MATTAWA — The Catholic population of Mattawa pulled off a remarkable feat, Yakima Bishop Joseph Tyson said.

“For the first time in the history of the Diocese of Yakima, we have a church construction project that has come from predominantly Spanish-speaking parishioners,” Tyson said at the parish dedication Friday. “And most of the money has come from immigrant communities. This has never happened before.”

Tyson officially dedicated the newly-named Holy Cross Parish in a ceremony attended by 20-25 priests, half a dozen deacons and enough parishioners to fill the 450-seat church building to overflowing. The previous building held only 150, said Fr. Lalo Barragan, pastor of the parish. 

In keeping with its name, the new building is constructed in the shape of a cross; the narthex, or entry area, the baptismal font and most of the seating are in the long base and there is more seating in the two arms. The altar sits at the meeting point. Above the back of the church is a choir loft, and a 20-foot crucifix hangs above the altar. 

The crucifix and the choir loft were part of the original church, said Fr. John Washington, the parochial vicar – or associate pastor – at Our Lady of the Desert. The pews and stained-glass windows are all new, at least to the parish.

“The biggest (windows) are about 110 years old,” Washington said. “They were made in Munich, but they were in a church in Philadelphia that had closed. We rescued them and had them restored.”

The pews were purchased from a company in Nebraska and will eventually have nameplates honoring the donors, Washington said.

Washington had been at Our Lady of the Desert for two years, and Friday was his last day before being reassigned to St. Joseph’s Parish in Kennewick. Mattawa was his first assignment after finishing seminary, he said.

“It was a heck of a project to be thrown in on as a brand-new priest,” Washington said. “It was like drinking out of a fire hose, and I loved it.”

Working together

The project has been a long time coming, Barragan said. He’s only been in Mattawa for four years himself, he said, but there have been efforts to build a new church in Mattawa for 16-17 years. The final cost of the building project was about $5 million, Barragan said.

“When I came four years ago to Mattawa, we had $1.2 million in savings, not enough to build a church,” Barragan said. “Within four years we were able to raise almost $2.8 million.”

Parishioners held fundraisers of all kinds, including sales of food, dances and raffles. One parishioner who raises bees donated his entire year’s honey harvest, and members sold the honey not only in Mattawa but at almost every other parish in the diocese.

“That makes your parish the sweetest parish in the Diocese of Yakima,” Tyson said.

The balance came from a construction loan from the diocese, Tyson said. Barragan said he’s confident the parish can manage the payments.

The parish, by any name, is vital to the life of the town, said Mattawa Mayor Maria Celaya.

“It was here, at Our Lady of the Desert Parish, that we learned the importance of prayer, service, compassion and living the Gospel,” Celaya said. “We witnessed firsthand how a parish becomes more than just a building. It becomes a family united in Christ. It becomes our second home.”

More than just a name

The parish was renamed for a couple of reasons, Barragan explained. First, he said, the previous name of Our Lady of the Desert isn’t an official title for the Virgin Mary and has no feast day to celebrate; the name was chosen simply because Mattawa is in a desert. The name is also a reference to Christ’s instruction to his followers to take up their crosses and follow him. Migrant workers make up most of the parish, he said, and many of them are undocumented.

“The people are struggling; they are fearful of what is happening,” Barragan said. “So, I told the community, it seems like we are carrying our daily crosses to go to work, afraid that we will encounter ICE officers. So, I proposed we change the name to Holy Cross. Most of the people, even English speakers, really liked the idea.”

Renaming a parish isn’t something that happens overnight, Barragan said. First, he took a survey of about 800 parishioners, of whom about 600 approved the name. Then he had to submit the request to Tyson and also to all the other priests in the diocese. The priests approved the new name unanimously, he said. Finally, the proposal was submitted to Fr. Michael Ibach, who serves as the diocese’s canon lawyer, to ensure that the change was in accordance with universal Church law.

A saint to honor

Traditionally, a Catholic altar contains the relics of a saint, and part of Friday’s ceremony involved installing the relics in Holy Cross’s altar. The saint chosen for Holy Cross was a popular one among the parish’s Mexican population: St. Jose Sanchez Del Rio. 

St. Jose was martyred during the Cristero War of the 1920s, when the Mexican government tried to suppress the Church and was faced with a rebellion of the people. Jose Sanchez, 14 years old, was tortured and executed by the Mexican army in the village of Sahuayo, Michoacan, in southern Mexico.

“The soldiers cut off the bottoms of his feet and made him walk through the streets to the (execution),” Barragan said. “He was yelling ‘Viva Cristo Rey’ (‘Hail Christ the King’) and when he arrived, an officer shot him in the head.”

Barragan reached out to the bishop of the diocese where St. Jose had been martyred, and requested a relic. Within three weeks, an unusually short time, he received permission to come and pick up the relic.

“That’s why I say, when the Lord commands, even the Devil obeys,” Barragan said. “It seems like the Lord has been pulling everything together.”

A proud heritage

At about 99 percent, Mattawa is one of the most heavily Hispanic cities in the United States, according to the U.S. Census, most of those residents coming from Mexico. Seventy-five percent of the Diocese of Yakima is Hispanic, according to Tyson, and most of the priests are foreign-born missionaries to the United States. About one-third of Catholics in the Diocese of Yakima live under threat of deportation, Tyson said in an interview last year. 

“What you have done is extraordinary,” Tyson said. “This Church of the Holy Cross is the strongest witness for everyone in Washington state that the Mexican immigrant community is not here to take, but to give; that Mexico is more than a source of foreign labor; that Mexico, the largest Catholic country in the world, gives to the United States of America. She gives us more than workers; she gives us people who want to rebuild the life of the church here in North America. You make the Church great and you make America great.”

    Father Lalo Barragan, right, and Father John Washington take their places for the dedication of Holy Cross Parish in Mattawa Friday.
  

    Holy Cross Church, which was dedicated Friday, holds 450 people, three times the capacity of the former Our Lady of the Desert.
  

    Yakima Bishop Joseph Tyson sprinkles the congregation with holy water at the dedication of Holy Cross Parish in Mattawa Friday.
  

    Bishop Joseph Tyson holds aloft the relics of St. Jose Sanchez Del Rio, a Mexican martyr of the 1920s.
  

    Bishop Joseph Tyson anoints the altar at Holy Cross Parish with holy oil at the dedication ceremony Friday.
  

    Mattawa Mayor Maria Celaya speaks at the dedication of Holy Cross Parish Friday. The church is more than just a building, Celaya said; it’s like a second home.