History
July 1, 2004
Blessed
Teresa of Calcutta parish was formally founded by
Archbishop Alexander J. Brunett, with the appointment
of our founding pastor, Fr. K. Scott Connolly, on 1
July 2004. One of the first duties assigned to Fr.
Scott was to consult with potential parishioners and
prepare a list of three names of possible patrons from
which the Archbishop would choose one. The proposals
were: Saint Juan Diego, Blessed Pope John XXIII, and
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
Less than a year after her beatification, we were the
first parish in the United States to be named as
“Blessed Teresa of Calcutta”. Her incredible
model of discipleship and humble service to her
community inspire us each day to follow her example as
we grow our parish and its ministries.
From July through November of 2004, Fr. Scott's mission
was to build up parish membership from Woodinville-area
Catholics in the neighboring parishes. By the First
Sunday of Advent, November 28, nearly 800 people
attended the first Eucharist of the Blessed Teresa
community in the barn at the Woodinville Riding Club.
Saturday evening liturgies were held for the next three
months thanks to the hospitality of Wooden Cross
Lutheran Church. On the First Sunday of Lent, February
13, 2005, we began renting the Leota Junior High School
cafeteria from the Northshore School District on Sunday
mornings, celebrating the Eucharist in both English and
Spanish. During the beginning years, our community was
also bilingual and bicultural.
2006
By the time the parish was one year old, we had grown
from a single member to over seven hundred individual
parishioners. Throughout these early days and the
months following, building up a strong community was
our first priority. Through a parish-wide discernment
process, the first Pastoral Council was seated in
January of 2006, along with our first Finance Council.
The Building Committee, responsible for the design and
development of our permanent facilities, soon followed.
The three commissions - Faith Formation, Liturgy, and
Social Justice – were busy developing ministries to
serve Woodinville and beyond.
As we were only able to use Leota
Jr. High on Sunday mornings, our daily and special
events were often made possible by our interfaith and
ecumenical neighbors. We were welcomed by Northshore
United Church of Christ and Bear Creek United Methodist
anytime we needed a place to meet. Woodinville
Unitarian Universalist Church became our Holy Day
sanctuary, often moving their own programs to
accommodate our needs.
2007
On 15 April 2007, the Archbishop announced to the
parish that he had decided to reassign Fr. Scott to
Assumption parish in Bellingham to lead that parish in
the process of integrating what had become the largest
Hispanic Catholic community in the Archdiocese into the
parish community. The Archbishop also asked that our
Hispanic ministries be reassigned to the pastor and
pastoral staff of St. Brendan parish in Bothell.
Fr. Frank Schuster was appointed
to be our pastor beginning July 1, 2007. Prior to his
assignment to Blessed Teresa, he was the pastor of the
Church of the Assumption, Assumption School, and Sacred
Heart parishes in Bellingham. He was also the chaplain
for Western Washington University.
Simultaneous to the transition of
pastors, the lease Blessed Teresa enjoyed with Leota
Jr. High was expiring. With the help of talented
parishioners and our Archbishop, we found a new place
to worship at Checkride Driving School in Woodinville.
After a busy two months of building the new worship
space and renovating the new parish offices, Fr. Frank
was installed by Archbishop Brunett as our new pastor
on Gaudete Sunday, December 16.
Even with all the transitions we
have experienced as a community over time, our
community and ministries are growing every month. We
believed that being a part of the history of this new
parish is a great honor and responsibility. The
decision to join our parish therefore means a decision
to join the adventure! We are confident that together
we will continue to accomplish what God has asked for
us: a vibrant and growing parish in Woodinville.
