Seattle Archdiocese

Consistency has been a hallmark of this parish of 1,000 households, says the 77-year-old pastor. "There’s been no big slumps in our attendance at Mass in any way," he said.

The parish’s greatest strength, he said, is its commitment to perpetual adoration. St. Pius X was established as a perpetual adoration parish ten years ago by Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy. In the months leading up to that, however, Father Fox had his doubts they could line up enough people for a round-the-clock presence before the Blessed Sacrament. He told parishioners they’d need a commitment of 336 people to make it happen. He says today he doesn’t know why he picked that specific number. But when all the names were counted, they totaled 336.

Consistency also has been a characteristic of the pastorate. Father Fox is only St. Pius X’s third pastor, succeeding Father John Horan (who’ll participate in Sunday’s celebration) and founding pastor Father Laurence O’Larey.

Father O’Larey, a native of Leavenworth, Wash., celebrated the parish’s first two Sunday Masses on June 22, 1955, with 350 people in attendance. By year’s end, five Sunday Masses were being celebrated to accommodate the growing number of young families drawn to the area formerly known as Alderwood Manor by new housing constructed after World War II.

When the parish was founded, the community of Mountlake Terrace had been incorporated less than a year and had a history of being home to mink, chinchilla and poultry ranches prior to the residential developments.

Two housing developers, Jack Peterson and Albert LaPierre, helped create Mountlake Terrace. To attract the young families, they had assisted other denominations in establishing churches in the area. Now they were helping the new Catholic community, which had been carved mostly from Holy Rosary Parish in Edmonds. The two developers donated the land which was later traded for a larger, 11-acre tract on which the parish campus now sits. And they donated the shed of their Peterson-LaPierre Enterprises to serve as the temporary church in which the community celebrated those first Masses. They also donated church furnishings.

In November 1955, Father O’Larey launched a $200,000 campaign for the new church, along with a school and a convent to house the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVMs), who staffed the school.

First Mass in the new church was celebrated on Christmas Day 1956. Seating 600 worshippers, it was designed to be converted to a multi-purpose facility when a permanent church was constructed. That conversion became reality under Father Fox’s leadership when the current church, which seats 800, was built in 1983, with Father Fox and Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen celebrating the first Mass on Thanksgiving Day.

The campaign for the new church exceeded its goal, and a new rectory also was built.

St. Pius X Parish today is debt free, Father Fox said.

The parish boasts an active St. Vincent de Paul Society conference. Last year it provided $37,000 in assistance to people in need, the pastor said. He’s also proud of the parish school, although he’s concerned with its declining enrollment, now down to 145. He notes St. Pius X students scored 40 points above the archdiocesan school median on the state WASL test.

For the future, St. Pius X, in conjunction with the Archdiocesan Housing Authority, is exploring the possibility of building a senior citizen housing project on parish property.

Over the decades the four-square-mile city of Mountlake Terrace has grown -- from a population of 5,000 in 1954 to 20,000 today, according to the city’s Web site. But it hasn’t become a mega-city.

Thus, the parish community "doesn’t get huge, which is kind of nice," said Caroline Cain, who with her husband, Jim, is a charter member of St. Pius X. Parish members work well together, she said, "so when they have a doing, there’s lots of people there to participate.

"It makes you feel more like a family, because you’ve got people you can call on if you need help."

Memories & Reflections

Many of the parish’s founding members were World War II veterans with young families. They were poor but hardworking, more likely to be using pick and shovel to install the lawns in front of their new homes because they couldn’t afford to rent machinery, recalls charter parishioner Bob Francios.

They had joined the new parish because they were determined that their children receive a good Catholic school education, he said. Francois and his wife, Carmen, were among them. They sent all 12 of their children through St. Pius X School.

"The thing that made this parish go was the phenomenal enthusiasm and hard work of all these people," Bob Francois said. "They knew they had to do it themselves…There was no fairy godmother."

Francois also remembers when housing developers Peterson and LaPierre donated the land for the new parish several years before it became reality. The sign at the site pronounced it as the future home of "St. Pious X" parish. The misspelling was corrected when Archbishop Thomas A. Connolly established the parish.

Jim and Caroline Cain, charter members of the parish, were among the crowd that gathered in 1983 to watch the apex of their new church building being hoisted into place. "It was quite a sight to see," said Jim Cain. "The crane lifted the frame (to the roof) all in one piece, and they tapped it into place."

The parish’s first home for liturgies, owned by housing developers Peterson and LaPierre, has been described in different accounts as a "shed," "warehouse" or "office." It had a bathroom. Yet for some reason, Father O’Larey was stingy with the key, recalls Mary Mohs, a founding member of the parish.

Thus, parents regularly trooped their children to the gas station restrooms down the street, she said.

She said the parish men would tease the ladies guild about the dilemma in a skit performed before the guild. One 300-pound man would come out dressed in a house coat begging for the key, which for the skit’s purpose was about three-foot long and made of cardboard.

Pastor Father Sean Fox knows of no other parish that draws as many people to the coffee & doughnut gathering following the daily morning Mass as St. Pius X does - up to 80 participants.

"We get quite a treat everyday," says parishioner Caroline Cain. "There’s two or three gals that just love to bake, and they’re constantly bringing banana breads and apple breads and everything else up there."

Text by Terry McGuire, drawn from interviews, the parish booklet, "St. Pius X, A Parish Is Born," and the City of Mountlake Terrace Web site.