February 22, 2026 – St. Joseph Catholic Church

Archdiocesan News

Bishop Frank Schuster Appointed Vicar for Multicultural Ministry

SEATTLE, February 12, 2026 – The Archdiocese of Seattle announces the appointment of auxiliary Bishop Frank Schuster as the new Vicar for Multicultural Ministry, which seeks to embrace diversity through celebration, community and education.

“I am grateful for Bishop Schuster’s willingness to serve our people in this capacity, and I am confident they will be particularly happy with his presence to them,” said Archbishop Paul D. Etienne. “This new role demonstrates not only our commitment to our brothers and sisters from different cultural backgrounds, but the reality that these communities are active and growing across the archdiocese.”

In this new role, which is in addition to his role as regional bishop serving the southern region of the Archdiocese of Seattle and his role as chair of the board of trustees for Catholic Community Services, Bishop Schuster will work in partnership with the director for Intercultural Integration, ministering to and accompanying several cultural communities. When possible, he will attend cultural events like the Black Catholic Advisory Circle’s annual conference and preside at cultural Masses, including the annual Multicultural Mass of All Saints, Simbang Gabi and Mass in honor of St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

“In addition to my presence, I seek to build relationships and better understand how we can best serve and support these communities so that they can live out the Catholic faith in the context of their own culture, as well as with the universal Catholic Church,” said Bishop Schuster.

Read the full article on archseattle.org

Parish News

Pastor’s Note

On Immigration and ICE

I am always hesitant to comment on politicized topics. In my experience, most Americans change their faith to fit their politics, rather than changing their politics based on their faith. I do not want to tempt someone away from the Church if I can teach them in a less politicized way. However, I am also aware that if the Church has nothing to say about the thing that everyone is talking about, we quickly become irrelevant to people’s daily lives. And so, a few notes on immigration and ICE.

Before you read my thoughts, however, I would recommend you read Archbishop Etienne’s recent pastoral letter on a well-ordered society. https://archseattle.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/A-Well-Ordered-Society_Pastoral-Letter-min.pdf

Principle #1: Deportations are not inherently immoral. The very notion of nationhood requires that countries be able to determine their citizenry and govern their borders. If someone enters the country illegal, overstays a visa, or fails in their asylum petition, it is perfectly moral and just to remove them from the country. Positions like “ICE Out”, “No Person is Illegal”, or any form of open borders are ultimately anarchist positions and will lead to lawlessness.

Principle #2: Tactics can be immoral. Just because ICE provides a necessary service does not mean that ICE, and our immigration system as a whole, is always acting justly. I would highlight four primary concerns:

A unifying thread in nearly every statement the U.S. Bishops have made on this topic (collectively and individually) is concern for due process. Unfortunately, these enforcement surges are so fast-moving that it is hard to know whether the reported breakdowns in due process are systematic or exceptional. It is also hard to know whether these breakdowns are due to malice, negligence, or simply a federal government whose enforcement infrastructure has become so overwhelmed by numbers that it struggles to respect its own policies. Regardless, some concrete moral requirements:
- If our laws allow someone to complete an asylum petition, or appeal a negative decision or deportation decision, those laws must be followed.
- No one should be “disappeared”. There must be easily accessible methods for informing families and lawyers when someone has been detained, and families and lawyers should have ready access to the individual.
- Human dignity must be maintained in detention, including access to medical care and religious ministers.
After God himself and the free exercise of religion, Catholic morality’s highest concern is for the family. Even just laws can become unjust when they destroy otherwise intact families.
Unfortunately, the practical application of this becomes dicey – having a child cannot become an automatic trump card to stay in a country beyond what is allowed by immigration law. And yet, because of decades of spotty enforcement of border security and immigration laws, there are many children who could not today follow their deported parents because the children do not even speak the language of their parents’ country.

