Time capsule opened during centennial celebration at St. Theresa, Federal Way

FEDERAL WAY — Parishioners and clergy celebrated the 100th anniversary of St. Theresa Parish with Mass, a historic photo exhibit and the opening of a time capsule.

The Oct. 1 centennial Mass opened with ringing of the century-old church bell that first served the faith community at the original mission church in the Dash Point area.

“We thank God for the many graces and blessings that he bestows on all of us every single day — especially to our parish since it began in 1923,” Father Jay Bonete, St. Theresa’s priest administrator, wrote in the parish bulletin.

Father Bonete celebrated the bilingual Mass with senior priests Father Richard Gallagher, who attended the mission church as a child, and Father Kevin Moran, a former St. Theresa pastor.

Parishioner Laurie Fiorito, who served on the event planning committee, said Father Bonete originally hoped for a simple centennial observance, but it morphed into a grand occasion.

The anniversary festivities included opening a 1981 time capsule, whose contents included a cross made of palms, vacuum tubes (representing the television sets of the time), seed packets and sketches of the original and current church buildings, Fiorito said. There was also an unopened bottle of wine, although some of the liquid had leaked out over the years.

“We’re not going to try it to see if it aged well,” Fiorito said.

Mission bell gets new home

The St. Theresa faith community began in the early 1900s, with priests from Tacoma offering monthly Masses at private homes in the Dash Point area, according to Fiorito. St. Theresa was designated a mission in 1923, and a wood-frame church that accommodated about 75 people was built in Dash Point. The first Mass at the church, which featured a bell tower, was celebrated there in 1924.

During the 1920s and ’30s, priests from Tacoma parishes and Marymount Military Academy offered Mass at the mission, usually during summer months, Fiorito said.

The mission was designated a parish in 1968, and the congregation gradually outgrew the small church.

A new church, including a small replica of the mission’s bell tower, was built at 3939 S.W. 331st St. in Federal Way. About 150 parishioners and priests walked in a procession with the Blessed Sacrament about three miles from the mission to the new church, where about 600 parishioners gathered for the first Mass on Sept. 28, 1980, according to Fiorito. The day included a blessing of the original mission bell that had been installed in the replica tower.

The time capsule was placed in the bell tower’s base when the church was officially dedicated in June 1981, Fiorito said. (The mission church still stands, she said, but is now a private home.)

In the new church, the worship space shared room with the social hall until 2009, when a $1.4 million project created a separate sanctuary, the Catholic Northwest Progress reported.

A highlight in St. Theresa’s history occurred in 2000, when the parish hosted a reliquary containing relics of its patron, St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

Looking toward its future ‘family’

Today, the parish has more than 1,200 registered households, with a sizeable Spanish-speaking community. Masses in English and Spanish are offered each weekend. Parish ministries include a sandwich program and other services for local people experiencing homelessness, a senior group, youth programs, a women’s fellowship group and the Knights of Columbus.

For the next few months, the parish will display the artifacts from the time capsule and historic photos in the church narthex — serving as a reminder of the past while parishioners explore the archdiocese’s Partners in the Gospel proposal to form a parish family with neighboring St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Fiorito said.

“I hope the planning process goes well,” she said. “I hope we can come together with a spirit of love and common goals.”