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Archives and Records - Catholic Northwest History Curriculum
Lesson Plan: Our Lady Queen of Martyrs
 

Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish, Seattle
Lesson Plan XII.C2-3

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Parishes, Faith Communities and Families:  Parish Identity

Grades: 6-12
Suggested time frame: 3 50-minute periods

Introduction | Important Learnings | Student Activities/Assessments
Teacher Activities | Related Topics | Word Study | Materials and Resources
Sources  | Assessing the Reliability of Resource Materials

Introduction

The purpose of this lesson plan is to enable students to understand the importance of a faith community to its members by reviewing the history of a parish during World War II. Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish, Seattle, was established in 1925, but its origins were in the creation of a kindergarten for the Japanese community by the Maryknoll Sisters in 1920. Maryknoll, or the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, is an order specializing in missionary activity among Asian populations. Under an agreement with the diocese, the Maryknoll priests were later given responsibility for Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish. By 1928, the parish ministered to both the Japanese and Filipino Catholic communities, and by 1930, a church and school were built at 16th and Jefferson. With the United States’ entry into WWII, Queen of Martyrs reflected the tensions between Japanese and other Americans throughout the country as well as tensions between the local Filipino and Japanese communities. On February 19, 1941, Executive Order 9066 established Military Districts “from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restriction the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion.” Following EO 9066, persons of Japanese ancestry were required to leave this military district. Because of relocation, the majority of the Catholic Japanese community left Queen of Martyrs, leaving a noticeable gap in the parish life and changing its charism permanently.

Important Learnings

  • The role of the Catholic Church during wartime
  • The role of missionaries among Asian populations in the Northwest
  • The consequences of Executive Order 9066
  • The contributions of Asian and Asian American communities to the growth and development of the Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest
  • The relationship between government and religion during wartime

Student Activities/Assessments
(independent or group)

  • Discuss the message of Bishop Shaughnessy in his Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of the Pacific Northwest (published in The Catholic Northwest Progress, December 12, 1941)
  • Write a reply to Bishop Shaughnessy’s Pastoral Letter
  • Discuss the role of Maryknoll with Asians and Asian-Americans in the Pacific Northwest
  • Research and discuss Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and why she was chosen as the patron for the parish
  • Debate whether Executive Order 9066 was necessary, how it affected the Northwest, and how it changed Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish

Teacher Activities

  • Locate materials on Executive Order 9066
  • Arrange for a member of the Maryknoll community to discuss the history or charism of his/her community
  • Arrange for a former member of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish to discuss his/her experience of the parish

Related Topics

  • World War II
  • St. Peter Claver Interracial Center

Word Study

  • Displacement
  • Executive Order
  • Internment
  • Martyr
  • Military District
  • Official
  • Our Lady Queen of Martyrs
  • Pastoral Letter
  • St. Peter Claver

Materials and Resources

  • Archives of the Archdiocese of Seattle, (206) 382-4352
  • The Catholic Northwest Progress
  • Schoenberg, Wilfred P., S.J., A Chronicle of Catholic History in the Pacific Northwest 1743-1963, Gonzaga Preparatory School, 1962, entries 1782, 1876, 1953, 2027
  • Buerge, David M. & Rochester, Junius, Roots and Branches: The Religious Heritage of Washington State, Church Council of Greater Seattle, 1988
  • any Catholic encyclopedia
  • any Catholic dictionary

Sources
Electronic versions of primary sources can be downloaded in Portable Document Format (.PDF). You will need Acrobat Reader to view the files. If you do not have it installed on your computer, you can download the software from the Adobe website.

Archives of the Archdiocese of Seattle

Assessing the Reliability of Resource Materials

  • By whom was it created?
  • For whom or what was it created for?
  • Does the creator have first hand knowledge of the subject? How does this affect the data recorded?
  • Did the creator of the document have an interest in recording accurate information?
  • Is this a primary source? Secondary source?