St. James celebrates 100 years

For Julie Impett, St. James Cathedral comes alive when she tells school kids the stories behind its cracks and stained-glass windows.

For Chi Nguyen, the cathedral is a place for family — where his sons were baptized and his mother's funeral service was held.

For Cindy Vasquez, the Mass at St. James calms her and provides spiritual sustenance for her week.

As St. James celebrates its 100th anniversary, the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle has come to mean many things to many people. Since its beginnings, the grand church on Seattle's First Hill has been the flagship of the Catholic Church in Western Washington and the seat of the Seattle Archbishop.

It's a place to hear music concerts or view artworks; a headquarters for ministries to the poor, the homeless, the elderly or the sick. It's become a gathering place for the community — Catholic or otherwise — during times of grief or joy.

Most of all, it's a worship space for local Catholics who come from miles around, including more than 5,000 who are regular St. James parishioners. And for some of those parishioners, including Impett, Nguyen and Vasquez, the cathedral has more personal meaning.

After a week of "battling the elements in the real world, I walk in and it's that feeling you get when you walk into the sanctuary you've created in your own home," said Vasquez, a parishioner for four years.

"It's calming. Your problems don't go away, but it's a balm that helps you deal with life. It feels like you've walked into a little piece of heaven."

Giving the building life

Impett, 72, a retired music teacher who lives on Queen Anne, began leading tours at St. James about 10 years ago.

She missed making the notes on a page of sheet music come alive for her students when the notes were played.

Now, as she takes schoolchildren on tours and tells of the cathedral's history, the building comes alive in much the same way. "They're looking at it with different eyes."

She tells them of the stained-glass windows that depict the Ten Commandments. She tells them of the founding of the cathedral and the year its dome collapsed.

In 1903, Bishop Edward O'Dea, head of the then-Diocese of Nesqually, which was headquartered in Vancouver, Wash., sought permission from Rome to move his seat to Seattle. And he announced his plans to build a new cathedral there. In 1907, the Vatican granted O'Dea's request, and St. James Cathedral opened its doors in December.

In 1916, after an especially heavy snowfall, the dome collapsed. No one was injured, but the dome was never rebuilt. Instead, it was replaced by a flat ceiling, which in 1994 was replaced by an oculus — or skylight.

But it's a smaller feature in the cathedral that Impett loves the most: the mahogany carving on the pulpit of rain falling on trees, with "Isaiah 55:10:11" etched on it.

Impett loves the idea from the biblical passage that just as the rain and snow come down from the heavens and do not return until they have watered the earth and made it fruitful, so do the words that are uttered there become fruitful in the world.

To her, it's a beautiful depiction of "you can't just hear the word of God. You have to respond to it. Do something."

A family legacy

For Chi Nguyen, of Newcastle, family and pastor bind him to the church.

In 1980 his family came to Seattle as refugees from Vietnam, and his mother later began volunteering at St. James. She died about 13 years ago, and her name is engraved on a wall of benefactors. "Even though she didn't have money to give, she gave a lot of her time" to the church, Nguyen said.

Now, his family is continuing her legacy. Nguyen and his wife teach first communion classes there and his siblings are also parishioners.

They go because of the pastor, the Very Rev. Michael Ryan, who has served there for nearly 20 years. "When you have your troubles and you talk to him, it seems like he opens up new ways to look at things," Nguyen said.

Embracing tradition

Vasquez, a 47-year-old bookkeeper from Wedgwood, was drawn to St. James a few years ago when she began delving more deeply into the Catholic faith of her childhood.

At the Catholic church she'd been attending as an adult, "it was almost like they were embarrassed by some of the traditions of the past — devotions to Mary, devotions to the saints. It felt like more of a Protestant church."

At St. James she fell in love with the more traditional liturgy.

"I need to see the Mass respected. I need to see the altar respected," she said. "Because it's God we're meeting at the altar. It is his body and blood that he's giving us. And doggone it, that's special."

But it's not only the Mass she holds dear. Sitting inside the cathedral, she said, there have been times "when I've felt so empty and so emotionally and spiritually drained that I feel numb, only to be brought out of it and be flooded with peace and joy."

Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com