Resurrection Parish Diocese
of Yakima
Zillah Catholic Church of
the Resurrection
Parish History
For many years Catholics on
the East Side of the Yakima River in the Zillah area had no church of their
own. Sunday worship for most meant
traveling many miles every Sunday over highways, bridges and sometimes back
roads, roads that could be dangerous in the winter with snow and ice. Most families
shouldered this burden to fulfill their obligation for weekly worship; however,
many did not participate in other events of neighboring churches because of the
distance involved.

Resurrection Parish was established effective at noon on November 4, 1963 on
the feast of St. Charles Borromeo, becoming the thirty-second parish in the
Yakima Diocese. At that time Resurrection Parish was attached to St. Patrick’s
Parish of Granger.
The Parish was so named by
the Most Reverend Bishop Joseph Dougherty, Bishop of the Yakima Diocese, from
the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. This scripture informs us that
the Apostles were commissioned to be witnesses of Resurrection of Jesus. The
challenge to the members of this Parish are to reflect on how we too can be
witnesses and proclaim the good news of the Resurrection.

The first pastor was Father Paul Flad, who resided at
the time in Granger. Now the commuting was dispatched to the priest rather that
the parishioners. The Parish Sunday and Holy Day Masses were first
celebrated at the Orchardvale Grange building. Weddings and funerals were held
at St. Aloysius Church in Toppenish. While this was an improvement the
parishioners wanted their own resident priest.

In 1964 the Rev. Harold Adams
of the Christ Episcopal Church offered his mission church to members of
Resurrection Parish to celebrate Mass. An
adjoining house was loaned as a rectory for Father Flad.
This moved the parish home from rural Zillah to down town on West Second
Avenue. During Lent of 1964 Mass was celebrated three times a week. With the
beginning of Easter Services in 1964, Sunday and daily Masses were now
held on a regular basis.
1965 was a busy and important
year for the Parish. At this time the Parish members began to work with the
diocese officials in planning the building of our own Church. The Catholic Bishop’s Corporation purchased a
40-acre parcel of land North of town on Schooley Road. Thomas Hargis Jr., a
Yakima architect was selected to do the design. By August 1965 the Parish
acquired a new rectory located at 1016 Maple Way. Father Flad
stayed at the Maple Way rectory until the end of August. Father Flad was on loan to our diocese at the time and was
recalled to his home Diocese of Lacrosse, Wisconsin.

On 1 September 1965 Father
Edward Wawrzynski was assigned as the pastor of
Resurrection Parish.
On September 5, 1965 a ground breaking ceremony was held with construction
beginning on September 10, 1965 on a church and attached hall. Although desired,
an onsite rectory was not planned in this initial construction phase. Until a
rectory at the church grounds could be built, the home on Maple Way would
continue to serve our priest.