Nevertheless, where the law allows or where policy implementation is variable, there is a moral obligation to look after the welfare of children and to favor keeping families intact.
There is a vicious cycle of scare tactics that has to stop. The federal administration has made it clear that they would prefer those facing deportation to self-deport, which has resulted in rumors that ICE is being intentionally aggressive or public in order to create fear in immigrant communities.
This may be true or it may be exaggerated by social media; and if it is true, it may be true only in certain ICE detachments under specific ICE commanders. Nevertheless, it would be immoral to impair human dignity by intentionally parking immigration officers in front of churches, schools, and grocery stores, in order to scare people away from specifically those services most necessary for a dignified life. And, while we cannot say that they are immoral (as there are certainly practical reasons), however much of the masked agents and unmarked cars are intended as a scare tactic is certainly not for the well-ordering of society.

On the other side, I would highlight that leftist activists’ lack of restraint in doxxing and harassing the families of people they disagree with, and of protesting through violence rather than solidarity and presence, significantly contributes to this vicious cycle and prevents any kind of détente.
A lack of sufficient training is negligent almost to the point of immorality. The most reasonable commentaries I have seen suggest that, absent all other factors, the confrontations with Rene Good and Alex Pretti likely ended in death because the agents were poorly trained. Regardless of who was at fault in these two cases – endlessly litigated on the internet – the agents involved clearly had less training than our local police forces, who are regularly drilled on how to stay calm and deescalate volatile and potentially violent situations. One should not be entrusted with the powers of policing without having the necessary training to carry out those responsibilities well.

Principle #3: We have a moral obligation to our neighbor. No matter how someone came here or what their immigration status is, we have an obligation to care for the person in front of us. This does not necessarily mean fighting their deportation – again, deportation is not inherently unjust – but it does mean looking after their human dignity as long as they are in our religious and civil communities.

Principle #3: We have a moral obligation to the poor. We cannot decide that our country should have no place for refugees or migrants. How many people are admitted each year, from which countries, and under what conditions are absolutely prudential decisions and people of goodwill can disagree. But we are obligated to use our wealth for the good of the poor, and as one of the richest countries in the world, we should always be trying to find ways to do so.

And now we get into my personal opinions. These should not be seen as a reflection of Church teaching, but only my personal application. Feel free to disagree with me here.

Personal Opinion #1: This is Congress’ responsibility. Love him or loath him, President Trump’s administration is correct when it claims that it is merely enforcing the laws on the books. The methods and priorities (see above) are up to the President, but the fact that millions of people are living in this country without legal right or status is up to Congress. If Congress wants to instantly grant legal status to every person living within U.S. borders, they can. It is highly irresponsible for any politician, especially a member of Congress, to suggest that the proper place to resolve this dispute is through anarchy in the streets, rather than through the democratic process on which this country was founded.

Personal Opinion #2: More Latin American immigration, please! I have been ministering to Spanish-speaking Catholics for my entire priesthood and they are some of the most devout, prayerful, hardworking, and family-oriented people you will ever meet. We are so lucky as a country that our primary source of immigration is from Christian, western countries. In fact, I find Latin American immigrants are often a corrective balance to the anti-family, anti-capitalist, anti-religious attitudes of my fellow citizens, and I am not sure where we would be as a country if we did not already have a significant Hispanic population keeping us rooted in Christian values.

Unlike Europe, where their immigration surges come from non-western, majority-Muslim countries and therefore result in huge culture clashes, the majority of our immigrants fit nicely into our national identity and ethos, even in the first generation. So much so that I wonder if some of our current anti-immigration sentiment is still rooted in that old anti-Catholicism that also tried to keep the Italians, Polish, and Irish out. I am all for an ordered border and ordered naturalization process, but not for policies oriented towards keeping a majority-Catholic population out of the country.

