Recently, the Save Tacoma Landmark Church group held a meeting in which several of the statements they reported were inaccurate. We are concerned that those who attended, including local reporters, were given information by people who do not have any first-hand knowledge. We wish to clarify the statements here so people better understand the reality of the situation.

Myth #1 - The Archdiocese is not interested in saving the church but only in selling it and the properties around it due to the money it will generate.

Reality check #1 - The Archdiocese has done much research on the feasibility of saving Holy Rosary church building. The reality is that parish membership was not able to bring in enough funding to keep it in the black for several years – nor was any funding put aside to pay for the new roof or other needed deferred maintenance for decades. While the physical church gradually declined over time, the parish community itself, and its ministries were also in steady decline over the years, to the point where day-to-day operations as a parish community were no longer viable. This finally came to an end when the parish was not able to keep itself running (pay for its own staff), which was exacerbated by the damage to the church building, which made it unsafe and unable to be occupied. 
 
The current needs for repair to the church, including seismic repairs, and the need to bring it up to current building codes, put the costs way out of reach for Pope St. John XXIII Parish. We discussed this thoroughly and the joint committee of members representing all the merged parishes, including members from Holy Rosary, recommended that the only feasible result was to sell the properties. The funds from these property sales do not go to the Archdiocese but stay with the parish.

We looked at several options and the income from the sale was still not projected to come close to what the costs of the repairs and ongoing maintenance would be. This is why we came to that recommendation and then sent it to the Archdiocese for approval.

Myth #2 - The Archdiocese is greatly overstating the $18m cost to repair the church. The landmark group believes the cost to be more around $2 million. They state that no one is allowing their representation to view the damage in order to appropriately estimate the cost of the repair. 
           

Reality check #2 - The Archdiocese had three consultants address the scope of work needed. This team of consultants developed a scope of repairs and Hilger Construction (Tacoma Contractor) provided cost estimates. Broderick Architects (one of the consultants) developed the overall cost estimates. After taking into account inflation, the extensive water damage, the current seismic repairs, as well as the costs to bring the church up to current building codes, the final project cost estimate exceeded $18 million. All consultants were allowed to view the property and questions they had were answered before a bid was turned in.

Myth #3 - A former janitor for the church reported that he was in the upper part of the church several times and the damage there was not as extensive as the Archdiocese is reporting. Most of the damage could be repaired with a 5-gallon bucket of plaster.

Reality check #3 – This is simply not true. A 5-gallon bucket of plaster would do nothing to repair the extensive water damage. The outside contractors, the building team at the Archdiocese, the maintenance person of the merged parish as well as members from the Holy Rosary parish with first-hand knowledge of the damage and condition of the upstairs of the church can all attest to the fact that it is in terrible shape, is unsafe and has been in need of repair for a very long time.

Myth #4 - The Archdiocese is not interested in saving the church. If they really wanted to do so, since Holy Rosary is the only one of the churches of those involved in the merger of the four parishes that has landmark protections, the Archdiocese could have sold the other properties and used the money generated to repair Holy Rosary and then use Holy Rosary as the main church for the new merged parish.

Reality check #4 - The Archdiocese is invested in what is right for the parish, which is a community of people – not a building. The Archdiocese met with the Mayor of Tacoma, the historical society, several foundations for building grants, and donors to discuss ways to find funding for Holy Rosary. However, after all the due diligence and effort, the funding was not available to restore and maintain the beautiful church building. Additionally, the needs of the new parish to support its faithful and its ministry did not require another worship space.

Each parish is responsible for its own funding and upkeep. Now that we are a merged parish, we are responsible for caring for all our campuses and we are still getting to know each other. Feelings are raw. Each parish had its own parishioner base and loyalty. This is a complicated process and takes years to complete. No decision is made lightly.

Myth #5 - When the school moved, it took 1 million with it. Why did they not use that money to repair the church?
 

Reality check #5 - The school did not take $1 million from the parish. The school had one major donor invested in its success and when the school moved, the donor moved along with the school.

Myth #6 - Earthquake seismic repair work was done in the 90's. The Archdiocese is stating this work still needs to be done. 

Reality check: #6 – Limited seismic work was done in the 1980’s regarding the roof. However after 2010, building codes and seismic requirements were updated again. Any work done in the 80's is no longer current and the revised building codes are now mandated.

Myth #7 - The Archbishop took over a year to respond to them the first time they asked about saving the church. The second time they asked, he responded to them right away.

Reality check #7 - As noted above, the Archbishop makes final decisions about the disposition of Church property after receiving recommendations from parish leadership. Various Archdiocesan Offices have provided support to parish leadership throughout this process. The process of merging the four parishes took a great deal of time as meetings had to be held, committees had to be formed and the leadership had to be identified. Only then was the new parish ready to look at bids, identify costs and decide what was feasible. This is why the first answer was so long in coming. The second answer came more quickly because it simply re-stated the discernment the parish leadership had already done.