Seven months after construction began, the first Mass
was celebrated on our own parish property. It was on Holy Saturday April 9, 1966
when the move from the Episcopal Church to our own church hall on the Schooley
Road property was made for Mass. This was just in time to celebrate Easter, the
Feast of the Resurrection of Jesus, for which our parish is named. On May 19, 1966
on Ascension Thursday the first Mass was celebrated inside the church. On
Sunday June 26, 1966 an open house was held for all to view the now completed
church and hall. Bishop Dougherty led a dedication Mass on October 7, 1966 for
the new church and hall.
Our Church was awarded a Certificate of Merit from the Central Washington
Chapter of American Institutes of Architects in March 1968 for its unique
design features. The design of the church was meant to compliment the characteristics
of the town and the surrounding farming industries. A rustic, yet modern and
elegant building, it was considered one of the most beautiful in the lower
Yakima Valley. The original hall was 25’ x 73’ x 13’ and could be divided into
four separate rooms by folding doors for meetings and CCD classes. The Church
was 62’ x 98’ x 64’, the sacristy 22’ x 15’ and a workroom of 10’ x 16’. The
design capacity of the church seating was for 400 people. The total cost of
building construction was $221,046.
In August of 1968 Father Wawrzynski was commissioned as an officer in the US Air
Force to serve as a Chaplain. Father Arthur Waters became the next pastor of
the Parish with a residency of seven years spanning September 1968 until 1975.
During this time an annual autumn tradition of the “harvest dinner” sponsored
by the Resurrections Women’s club was held each November.
In 1975 the new pastor was Father Robert Shields. He
served as pastor for nearly eight years when he was reassigned in 1983. During
his term as pastor the rectory on Maple Way was sold and two single-wide mobile
homes were purchased and placed on the south end of the church in 1978. One
would serve as rectory and the other as a home for a housekeeper. During Father
Shields tenure the original mortgage for the church was paid off and
mortgage-burning ceremony was held following a spring Mass in 1982. The
original larger acreage was bought to support the formation of a Catholic
School, but that plan did not come to fruition The
surrounding acreage that was owned by the Dioceses Corporation was sold to a
private party in 1983.
With a shortage of priests in the Diocese, Father Shields was transferred in
1983 and the pastorship of the Parish was temporarily assigned to Father Robert
DeSantis residing in Granger.
Father Paul Stecher arrived a few months later to lead our Parish. Father Stecher was
in ill health, but had still ministered with love and enthusiasm right up
until his death only a year later in 1984.
Following Father Stetcher's
death, Bishop William Skylstad assigned Father
Bertrand Horvath as administrator of Resurrection Parish. Father Horvath was then
serving in Yakima area hospitals and churches. He continued the Yakima
assignments in addition to celebrating Sunday Mass, presiding at funerals and
working with parish members to support normal Parish operations. Many Parish
members stepped up to help in various ministries while Father Stecher was ill and continued their lay service under
Father Horvath.
In July of 1985 Father Richard Queen was assign as our
new Pastor. Father Queen shared his concern that our parish need to expand our
operations and community outreach. He
supported enlarging the hall and kitchen into a facility that would better
serve our members. And while a new rectory was also brought forward for
consideration, Father Queen insisted that the new hall and kitchen come first.
Father Queen worked on
implementing many changes in the parish as the resident pastor. Many new
landscaping and flower gardens were planted under Father Queen’s direction. A
rose garden was planted in the circle between the two mobile homes while a
large tulip bed was planted just east of the parking lot. Flowers were also
planted around the rectory and office (formerly the housekeeper’s home) and
around the church grounds. Lexan was placed over the exterior of the stained glass windows for protection and energy
conservation. New ceiling fans were installed again to promote energy
efficiency when heating and cooling the church.
Interior and exterior lighting was improved.
Father Queen also arranged
for a van to be donated by Pacific Power and Light to serve as a bus for
children to the Wednesday afternoon Religious Education program. Now parish
volunteers could pick up children whom did not have a ride
to the church and hall for Religious Education
classes.
A Parish portable barbecue grill
and “Chuck Wagon” trailer was acquired under Father Queen’s leadership.
Resurrection Parish was now more visible in the community. Parish members would cook and serve foods at
functions such as community days, homecoming, etc.
Father Queen actively participated
in many Zillah Ministerial Association functions. Father Queen also added a
Saturday Vigil Mass an early Sunday morning Mass and a late Sunday night Mass
bring the total of weekend Masses to four celebrated for the convenience of our
growing church.
Father Queen served for four
years, the final year battling the cancer that took his life in July of 1989.
Father Queen refused to be removed from office for fear that the shortage of
priests would cause our Parish to be closed or converted to a mission status.
Once gain the lay ministers and parish members were called on to assist our ill
pastor. Father Queen provided his parishioners the Holy Sacraments
eventually from a wheel chair and served Mass until the last few weeks of his
life.
Following the death of Father Queen, Father Walter Janer,
S.J. was assigned as pastor for Resurrection Parish. At
the time Father Janer was in residence at St.
Patrick’s Church in Granger and split duties and time between the two parishes.
The weekend Mass schedule was reduced to the Saturday Vigil and Sunday morning
offerings only.
In May of 1990 Father Donal Kennedy was assigned as pastor. His tenure as pastor
was only five months when the needs of the diocese for a pastor at a larger
parish caused him to be reassigned.
In September 1990 Father
Ronald Patnode who was then pastor of St. Aloysius
Parish of Toppenish was assigned as our new pastor in additions to his current
duties at St. Aloysius. Father Patnode was forced to
eliminate the Saturday Vigil Mass due to his limited time leading two active
Parishes. While there was only one Mass on Sunday, Father Patnode continued to work with parish leaders and supported
their efforts to carry on with activities and Religious Education housed in the
Zillah parish.

