Lakewood Parish Celebrates Golden Anniversary

January 17, 2002

By Terry McGuire

LAKEWOOD—Five decades, only four pastors.

Priests apparently are made to feel right at home at St. Frances Cabrini Parish.

"I’ve been very impressed with the warmth and hospitality of this parish community," says current pastor Father James Coyne of his 15 years as spiritual leader. "Many people have commented when they come to our parish for the first time that they’ve felt very welcomed here."

The parish and school will celebrate their 50^th anniversary on Sunday at 10 a.m. with a special Mass. Auxiliary Bishop George L. Thomas will preside, with Father Coyne concelebrating. A reception including historical photos and a video will follow. The Sisters of the Holy Names, who taught in the school from its founding in 1953 to 1986, also will be honored.

But that won’t be the end of the celebrations. Just as the parish required two years to establish its church and school a half century ago, so it will spend this year and next marking the golden anniversary.

Special events will include a Lenten mission next month led by retired Seattle Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen, and a reunion, carnival and golf tourney over the June 15-16 weekend -- with TV personality Robb Weller, a 1964 graduate of St. Frances Cabrini School, serving as master of ceremonies.

Other special programs are in the works. The celebration will conclude in November 2003 with a visit to the parish by Father Peter Smith of New York, who was accidentally blinded as an infant back in 1921 but had his eyesight restored in a miracle attributed to St. Cabrini.

Now a parish of almost 900 households, St. Frances Cabrini was a third that size when the first Mass was celebrated on Sunday, Jan. 27, 1952 after a group of Catholics led by Tom Mallon had petitioned the archbishop for a new parish for the Lakewood, Tillicum and Dupont areas.

Established from part of Visitation Parish, the new parish had land but no buildings. So founding pastor Father Andrew Squier celebrated liturgies in the gymnasium of Visitation Villa, a neighboring girls’ school operated by the Sisters of the Visitation. His rectory for the first few months was the gardener’s cottage. A year later, in March 1953, ground was broken for the church and school.

Roger Enfield, father of 12 and a charter member of the parish, worked on both buildings as a carpenter. In those days, construction sites didn’t have portable toilets, he recalled last week, so workers had to fend for themselves.

Enfield left another construction legacy when he cut his finger while hanging the facing of the office area. His bloodstain permeated the spot, and not even several coats of paint would cover it completely.

But no doubt the greatest legacy for Enfield and his wife, Rosemary, was the customary baptism of the 12^th child by Archbishop Thomas A. Connolly. Only two other families in the parish shared in that honor, Enfield said.

Today, the Enfields remain parishioners. "It’s a nice parish (with) nice people," Roger Enfield says. "We get along well."

Catherine Zarelli, a member of the parish since late 1952, also thinks highly of the community. "I like the companionships," she said. "I’ve made lots of friends, and they’ve been friends consistently over the years."

Zarelli’s late husband, E.J., along with a partner, owned the venerable Poodle Dog Restaurant in Fife for 51 years. The Zarellis -- along with Catherine’s mother, Vera Chiappetta, and another parish couple, Mario and Ruby Iafrate -- put their cooking talents to work for their parish by sponsoring the annual spaghetti dinner, the centerpiece of the parish’s big Mardi Gras celebration.

"We put on the dinners for about 25 years," Zarelli said.

In its early years, St. Frances Cabrini Parish enjoyed a steady growth. By 1968 it claimed 1,025 families and the third largest school in the archdiocese, but then it lost some parishioners to the newly-established St. John Bosco Parish.

In 1975 a parish task force headed by Anne Johnston became the first group in the state to sponsor a refugee family from Vietnam, according to parish history. They provided housing, furnishings, food and clothing to an extended family of 27.

As part of its outreach ministry today, the parish is among local churches that take turns housing homeless families through Phoenix House.

Father Squier, whom Roger Enfield remembers as an astute organizer with a good business sense, guided the parish through its first 25 years. But in a move that reportedly devastated him, he was reassigned to another parish about a year before he retired. He promised never to return to St. Frances Cabrini, said Kathy Spencer, co-director of the school’s development office, who grew up in the parish.

But in 1993, in one of the most poignant moments in parish history, the former pastor made his return during the parish’s 40^th anniversary celebration, having been invited to the event but not expected to show. As he walked into the gymnasium, the place erupted in applause. And tears flowed.

Father Squier died three years later. He was recently honored by the parish when the original church was renamed Squier Hall. The building, which will be converted into a multi-purpose facility, served as a church until 1999, when the parish dedicated its new 11,200-square-foot church.

Father Alan Marshall succeeded Father Squier, and he was succeeded in turn by Father Richard Hayatsu.

Father Coyne, after 15-and-a-half years as pastor, recently announced he’ll be leaving in July for a new assignment. But he’s happy he’ll be able to stay for the big anniversary celebrations.

In addition to the hospitality shown by parishioners, Father Coyne said he’s been impressed over the years by the parish’s multicultural diversity. "It’s wonderful to see all the different ethnic groups coming together and worshipping one Lord," he said, "and getting involved in the various ministries."

That diversity will be reflected at Sunday’s celebration when six ethnic groups will wear native dress and do the readings in English, German, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean and Spanish. Parishioners of Filipino ancestry make up the parish’s largest ethnic group.

St. Frances Cabrini also has served over the years as the parish community for military families from nearby Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base. Their presence – here one year, gone the next – continually brings new life and new ideas into the parish, Spencer said.

She added that whether one’s memories of St. Frances Cabrini Parish are good mixed with bad, everyone with past or current ties to the parish is invited to come celebrate with them during this golden anniversary.

As Father Squier has shown, "sometimes real healing" can take place, she said.