| About Our Parish |
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Trinity Parish is one of Seattle's oldest active congregations, and the Mother Church of Episcopal mission activities in the city. Established in 1865 when Seattle was still a relatively small city of less of 1000 citizens, Trinity's first church was a wooden structure at Third Avenue and Jefferson Street. In 1889, Seattle's Great Fire destroyed the building, but not the church congregation. The church was rebuilt at our present location at Eighth Avenue and James Street on First Hill.
Our Garden Court
Trinity is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is also has both City and State landmark status. The spectacular stained glass windows were designed by the Franz Mayer Company of Munich, Germany. The Carrara marble altar was designed and fabricated in Italy with mother of pearl, ceramic tile and Venetian gold glass. The windows are inscribed with the names of many early Washington pioneer parishioners of Trinity Parish.
Trinity was severely damaged in the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake, but the altar, reredos and windows all survived fully intact. Our sacred space has been lovingly rebuilt, restored and earthquake-retrofitted. We celebrated our first service back in our restored church on Christmas Eve 2005.
Trinity Parish is an active and thriving congregation of people who gather to worship God and serve the community. Episcopalians are part of the larger worldwide Anglican Communion. Our worship stems from that tradition, including scripture, sacred music, and the Book of Common Prayer. Trinity has a long tradition of open doors, and offers daily Morning Prayer and four Eucharist services each week. Worship is the foundation that feeds us spiritually and sustains our commitment to serving the community. As a welcoming, open & affirming congregation, all are indeed welcome.
We are known for our fine music program, which includes our noted choir, a hand bell group, a splendid pipe organ, and a musicians-in-residence group, The Sacred Music Chorale.
Trinity has always been a leader in mission work in Seattle. Twelve of the Episcopal churches in the Seattle area were founded as missions of Trinity, seven of whom launched additional missions. In total, 33 churches grew from the seeds sowed by Trinity, giving our parish the name "Mother Church" of Seattle.
Over the years Trinity has provided worship services for several unique populations, including at one time services for actors from local theaters. More recently Trinity has been home to the St. Stephen's Priory of the Order of the Community of the Paraclete.
Other active groups at Trinity include the Benedictine Spirituality Group and the Centering Prayer Group, for deepening one's spirituality; the Downtown Caring Community for building community with our neighbors; and Amnesty International and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship for addressing national and international concerns.
Trinity is the place where many successive generations of parishioners have come to be baptized, married, and buried. We are a people drawn together by faith and grounded in worship. Serving the needs of the neighboring community has always been a natural outgrowth of the worship and history of Trinity; it expresses what is kindled in the sacred place where we gather.
In 1885 the church organized and founded Grace Hospital, one of Seattle's first hospitals, and provided much needed service until the Sisters of Providence Hospital could be expanded. Today, Trinity continues an active chaplain ministry to nearby hospitals and retirement homes.
Our Thrift Shop, a joint effort with Seattle First Baptist Church, is open to the public and provides needed clothing and household goods to hundreds of people each month. Nearly two thirds of the inventory is simply given away freely, and all proceeds of the thrift shop go to area charities.
Northwest Harvest
Trinity also supports many social service and cultural groups by providing space for meetings and rehearsals.
Trinity is a downtown church, located between three hospitals, at the junction of two freeways, and on several bus lines. Because of our location the people who worship and are served at Trinity represent a rich cross section of cultures, economic levels and interest. The congregation is a microcosm of the city and the world, called not only to serve people, but to recognize and share in our deep diversity. Our outreach to the community is focused on hospitality and hunger, concerns made critical by our urban location. Our outreach is part of our call to be god's presence in the world.
We welcome visitors and invite all to share in our worship.
Fr. Paul grew up on a wheat farm in Eastern Washington, and pursued his education at Washington State University and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California. This was during the "interesting times" of social uproar and the Viet Nam conflict, both of which influenced his calling and ministry. Furthering his education, he studied Educational Psychology at the University of Washington, and then worked for several years with the Snohomish County Corrections system. (He likes to say he met his wife, Kathie, in jail.)
