As cardinals of the Catholic Church make their way to Rome to choose the next pope, a choice over what to do with a historical church looms over Tacoma. The Church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary would need costly repairs to function again. Everyone at least agrees about that. But from there things get complicated.
A local group made an offer to purchase and run the church in 2024, but the local parish and the Archdiocese of Seattle has turned them down. Archbishop Paul Etienne decreed again in March that Holy Rosary will be relegated to “profane, but not sordid” use. That would decommission the church and make it possible to sell the property, and for a wrecking crew to take down the 104-year-old Gothic-style local landmark.
Some local Catholics have made it clear they want to stop a potential demolition. They’ve raised funds and formed a legal entity that could purchase the property. They already appealed to the Vatican once and submitted their proposal to the local parish and the Archdiocese . As they did the last time the Archdiocese made this decree, they’ve now appealed to the Vatican again…