Our History

On the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15, 1958, Bishop Topel erected Assumption Parish in the Indian Trail neighborhood of northwest Spokane. At the time, the parish was comprised of some two hundred forty families, geographically carved off from the adjacent St. Charles Parish. Parish facilities are situated on twelve and one-half acres of land, nestled along the basalt cliffs and pine trees below Five Mile Prairie.. The parish boundary extended as far as Seven Mile and Nine Mile Falls.

Gathered with their first pastor, Fr. Ralph Schwemin, parishioners broke ground in March of 1959 for the construction of parish facilities. First would come a small rectory-office building (now the parish Youth Center and Resource Center), two sections of school classrooms, one of which would serve for years as the parish church. Awaiting construction, parishioners gathered for Sunday Mass in the gymnasium of nearby Westview Elementary School. Setting up and taking down chairs became a shared routine and kneeling on a cold concrete floor, a common suffering.

On the first anniversary of the parish, August 15, 1959, the parishioners gathered to celebrate Mass in the partially completed new building. The second-hand oak pews were a special delight! The parish school opened on September 27 of that year, with the Dominican Sisters of Kettle Falls welcoming nearly two hundred students.

In 1961 Fr. Schwemin set about designing and having constructed a small rectory-residence to sit on the upper campus of the parish. (The building has since been transformed into a Youth Center and Resource Center.) In 1962 the school facility was expanded, to include all eight grades. At its zenith of growth, the student population would reach nearly four hundred students. Grateful for their dedicated service, that same year the parish also built a convent for the Dominican Sisters who taught in their school. The Sisters left the guidance of the school in the hands of a series of competent lay men and women. The convent was replaced (1997) by a Junior High building. The following year an expansive playfield and parking lot were put in place.

The parish continued to grow throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s. In 1966, the parish completed construction of a multi-purpose gymnasium-hall-kitchen facility, which remains in use today. It was dedicated in September of 1966. Grateful parishioners used the occasion to give special honor to Fr. Schwemin for his twenty-five years of priestly ministry and his inspirational help and guidance in the organization and building of the parish. Those years include time spent presenting a popular weekly television program, “From the pastor’s Study,” on the local KHQ television station.

Father Schwemin was replaced for a brief time by Dutch priest, Fr. Adrian Van der Heyden (1972-1974). Fr. William Skylstad would follow him but shepherded the parish for equally brief time (1974-76); Bishop Topel called him to work in diocesan administration. Very soon thereafter Fr. Skylstad was ordained Bishop of the Diocese of Yakima (May 12, 1977) and later installed as Bishop of his home Diocese (April 27, 1990). Msgr. John Donnelly was named to succeed him (1976-1987). He was followed by Fr. Tyrone Schaff (1987-1994), Fr. Joe Bell (1994-2001), and Fr. Michael Savelesky (2001-2012), Father Matthew Larsen (2012-14). Fr. Thomas Connolly currently serves as Parish Adminstrator, as well as pastor of St. Charles. Fourteen parochial vicars have come and gone from the parish; four permanent deacons have served there as well, the last two, Deacons Kelly Stewart and Craig Blomgren.

Msgr. John Donnelly became pastor of the parish in 1976 and moved the parish forward. In addition to fostering community and faith formation, he engaged the parish in more building programs. In November 1977 the parish joined time, talent and treasure to build a new rectory on the lower campus (now the parish offices). August 15, 1978, the twentieth anniversary of he gathered with parishioners to celebrate ground breaking for the parish church which was designed by a parishioner-architect, William Fiedler. Over the next year, under the guidance of the general overseers Paul Russell and Leo Higgins, parishioners worked tirelessly to construct their new church. The completed parish church was dedicated by Bishop Lawrence Welsh on December 19, 1979. Additions after 1979 have included colored windows which were installed in 2002, entitled “Embraced in Glory,” as well as the addition of a new altar, ambo and presidential chairs executed by Walla Walla craftsman, Roger Treis.

Today, life continues in the parish. The school now includes a pre-school program for three and four year olds. While the student body is no longer the size that it was several decades ago, there are positive signs for growth in the future. The parishioners remain active and dedicated to the parish, gathering each week for the celebration of the Sacraments. They also visit the sick and homebound, gather to study the scriptures, attend religious education classes, reach out to the poor, and participate in many other activities. When Bishop Skylstad erected Our Lady of the Lake Parish in the Suncrest/Tum Tum area (December 2002), the parish lost a large northwest portion of its territory. In all things, from the beginning, the parish remains under the guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The parishioners continue to ask for her intercession, that they may faithfully follow her Son.