After one year of having a to share Father Patnode
with Toppenish, Father William Shaw was assigned to Resurrection Parish
arriving in September 1991. He served until June of 2000 as our spiritual
leader. Father Shaw will be remembered as our bicycling priest. He would
literally ride his bicycle all over the Zillah area to visit members. Talk
again surfaced about expanding the hall and kitchen and also
to construct a more permanent rectory and office facility. Plans were discussed during Father Queens
administration, but now Father Shaw wanted to see the plans turned into actual
construction. Father Shaw placed the Parish Hall expansion project for the
people ahead his comfort for and a new rectory was placed on hold.
In 1992 the Hispanic Lay Ministries group and a
Spanish Choir were formed in our Parish as an outreach to the Spanish speaking
families living in our community. Mass
offered in the Spanish language was held in our church with Spanish speaking
guest priests. Father Shaw also worked to bring in visiting Spanish speaking
priests during the summer time to help serve the growing Hispanic population, a
population that would often swell during the harvest season. In August of 1992 a Parish Festival was held
and continues to be held each summer.
Finally, in 1995 the long discussed and planed new
hall and kitchen expansion project was completed. In 1995the parish held a
celebration to open the facility. Then
Bishop, later Cardinal Francis George held dedication of this expansion
project.
Father Shaw worked to again
establish a more visible Catholic presence in the community. He participated in
many Zillah Ministerial Association functions and our Church was home to
several ZMA community sponsored events. The Zillah
Food and Clothing Bank became a focus of our Parish support. Father Shaw was seen
daily peddling to the newly opened kidney dialysis center to pray with patients
and bring communion to the sick. Father Shaw encouraged annual
retreats to be held in our Parish and worked to bring
in guests to conduct these retreats, often at lent or advent for our
members.
Father Shaw also started a
week-long annual summer Religious Education program bringing in guest nuns in
residence for the program. The guest nuns who would visit on Father Shaw’s
invitation, to talk of their missions, orders, retreats, religious life, good
works, and programs enriched
the Parish family.
Bishop Sevilla began to place several Spanish only speaking seminarians in our
Parish to help them learn English language and culture and to also add to our
outreach of the Hispanic population.
In 1998 Resurrection Parish
established a presence on the Internet by hosting a web page dedicated to
sharing information about our church and faith to the entire world.
The summer of 1998 saw the
old HVAC system of the church fail beyond repair. A new more reliable and
energy efficient system was installed in 1999.
In June of 2000 Father Emmett Sarsfield was named as
pastor of Resurrection Parish. Father Jorge Granados was assigned as Associate
Pastor in September 2000 and served as the leader of Spanish Ministries.
In November of 2000 Father
Emmett and Parish members attended the Diocesan Eucharistic Congress and took up
Bishop Sevilla’s directive for parish outreach and evangelization. Father
Emmett began an outreach which focused on those Catholics who have “wandered”
from the church. He encouraged our members to make the church and its
events more welcoming, and forgiving and to invite family members and friends
who may have been “away” to return. During Lent 2001 special wanders Masses
were celebrated geared to inviting and welcoming back former members.
During his term as pastor,
Father Emmett updated and aligned the liturgy which included a comprehensive
review of the current GIRM (General Instructions of
the Roman Missal) and application of the GIRM’s to
our celebration of Mass.
The completion of the memorial featuring the Pieta was
blessed in 2001. This memorial is seen on the left as entering the doors
to the church. Father Jorge was called to service in other locations in the
diocese after only a brief stay.
Special Masses took place in
September 2001 following the attack of 9/11/01. A new memorial was
dedicated in the hall to all the Parish veterans who served the United States
of America and each Veterans Day since Father Emmett had special Masses and
flag dedications aimed to remember our veterans.
In 2002 the new rectory became a reality with the move
completed during the summer. Now the Rectory and Parish Office are housed
in a new, modern, comfortable facility.
Deacon Bernie Alvarado was
officially assigned by Bishop Sevilla to assist our faith community.
Deacon Bernie has assisted with Mass, special holidays services, instruction
and sacraments in baptism and matrimony. 2002 also saw refinement and
expansion of both the Parish Stewardship Council of the Parish Spanish
ministries. Over the next several years there was a tremendous growth
among our registered Spanish speaking members and in their active involvement
in Parish life.

