PORT ANGELES — More than 400 parishioners and the archbishop of Seattle, J. Peter Sartain, joined together at Queen of Angels Parish on Sunday to celebrate Mass and witness the blessing of the newly renovated church building.
The archbishop blessed the changes to the church, including a new holy water font carefully fitted on an original pedestal that has remained with the Queen of Angel Parish since it was established in the 1890s.
“Five years ago, [Father Thomas Nathe] first came to this church and said, ‘We’d like to fix the bathrooms,’ ” Sartain said.
Gradually Nathe added more projects, he said, until it was a major renovation.
“It all made sense, and it is all beautiful,” Sartain said of the newly completed bright cream and gold interior and ornate ceiling lit by the Sunday morning sun shining through stained glass windows.
Nathe, who oversaw the beginning of the project but moved to the Holy Redeemer parish in Vancouver, Wash., before it could be completed, visited Queen of Angels for the blessing and Mass.
The church parishioners were generous, giving what they could, Nathe said, including an anonymous benefactor who “made a grand donation.”
He did not detail the donation amount. The cost of the renovation project was not available Sunday.
“Now this is the most beautiful church on the Peninsula,” Nathe said.
Nathe recognized three particular individuals for the renovation’s success: Ron Doughty, who volunteered as the project manager; his wife, Yvonne Doughty; and Cathy Wiswell, the church administrative director.
“Without [Cathy], this wouldn’t have been possible,” he said.
Father Dennis Robb, the current pastor at Queen of Angels, also spoke of the parishioners’ support for the renovations.
“Thank you to the people of this parish. Your response has been overwhelming,” Robb said.
Robb noted that the parishioners had endured nine months of holding Mass and other ceremonies in the church gymnasium, and had donated time, effort and money to make the project happen.
A reception was held after the Mass to celebrate the reopening of the church building.
The church building, located at 209 W. 11th St., was completed in 1953 on the site where the Queen of Angels church was established in 1892.
Cindy Rypl, administrative assistant for the parish, explained the extent of the renovations.
The renovation included a color change from a white interior with exposed natural wood ceiling details to a cream and gold interior with intricate golden ceiling details. Also, a carpet was replaced with a new marble tile floor.
Closets located near the back of the nave were expanded and converted into new confessionals and into a wheelchair-accessible reconciliation chapel for those parishioners who cannot access traditional confessionals to have their confessions heard, she said.
Rypl said two alcoves on the sides of the nave were enclosed to replace the former storage closets.
The entrance to the church nave was widened with a sliding wall of glass doors, and the vestibule space opened up by removing a wall that protected a staircase, replaced with an open railing.
A small room attached to the vestibule was converted into an adoration chapel, to be open 24 hours a day for those parishioners who want quiet, private reflection, Rypl said.
Parishioners can access the vestibule and adoration chapel using a key card, she said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
