This year the Archdiocese of Seattle celebrates our 175th anniversary as a Diocese. We will have our final Eucharistic celebration in St. James Cathedral on the anniversary of the establishment of the Diocese of Nesqually (renamed Seattle in 1907), May 31, 1880.
French missionaries, Fr. Francis Norbert Blanchet and Modeste Demers were the first to arrive proclaiming the Catholic faith. In 1846 Fr. Blanchet was became the Archbishop of Oregon City (later Portland) and his brother, Augustin Magloire Alexander Blanchet was appointed Bishop of Walal Walla, which was latter suppressed and became the Diocese of Nesqually.
Mother Joseph and a group of Providence Sisters from Montreal soon followed and quickly began establishing ministries, such as a school, an orphanage, and hospital, that would flourish and expand down to our time.
Thus, to celebrate this 175th anniversary, we have declared a Season of Service and seek the assistance of all our Catholic family to help us record the many volunteer hours of service leading up to our anniversary with a goal of 175,000 hours! We need your help to make this important connection between our legacy of faith and service with the living Church today. Your service hours can be what you do on your own, or in a group, including the regular volunteer and ministry you are already providing.
To help celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Archdiocese of Seattle, we’re inviting you to join Catholics
across Western Washington to volunteer together as the living Body of Christ through the Season of
Service from March to May 2025. During this time, let’s come together to volunteer 175,000 hours to
recognize our legacy of faith – and demonstrate our commitment to serving others. Learn more here.
We also have a whole toolkit of resources (Talking points, bulletin inserts, digital banners, etc.) for parishes to use to help people participate and share their hours of service to others.
Happy anniversary, Archdiocese of Seattle!