Spring and summer now of saw
the grounds around the rectory and church front come alive with Gods gift of flowers and other improvements to the church
and grounds are on going.
The tabernacle was relocated
to the center of the sanctuary behind the altar and new slate tile was added to
the altar area of the sanctuary. Several murals were painted in areas of the
church and hall and new slate tile was placed in the rectory and hallway.
For Fall 2005 Father Sarsfield started the Sunday Afternoon Men's Football
Club. Men of the Parish were invited to watch satellite broadcasts of NFL
Football games after Mass and to enjoy food, beverages and fellowship.
A rosary/memorial garden
including a bell tower was dedicated in early 2006. A vision of Father
Emmett was to have an outside area on the church campus for small gatherings,
outdoor prayer and contemplation, and a place to remember and pray over our
beloved dead. Due to health concerns Father Emmett retired from
Resurrection Parish August 1, 2006 to move closer to his family in South
Carolina. Father Emmett died in
South Carolina in 2010.
Father Argemiro
Orozco was next appointed by Bishop Sevilla to be pastor of both St. Aloysius
in Toppenish and Resurrection Parish in Zillah. On September 30
during the Vigil Mass, Bishop Sevilla officially installed Father Argemiro as pastor of Resurrection Parish. Father Argemiro was very familiar with Resurrection Parish having
served our Spanish speaking community. With Father Argemiro
as pastor we saw an increase in Parish activities. Attendance and
participation increased dramatically. As an example
our 2007 Ash Wednesday service saw the faithful fill the entire church, and
then some. Father Argemiro in a short tenure
has helped to unite and inspire our Parish family to a fuller life.

