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About Trinity Parish
Trinity Parish is one of Seattle's oldest active congregations, and is 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.
Trinity is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and 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 Nisqually Earthquake of 2001, but the altar, reredos and windows all survived fully intact. Our sacred space was 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. As Episcopalians, we 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, and seven of those churches 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 service to those in need now centers on feeding the hungry and offering a ministry of hospitality. Northwest Harvest, Seattle's largest provider for over 300 hunger programs, occupies much of the lower campus with its food bank, serving as many as 2000 people a day through Trinity's doors. Northwest Harvest and Trinity have been in partnership since the program's inception in 1967. They have their corporate and public relations offices in our building. In addition, members of Trinity make over one hundred lunches a month for the working poor of our city, which are distributed through Northwest Harvest.
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.
Trinity also supports many social service and cultural groups by providing space for meetings and rehearsals.
 We are 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.
Clergy
The Rev. Paul M. Collins, Rector
 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.
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.
The Reverend Carol Ludden, Senior Associate
Mother Carol has served as clergy in parishes in the Greater Seattle area from Bainbridge to Bellevue as a priest-in-charge, interim, and associate for community development. Her true love is urban ministry. In 1984, she was ordained as priest in the Pike Place Public Market where she developed a ministry for market residents and workers. Carol came to Trinity shortly after Fr. Collins became Rector, leaving for different assignments, and returning in the spring of 2009.A graduate of General Theological Seminary in New York City, Carol returned to New York to study ethics at Union Theological Seminary. She loves teaching and leading retreats and likes to preach. In her early twenties, Carol was involved with liturgical study and the design of a new liturgy. Before seminary, Carol worked in government, politics, and community organization, interests she still holds today.In the early 1980s Carol formed a deep friendship with the Mexican Benedictine sisters of Cristo Rey, who are committed to and involved in issues of justice facing Central America. This friendship involves trips to Mexico and Nicaragua and hosting the sisters here in Seattle. Attracted to “Finding God in All Things,” and the principle and foundation of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Carol finds within Jesuit Spirituality a means of organizing and living the Christian Life.
The Rev. Judy Mullins, Deacon
 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.
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.
The Rev. Stan Fowler, Associate Priest for Education
The Rev. Allan C. Parker, Rector Emeritus
 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.
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."
The Rev. Robert A. Gallagher, Associate Priest and Scholar in Residence
Bob has been a consultant and trainer in religious systems, non-profit organizations and small businesses since 1970. That continues to be his primary work. Fr. Gallagher has also been a parish priest; on the staff of or consultant to ecumenical training organizations, an industrial mission and metropolitan and state councils of churches. He served as the congregational development officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut from 1981 - 88. He has consulted with hundreds of congregations.
Bob has an MA in Organization Development from Goddard College. He has served as adjunct faculty in congregational development at Hartford Seminary and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. He was Director of the Church Development Institute at the General Theological Seminary from 1985 - 2000 and continues as the Director of the Church Development Institute - Seattle. Bob is a senior trainer with Leadership Training Institute.
Staff
Emily Marlor, Parish Administrator
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Emily relocated to Seattle in 2006 to be closer to the ocean. She has a BA in Comparative Studies, with a focus on Film and Rhetoric. Emily has worked at large Universities, small businesses, and struggling non-profits, managing offices and running the day-to-day operations. She loves to read and sail, and she owns more movies than is good for her.
Martin Olson, Music Director
 Organist and Choirmaster Martin Olson has been at Trinity since 1983. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. and received his Bachelor of Music from the University of British Columbia. Martin came to Seattle in 1977 to attend Graduate School at the University of Washington. While there, he received not only an excellent musical education and a Master of Music degree, but also the opportunity to meet his wife, Phyllis, in the Organ Performance Class.
Before coming to Trinity, Martin held the position of organist first at Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver, then at Pilgrim Congregational Church and Temple de Hirsch in Seattle. Since October 2005, he has served as the Chair of Professional Development for the Seattle Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Martin is also an active piano teacher, which gives him a great opportunity to work with children.
Jo Baim, Assistant Organist
Jo Baim has been Assistant Organist at Trinity Parish for almost 10 years. A native of Eastern Washington, Jo did her undergraduate work in music at Walla Walla College, followed by a Master's Degree in Organ Performance from the University of Oregon, and a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, as well as two years' graduate study at the University of Glasgow. Jo is the director of The Trinity Consort, the Concert Administrator, and a founder of Trinity's Animal Ministries program. Outside Trinity, Jo is an Oblate of the Benedictine Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood, Idaho.
Mary Willy, Treasurer
Debbie Apollonio, Bookkeeper
Eric Riley, Sexton
Marvin Taylor, Night Sexton
Vestry
- Sr. Warden: Kurt Lucks
- Jr. Warden: Sheila Preston Comerford
- Nat Brown ('10-'12)
- Cecelia Carter ('09-'11)
- Nancy Dapper ('10-'12)
- Jeanann Francis ('08-'10)
- Ralph Heitt ('10-'12)
- Marilyn McAdoo ('09-'11)
- John Medlin ('10-'12)
- Jo Moore ('09-'11)
- Tony Ramsey ('09-'11)
- Mary Willy & Chris Gruenfeld (Co-Treasurers)
Trinity Parish Church is located at 609 Eighth Avenue, on the corner of Eighth Avenue and James Street in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood. There is a Metro bus stop nearby, which services routes 3 & 4. To find other bus routes to Trinity, please visit Metro's website.
Map of area:
Trinity-Skyline Parking Garage
The new garage is open for Trinity parking on Sundays from 7:00am to 2:00pm. Both the garage and the lot on 7th Avenue are available for Sundays, concerts and special events.
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