Altar Servers.

I arrived at about a quarter to ten in the morning, and my to-do list was blocked out in 15-minute increments until the scheduled start of the Mass at noon. Thanks to the help of a lot of volunteers, I was actually ahead of schedule for most of the time.

Of course, the Altar Servers, Fr. Wichert, Deacon Teskey, and I had done a rehearsal on Saturday morning. Over the course of the weekend I walked about 14 km, virtually all of it on the parish campus!

The Altar Servers did such a great job. Our “little army of Altar Servers” (as the Bishop referred to them) assisted the Bishop and the priests in the Sacrifice of the Mass, added dignity and solemnity to the liturgy, and most importantly led the standing-room only congregation deeper into prayer. I can’t thank them enough for their service at the altar of the Lord.

And when I say “standing-room only”, that’s not hyperbole. On paper the church seats 600, and our ushers counted 720 people in the congregation on Sunday.

The choir, led by our stalwart Director, Victoria Solenberger, was positively heavenly. We sang the proper antiphons and psalms of the Mass of Our Lady of the Rosary, as well as the Latin Mass parts (from Jubilate Deo, with the Sanctus from the Missa de Angelis).

And my goodness, was the congregational chanting of the Latin loud, even during the crazy-complicated Sanctus. Folks were equally enthusiastic in chanting the (English) Lord’s Prayer. Talk about your active participation! Thank you, Victoria and the choir!

I know that Deacon Teskey professes himself not confident in chanting, but his chanting at the Mass was strong and resonant. He sure sounded confident to me.

Francine read the second reading and did a fantastic job, especially considering the reading was changed at the last minute.

The lectors, ushers, Knights of Columbus, and other volunteers all did a great job. Thank you.

Sister Hahn, our sacristan, deserves a huge thank you for the amazing amount of work she put in on this. In addition to her sacristan duties, she decorated the church and served as our one Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion.

Following the Mass, our reception in the School Hall was positively packed. There were piles of food – and even so we ran out! We had tables with old photo books and artifacts from the history of the parish. The kids really loved the photo booth!

The folks who ran the reception were amazing – I’m starting to run out of superlatives! – especially Francine, Judy Rose, Charlene Peebles, Sheryl Blessing, and the always artistic Aileen Leija. Thank you for all of your hard work in making this happen.

It was a great parish celebration, and I really feel as though the Lord is showering His blessings down upon us at Holy Rosary. Here’s to another century!