On March 3, 2007 Bishop Carlos Sevilla announced
that Father Argemiro will be re-assigned to East
Wenatchee. Our new pastor, which we continued to share with St. Aloysius
was Father Francisco Higuera. Father Higuera was assisted in his
ministry of pastor to two parishes by Father John Shaw (retired) and Father
William Vogel S.J.
Both Father Shaw and Father Vogel
were very active in our Parish spiritual life at Resurrection. In
February 2008 it was announced that, due to health reasons, Father Francisco had
been granted permission to relocate outside of the Diocese. On Sunday May
18, 2008 Father Francisco Higuera celebrated his last Sunday Mass and was
honored with a farewell reception sponsored by the St. Anne's Guild.
Father Juan Flores was next assigned to replace
Father Higuera at both Resurrection and St. Aloysius Parishes in May
2008. His first official act at Resurrection Parish was to give the
welcome address to the Zillah High School Class of 2008 at the ZMA Baccalaureate service which Resurrection Parish
hosted. Father Flores was in residence at St. Aloysius Parish in Toppenish
and commuted to Zillah. Father John Shaw
and Father William Vogel S.J. continued to minister
to our parish as associate
pastors.
In June 2008 Father William Vogel, S.J. was given permission to be a priest in residence in
our rectory and to assist Father Flores in ministering to our Parish.
Resurrection Parish conducted a funding drive in the Fall and Winter of 2008 to purchase a life size portrait of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The dedication of the portrait was held on March 25, 2009 which was the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord.
In 2010 exciting news was announced
that as a parish family we had retired a large outstanding debit with the
Diocese and that built up over the years. Now that the debt was cleared, we
were able to move forward with Hall renovation, improving the energy efficiency
and increasing the attractiveness of that space.
In May 2010 we purchased an upgraded
Kubota tractor to help with the grounds. The summer of 2010 saw a new
roof installed which increased the energy efficiency of the Church and to
better protect the interior. In the Fall of 2010, we were able to make an
upgrade to the flooring in sacristy, sanctuary and main church.
Our Religious Education Program (REP) is was serving nearly 200 students in 2011. St. Anne's Guild purchased new Christmas decorations including trees and lights and also new banners for the liturgical seasons.
The new baptismal font was delivered October
28, 2011. It added elegance to the church and is a lovely compliment to
this first sacrament received by Catholics.
Later in 2011 an addition of a storage near the sacristy allowed us secure sound equipment, instruments and many of the seasonal decorations such as our Christmas trees, wreaths, lights, etc.
In November 2012 new energy efficient windows were installed in the sacristy, the Religious Education Office and the back sides of the sanctuary. At this same time the small "store" of religious articles was relocated from the vestibule to the office.
December 11, 2012, Bishop Joseph Tyson, with the blessing of Father Patrick J. Lee, S.J., Superior for the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, appointed Father William Vogel, S.J. pastor of Resurrection Parish in Zillah. Father Vogel had been in residence at the parish for the past few years.
For the past several years our annual Parish
Festival in July continues to grow in participation. Pictured on the left
are Father Vogel, pastor, Maria Rodriguez, Festival Leader and Bishop Joseph
Tyson.
On October 16, 2016, a special celebration in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the dedication of Resurrection Catholic Church was held. A wonderful dinner was prepared and served to an overflow crowd that filled the hall and surrounding tents erected in the courtyard. Below is the beautiful cake prepared for the celebration by the Deacon and Mrs. Bernie Alvarado.






Two
of our “Grill Masters” prepared the hot dogs and hamburgers for the children
who attended the 50th Anniversary Celebration. (John Griffin, (left)
and Mario Rodriguez (right)
In honor of our 50th Anniversary an new entrance sign was purchased and installed on Schooley Road.

In January 2019, Father William Vogel S.J. was moved by the Jesuit Superior to a health care facility in California. Father Vogel was status was changed to Pastor on Leave.
Monsignor Robert Siler was
named Administrator of Resurrection Parish and Father Felix Rodrigues was
assigned to be in residence in Zillah as the Parochial Vicar by Bishop Joseph
Tyson. Together Monsignor Siler and
Father Felix work to keep the parish active and vibrant. One of their projects was to update the
Parish Advisory and the Parish Financial Councils to align with the new
directives of the Diocese. Father Felix
is quite the chef and has a tremendous amount of energy. He organized and cooked several special
weekend meals as fundraisers for the ACA, Retired Priests and Seminarians Funds
and other worthy projects here in our home parish and in the Diocese.
In March 2020 public Masses were suspended in our state and diocese due the
Covid-19
pandemic. Both Monsignor Siler and Father Felix worked
within state and diocesan health and safety guidelines to allow Resurrection
Parish members to celebrate the weekend Masses outdoors. Due to the pandemic we were forced to cancel our
annual Parish Family Festival in July 2020.
At this time we are trying to keep the parish
together and informed using our Resurrection Parish Website. http://www.resurrectionparish.us/,
our Resurrection Parish Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/resurrection.Zillah/
and our Resurrection Parish News via email (RPZ
News). We encourage any parish member
with a question to please visit our pages or call our office for assistance.
.....and the next phase of our Parish story
continues to unfold.