Yes, Tacoma’s historic churches can be rescued. Let’s celebrate this success story

It seems that nothing but doom and gloom have shadowed Tacoma’s efforts to save its historic church buildings in recent years.

Most heartbreaking is the decline of century-old Holy Rosary Catholic Parish, which may never reopen after being closed in late 2018 due to safety hazards. More than $2.2 million is needed for basic repairs to reoccupy the magnificent church that overlooks Interstate 5 in Tacoma. An additional $15 million is needed to completely restore it. Last week, the Seattle archdiocese’s removal of an unsecured angel statue from the facade caused a stir during Holy Week.

Tacoma could use a success story, an Easter season ray of hope, that shows it’s still possible to preserve the city’s religious treasures.

Look no further than the corner of 9th and Market streets, on the edge of the Theater District downtown. There, Urban Grace church recently completed a remarkable interior renovation in a building just a few years younger than Holy Rosary and the nearby Pantages and Rialto theaters.

Defying the odds, Urban Grace doubled down on its bold investment in a 1925 neo-Gothic structure that the Baptist Church bequeathed to the inter-denominational congregation in 2005. The project culminated with new carpet, paint and audio-visual system, and the replacement of 850 theater-style seats in the sanctuary-auditorium.

Urban Grace leaders surprised people, perhaps even themselves, by raising $1.3 million in local pledges and national preservation grants — triple their goal when they launched a capital campaign in 2017.

“They’re really swimming against the tide,” local historian Michael Sullivan told us Monday. “And having a congregation right downtown is kind of unusual.”

Whatever formula they found, they should bottle and distribute it, because it’s nearly as precious as holy water.

Holy Rosary is just the latest classic church to wind up on the threatened list; others have fallen to the wrecking ball. In the Hilltop neighborhood, 90-year-old First United Methodist Church was demolished in 2007 to make way for hospital expansion, while 95-year-old Scottish Rite Cathedral was knocked down in 2017 for apartment units.

The secret to Urban Grace’s success: Embrace the surrounding community. Welcome everybody without regard for factors like socioeconomic status, mental health or gender identity. And let the space be used for non-church purposes 85 percent of the time.

The Rev. Ben Robinson, Urban Grace’s pastor since 2013, likes to think of the historic edifice as “a spiritual legacy we inherited” but also as “Tacoma’s living room,” open to groups ranging from the Tacoma Farmer’s Market to the Tacoma Youth Symphony. There’s plenty of practice and performance space for musicians, and a weekly breakfast for needy folks in the neighborhood.

Much of the activity has been disrupted by COVID-19. So have Sunday worship services, which are being held by remote connection until further notice. For now, the thrill of experiencing the new interior must wait.

The restoration testifies to the power of perseverance across four generations of faithful Tacomans. First Baptist Church made the hard decision to stay put in the late 1970s, when other downtown churches fled to the suburbs. “It was a beautiful choice that led to a meaningful relationship with the city and the folks in the neighborhood,” Robinson said.

But in the early 2000s, their numbers having shrunk to unsustainable levels, Baptist leaders determined that Urban Grace’s ecumenical approach offered the best chance of surviving downtown.

It couldn’t have happened without bridge builders like Willie Stewart, a community stalwart who helped desegregate First Baptist. (He and wife, Faye, who are Black, became members in 1963). Stewart stuck around at Urban Grace and remains deeply involved today, including in the fundraising drive.

There’s no question Urban Grace has certain advantages. The congregation “can afford to be scrappy and find their own way,” Sullivan said, because they aren’t beholden to an archdiocese or other parent body. Robinson points out the church’s solid bones of steel framing and poured concrete have held up relatively well.

Saving Tacoma’s time-honored sacred spaces doesn’t follow a one-size-fits-all blueprint.

But Urban Grace’s inclusivity, tenacity and sense of being caretakers of a spiritual legacy shouldn’t be underestimated.

This story was originally published April 6, 2021 at 12:00 PM.