Holy Rosary Church still at risk of demolition. Here’s where things stand now | Opinion

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.

The church is an eye-catching feature of the Tacoma skyline, and the prospect of losing it brought out strong reactions in Catholics and non-Catholics alike when the parish’s plans first came to light in 2019. Even Mayor Victoria Woodards chimed in, pledging to help in what way she can.

But the fate of the church isn’t up to local government. Historical landmark laws don’t apply to properties owned by religious organizations, and regional Catholic leadership has the authority to decide. Any arguments against those decisions are based in the Catholic Church’s canon law, the same opaque set of rules and norms clerics will follow when choosing a replacement for Pope Francis.

The local disagreement over whether Holy Rosary can or should go on as a church (and above all stay standing) is thorny. No one seems to agree on how valuable the property is. Or how extensive or costly repairs to the church would be. Or even what the process is for transferring the church to a lay organization.

It’s enough to make status updates from the Papal conclave, which are delivered through a chimney using different colors of smoke, seem straightforward.

Tacoma Catholic Jack Connelly created a legal entity, Domus Dei Porta Coeli LLC, to buy the Holy Rosary property. Working with fundraisers for Save Tacoma’s Landmark Church, he wants to purchase the property, fix up the church and eventually convert the surrounding property into a Catholic cultural center.

The church would still serve as a place of worship in this plan, but it wouldn’t have a dedicated priest or weekly services. The surrounding property could include gardens with Catholic statuary designed for contemplation.

The parish, called the Pope St. John XXIII Parish, and the Archbishop in Seattle didn’t go for it, saying the offer wasn’t workable.

Connelly believes that the Archdiocese of Seattle wants to get more money for the property by making it possible to raze the church, which Etienne’s decree does. He also thinks that strategy isn’t going to make as much money as the Catholic leadership might hope. It costs money to raze a church.

For its part, the Archdiocese has pointed to the millions of dollars it would take to restore the church. They estimate a price tag of $17 million or more. Archdiocese chief communications officer Helen McClenahan emphasized that the decision came from the parish in Tacoma, and not as a top-down order from leadership in Seattle. That decision came after engagement with the community, including Connelly’s group, and a lot of “prayer and discernment,” she added.

While the church is historic, Catholics in Tacoma are part of the present. As much as it might be a beautiful part of the skyline, it’s also supposed to serve the needs of the parish, McClenahan said, and that’s no longer possible.

Connelly disputes the Archdiocese’s stance. The $17 million price estimate includes a list of nice-to-have things that aren’t related to getting the building up to code, he said. For example, a new HVAC system would be nice, but he’s willing to put up with the archaic boiler system if it means saving the church.

Without knowing all of the many (many) details of the property’s condition and what the law requires, it’s hard to say whether Connelly and his cohorts have a viable plan. It is clear that many Tacomans want to keep the church intact. Catholics see it not only as a holy place where they’ve celebrated first communions, weddings and funerals, but as a way to attract people to their faith.

But what that would look like, and the path to making it happen, is anything but clear.

This story was originally published April 29, 2025 at 5:45 AM.