Personal Opinion #3: Where is the path to citizenship? I think the endless fights over President Trump’s rhetoric about deporting “criminals” is a distraction. Ultimately, most Americans seem to support deporting the “bad” immigrants and keeping the “good” ones. And yet, neither Republicans nor Democrats have talked about the only lasting way to make that happen – a path to citizenship. The Republican plan to deport every immigrant without legal status – with the hope that they would reapply through the “correct” method – would upend our economy and destroy countless families. The Democrat plan to do nothing and leave everyone in place does not take seriously our national security, our laws, and the injustice of having people live with the constant fear of an ambiguous legal status.

Instead, if we think the “good” immigrants should stay, then we need to give them a legal path to do so. We have so many parishioners without legal status who are the backbone of our churches and our communities, and I want nothing more than to keep them and their children as parishioners forever. It would be a huge loss to have any of them deported. But only Congress has the power to give them a way to stay.

President Bush almost made it happen in 2007 (link), and the Senate nearly succeeded in 2013 (link), but since then Congress has seemingly given up on governing or trying to find solutions. We would rather demonize our opponents to gain points for the next election than actually work for justice.

Partners in the Gospel

Utilization is one of the viability metrics we need to be familiar with as we consider what our opportunities and challenges are. Please look at the graph that is provided in this document and ask yourself what stands out? Where am I surprised by the data? Does the data suggest where we need additional information as we come closer to times of decision making? Discuss this data with your family and friends, and come prepared to give your input at the listening sessions.

Location & Time	Average Mass Attendance	Church Capacity	Utilization
St Joseph Lynden Spanish Saturday 5pm	287.4	275	105%
St Joseph Lynden Sunday 11am	248.9	275	91%
St Joachim Sunday 8:30am	93.6	109	86%
Assumption Spanish Sunday 1pm	383.1	545	70%
St Peter Deming Sunday 8:30am	132.9	204	65%
Assumption Sunday 10am	323.8	545	59%
Sacred Heart Sunday 11am	187.4	322	58%
St Anne Saturday 5pm	119.4	207	58%
Sacred Heart Sunday 9am	185.4	322	58%
St Joseph Ferndale Sunday 10:30am	256.6	491	52%
Assumption Saturday 5pm	261	545	48%
Assumption Sunday 8am	237.1	545	44%
St Joseph Lynden Saturday 5pm	118.4	275	43%
Sacred Heart WWU Sunday 5pm	96.6	322	30%

Data represents average attendance counted during 4 weekends in May and 4 weekends in October 2025
Data provided by Whatcom Catholic Regional Staff

Church Events

Knights of Columbus Lent Fish Fry

When: Friday, February 27, 5:30pm (and every following Friday of Lent)
Where: St Joseph Hall

Knights of Columbus prepare a delicious Fish Dinner during Lent, please join them after attending the Stations of the Cross at 5pm.

Donations are appreciated to help fund 2026 High School Scholarships.

Children’s Mass

When: Sunday, March 1, 10:30am
Where: St. Joseph, Ferndale

Children’s Mass and Storybook Sunday takes place next Sunday at the 10:30am Mass at St. Joseph Ferndale. All Children Preschool through 5th grade are invited to sit in the front pews with youth buddies, and then come with us to the classroom after Mass to hear stories and a lesson, have a donut, sing songs and make a special craft until 1:00. Be sure to join us next week!

St Joseph St Mary’s Guild

When: Wednesday March 4, 2026, Noon
Where: St Joseph hall

Please join us for lunch, fellowship and meeting, great food and help us plan our next events.

Please bring a dish or dessert to share. All ladies welcome!

St Anne Altar Society Meeting

When: Saturday, March 7, after 5pm Mass
Where: St Anne

Please join us after Mass for a time of community, great food and help us plan our next events.

Please bring a dish or dessert to share.

All ladies welcome!

St Joseph Grounds Clean Up

When: Saturday, March 28, 2026, 9am-4pm (or earlier if we get everything done)
Where: St Joseph, Ferndale

We will be cleaning and weeding flowerbeds and trimming bushes, to beatify our grounds for Easter and to get them ready for the growing season. Lunch will be provided. Come and join us, it is a great opportunity to volunteer and get to know some of our wonderful parishioners. If you have any questions, call Nita Harksell at 360-380-6134.