Active in diocesan affairs, Fr. Paul has participated as a Deputy to General Convention on two occasions, served on the Diocesan Standing Committee, Diocesan Council, and on the National Board of the Clergy Association. He currently serves as a board member of the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes. Fr. Paul also enjoys active participation in the C. G. Jung Society of Seattle, where he presently serves as Board President.
Rachel has a special interest in ecumenical relations and has taken part in several Episcopal, Lutheran, Roman Catholic joint ministries. Her other ministry interests center on liturgy, music, peace-making, and justice issues.
Rachel has two lively elementary age children, Ben and Megan. The family is rounded out with a black Lab named Annie.
Please feel free to contact Rachel by email.
After a year of intensive study under two diocesan tutors, Fr. Allan was ordained deacon and then priest in the Episcopal Church in 1963. He has served parishes in the Seattle, St. Louis, and Cleveland areas. He also served as Diocesan Hospital Chaplain, and was Assistant Administrator of Columbia Lutheran Home, a Lutheran Church-sponsored nursing home.
Fr. Allan's post-seminary education included a fellowship at the College of Preachers, where he read religious sociology and anthropology, and a two-year course in pastoral counseling at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. For many years he taught various courses at the Diocesan School of Theology, including Homiletics, Patristics and Old Testament.
In 1984, Fr. Allan was elected Ninth Rector of Trinity where he spent twelve of the happiest years of his ministry. After his retirement in 1996, he and his wife Jean attended Christ Church, Seattle; provided Sunday supply for a number of parishes and taught adult education courses. In 2001, at the invitation of Fr. Paul Collins, Fr. Allan returned to Trinity where he assists Fr. Paul and contributes a column to the Parish newsletter (The Chimes TK:LINK ) under the title, "From the Desk of the Kindly Olde Curmudgeon."
Born and raised in Connecticut, Judy has a degree in Home Economics and is a registered histologist. She received her theological training at the Diocesan School of Theology. She comes to us with many years of experience in hospitals and hospices as a hospital chaplain, bereavement and grief counselor, and Cancer Life Line Counselor. Deacon Judy is the coordinator of Hospital Ministry for the Diocese of Olympia, connecting Episcopal Churches with hospitals. Deacon Judy says she was absolutely delighted to learn of her assignment to Trinity, located as it is in Seattle's "Pill Hill" community--a hub of large and small hospitals and other health-care facilities.
Judy is married, with two adult children. As her diaconal ministry in the world, she volunteers at the Sanctuary Art Center for homeless youth, located in the University District. She also does religious services at the King County Jail. In her spare time, Judy enjoys hiking, cross-stitch, creating greeting cards and jewelry, and reading.
Trinity Parish Church is located at 609 Eighth Avenue, on the corner of Eighth Avenue and James Street in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood. If you would like to see a map and directions to our church click here.
For a map showing the parking lot in relation to the church, click here.
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 06 March 2008 ) | |||||||||||||||
Fr. Paul Collins became the 10th Rector of Trinity Parish Church in the fall of 1998. Prior to coming to Trinity, he spent 10 years as vicar at St. Hilda and St. Patrick's, and previously served in two other churches in the Diocese of Olympia.
Rachel was born in London, England to a Church of England priest father and musician mother. In 1969, she moved to the United States and has lived on both coasts as well as in the center of the country. A graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary, Rachel has been a priest since 1997. Prior to coming to Trinity Parish, she served at St. Margaret's, Bellevue, Cross of Christ Lutheran Church (through the provisions in the Called to Common Ministry agreement between the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), and St. Alban's, Edmonds. She has ministered with and alongside people of all ages.
Father Allan Parker, ninth rector of Trinity Parish Church, was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. In the middle of his senior year in high school his family moved to Seattle. He graduated from the University of Washington, where he met his wife Jean. Fr. Allan graduated from San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California and was ordained in the Presbyterian Church. He served that church for five and a half years in Kansas and Washington.
Deacon Judy has been with Trinity Parish for ten years and has become a key member of our parish. Her mission is to be the "icon of the Deacon" for the parish; her work centers around pastoral care of the sick and the troubled, with outreach to those who are marginalized.