Divine Mercy Sunday

When: First Friday of every month, 5:30pm
Where: Assumption Church

Divine Mercy Sunday will be observed on Sunday, April 12, the Octave of Easter. According to the Divine Mercy devotion, Jesus grants a Special Plenary Indulgence and an Extraordinary Grace to those who have gone to confession within a reasonable time before the feast, sincerely repent their sins, and receive Holy Communion on the day itself.

Preparation may include praying the Divine Mercy Novena beginning on Good Friday, trusting in Divine Mercy, and showing mercy to others.

Information about the Divine Mercy devotion is available at Women’s Connect. An explanation of Extraordinary Graces and Plenary Indulgences is available through TheDivineMercy.org.

The Divine Mercy Chaplet is prayed in a group on the first Friday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at Assumption Church.

For additional information about the Divine Mercy devotion, contact Barbara Karabin at [email protected].

The Divine Mercy Chaplet is also prayed after the 9am Friday Mass at St Joseph Ferndale.

St Joseph Adopt a Flowerbed

We have many flowerbeds around our lovely campus that need someone to give them the TLC that they need throughout the year. We Want You. Adopt A Flowerbed. You may keep the flowerbed clean on your own time, no set day or time to do it. You would be keeping them weeded and any shrubs trimmed as needed. Some of them are such that new flowers may be planted, but most are just pulling weeds. If you already have a bed, let me know if you will continue to keep it up, or if you wish to change flowerbeds, or if you need someone to help you, or if you need to discontinue. Contact Nita Harksell at 360-380-6134 or see her after mass on Sundays

Hope House Thanks

A huge thank you to all those who generously brought in toys for the Hope House through our St. Nick’s Hope Chest from ADVENTure Camp! We were able to bring in an entire van load of toys! This is from the Hope House:

Thank you so much for the generous donation of toys for Hope House. It is going to bring so much joy to so many families! It means a lot that you all chose Hope House and put so much love into supporting Hope House. Please extend our heartfelt gratitude to the families that participated in Adventure Camp!

—April Jordan-Hulsey

Lent Information

CRS Rice Bowl: Lent: A Time of Preparation

CRS Rice Bowl brings Catholics across the United States together each Lent to respond to global hunger and poverty through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. During this holy season, let us recommit to sharing bread for life with our global family so that all people can reach their God-given potential. Visit crsricebowl.org/week-1 to read this week’s Story of Hope.

Lent Small Group Sessions

Hope and Renewal Through the Season of Lent with Pope Leo XIV
Five 60-90 minute small group sessions of prayer and reflection for the Jubilee Year, focused on the Lenten Scriptures with reflections from Pope Leo XIV’s Dilexi te.
During this Lenten season, we reflect on the Word of God and pray that our hearts may be open to encounter Jesus in all the ways he comes to us: in word, in sacrament, in service, and in all his people, especially the poor.

When: Every Thursday Starting February 19, 2026-March 19, 2026, 6:30-8pm
Where: St Joseph, Ferndale Disciples Den
RSVP: David Day [email protected]
or
When: Every Friday Starting February 27, 2026-March 27, 2026, 10-11:00 am
Where: St Joseph, Ferndale Disciples Den
RSVP: Myra Whiting [email protected]
or
When: Every Thursday Starting February 19, 2026-March 19, 2026, 10:30 am-Noon or 6:30 pm-8pm
Where: St Anne Hall
RSVP: Christy Schroeder [email protected]

School News

Growing Great Kids Auction & Gala

When: Sunday, March 7, 2026, 5pm
Where: Bellingham Golf and Country Club

Get your tickets to the 26th Annual Growing Great Kids Auction & Gala— Assumption Catholic School’s largest fundraiser of the year—for a full evening of silent and live auctions, dinner, and fun, or join us for the silent auction part from 5-7pm featuring drinks and hors d’oeuvres. This year the event will be at the Bellingham Golf and Country Club. Contact the school office or scan the QR code in the pews to register for tickets or for more info.

Tickets still available and the due date has been extended until February 25th! There is a silent auction, live auction, food, drinks, fun times and Jeff Ziels is our auctioneer. There is so much to see and all proceeds help Assumption School teach generations to come that are rooted in faith! Call the office for information if you prefer not to do online registration @ 360-733-6133.

Affiliated Organizations

Hope House Call for Donations

Hope House needs the following items:

New/Gently Used Clothes, no rips stains. We especially need men’s clothes.
Diaper, wipes, diaper cream
Sheets, towels, blankets, comforters, pillows
Cereal
Luggage, duffle bags, backpacks
New underwear and socks, all sizes and genders
Pots and Pans
Small kitchen appliances
Laundry Detergent
Dish Soap
Sleeping Bags
Tarps

For more information, please visit Hope House on the web at facebook.com/bellinghamhopehouse.

WSCC: Depolarizing Within: In-Person Workshop

When: Saturday, March 21, 9am-noon
Where: Archbishop Brunett Retreat Center, 4700 SW, Dash Point Rd, Federal Way, WA, 98023

The Depolarizing Within: In-Person Workshop teaches participants to look at their own attitudes towards the political “other” to develop strategies for engaging in politics without demonizing, and to constructively intervene in conversations with like-minded peers when those conversations stereotype or demonize the other side.

Mass will follow the workshop at Noon.

Upcoming

Thursday, February 26

Thursday of the First Week of Lent

8:30am-8:45am: Confessions/Rosary – St Anne
8:30am: Stations of the Cross – St Anne
9am-10am: Mass – St Anne
10:30: Small Lent Group – St Anne, Hall
5pm-6pm: Mass – St Joachim Mass offered for Bryson Bellefeuille
6:30pm: Small Lent Group – St Joseph, Ferndale, Disciples Den
6:30pm: Small Lent Group – St Anne, Hall
6:30-8pm: Women’s Connect – Sacred Heart

Friday, February 27

Friday of the Fist Week of Lent

9am-10am: Mass – St Joseph, Ferndale Mass offered for Bridget Mayer
10am: Small Lent Group – St Joseph, Ferndale, Disciples Den
5pm: Stations of the Cross – St Joseph, Ferndale
6pm: Fish Fry – St Joseph, Ferndale (after Stations)

Saturday, February 28

Saturday of the First Week of Lent

3pm-4pm: Confessions – St Joseph, Ferndale
4:30-4:45pm: Confessions – St Anne
5pm-6pm: Mass – St Anne

Sunday, March 1

Second Sunday in Lent

8am-8:15am: Confessions – St Joachim
8:30am-10am: Mass – St Joachim
10:30am-12pm: Children’s Mass – St Joseph, Ferndale

In case you Missed it

Women’s Connect

Women’s Connect are holding an event for women , “Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit” at Sacred Heart Parish Hall on Thursday February February 26th from 6-8.30 pm. All women are welcome. There will be prayer, food, singing by Kerry Morton of Sacred Heart, crafting, liturgy helps and a message by Zelda Buck from CCS and a testimony by Theresa Meurs of Assumption Church. Please reply on the website www.womensconnect.live. There is a $10 charge at the door or by pushpay on the website. We look forward to seeing you there.

High School BLAST Retreat

When: Saturday, March 7, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Where: Camp Lutherwood

A day of faith, fun, games, and building healthy relationships for all high school youth. Email [email protected] to get registration info directly.

Middle School BLAST Retreat

When: Saturday, March 14, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Where: Camp Lutherwood

A day of faith, fun, games, and community for all middle school youth. Email [email protected] to get registration info directly.

St Joseph, Ferndale Rummage & Bake Sale

Jesus Day Camp

Save the Date June 22-26, 2026, for Jesus Day Camp at St Joseph, Ferndale.