About St. Anne · Tulalip, Washington
St. Anne Mission is a historic Catholic church on the Tulalip Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington, perched on Totem Beach Road overlooking Tulalip Bay. Founded in 1857 by French Oblate missionaries Father Eugene Casimir Chirouse and Father Paul Durieu as an evangelization and boarding-school mission to the Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skagit and other Puget Sound peoples, it is one of the oldest surviving Catholic institutions in the Pacific Northwest. Today it serves as a Mission of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Seattle under the Archdiocese's 2024 Partners in the Gospel reorganization, grouped as Parish Family 6 with Our Lady of Hope Parish in Everett and pastored by Very Rev. Joseph F. Altenhofen, with Rev. Juan Carlos Rivera Zelaya as Parochial Vicar. The 1904 church — built after the previous mission burned in 1902 — was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and still houses the French Madonna statue saved from that fire.
- Established
- 1857
- Patron
- St. Anne (mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
- Rector
- Very Rev. Joseph F. Altenhofen
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Seattle (Parish Family 6 with Our Lady of Hope Parish, Everett, under Partners in the Gospel)
Why belong here
St. Anne is the historic Catholic heart of the Tulalip Reservation, a worshipping community that has celebrated the Mass in the same church building on Totem Beach Road since 1904 and that today intentionally reclaims the Lushootseed language in its liturgy. Worshippers join a small, multicultural Mission supported by the Knights of Columbus, the St. Vincent de Paul Society (with a Spanish-speaking contact), a Prayer Shawl Ministry, a parish garden growing produce for the Marysville Food Bank, and a community-wide Mary's Guild — all sharing the bluff with Our Lady of Hope School. As a designated Mission within the Archdiocese of Seattle's Parish Family 6 (with Our Lady of Hope in Everett), St. Anne is a friendly, easy-to-walk-into parish where longtime families and first-time visitors pray together in one of the oldest Catholic congregations in the Pacific Northwest.
Mass times at St. Anne
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 4:30 PM (Reconciliation, before the 5:30 PM vigil Mass)
St. Anne Mission at Tulalip — Overview
St. Anne Mission is the Catholic congregation at 7231 Totem Beach Road on the Tulalip Reservation, just off Marine Drive west of Marysville, Washington. The Mission sits on a bluff above Tulalip Bay in Snohomish County and is part of the Archdiocese of Seattle. It is the surviving Catholic center of one of the earliest Oblate evangelization efforts in the Pacific Northwest, and today it operates as a Mission within Parish Family 6 — paired with Our Lady of Hope Parish in Everett under the Partners in the Gospel plan announced in 2024. The current pastor is Very Rev. Joseph F. Altenhofen; the parochial vicar is Rev. Juan Carlos Rivera Zelaya. The parish school affiliated with the family is Our Lady of Hope School in Everett.
- Address: 7231 Totem Beach Road, Tulalip, WA 98271
- Phone: (360) 653-9400
- Website: stmary-stanne.org
- Deanery: Snohomish Deanery
- County: Snohomish
- Status: Mission (Parish Family 6, Archdiocese of Seattle)
History — From 1857 Oblate Mission to Today
The Mission of St. Anne traces its origin to 1857, when Father Eugene Casimir Chirouse, O.M.I., and Father Paul Durieu, O.M.I., French Oblates of Mary Immaculate, arrived on the Tulalip Reservation. Welcomed by local chiefs, they built a log structure near Ebey Slough that served as their home, chapel and school. Father Chirouse learned the local Lushootseed/Snohomish dialect, compiled a dictionary, translated scripture and prayers, and formed a boys' choir and band that toured by canoe to raise funds. Government school funding promised under the 1855 Point Elliott Treaty never came, but in 1869 St. Anne's became the first contract Indian school in the nation. The Sisters of Charity of Providence (Montreal) joined to run the girls' school in 1868. After Fr. Chirouse was reassigned in 1878, the school eventually passed to federal control in 1900.
- 1857: Log mission, church, and school built near Ebey Slough (Priest Point) by OMI fathers Chirouse and Durieu.
- 1868: Sisters of Charity of Providence invited to establish a girls' school.
- 1869: St. Anne's becomes the first contract Indian school in the United States.
- 1878: Father Chirouse transferred to British Columbia; dies 1892.
- 1900: Federal government assumes control of the school.
- March 29, 1902: The original mission burns the night before Easter; Emil Williams rescues the Madonna statue from France.
- 1904: New brick church completed on the bluff above Tulalip Bay; the French Madonna is re-installed.
- December 15, 1957: Centennial Mass celebrated with Rev. August Royer and preacher Rev. Edmund Long.
- June 18, 1976: Church added to the National Register of Historic Places (#76001911).
- May 11, 2008: First Lushootseed-language Mass in decades; Lushootseed Masses continue.
- 2024: Parish grouped into Parish Family 6 under Partners in the Gospel.
Lushootseed and the Tulalip Heritage
One of St. Anne's most distinctive features is its use of Lushootseed, the Salish language of the Tulalip Tribes. Fr. Chirouse preached in the local tongue and compiled an English-Lushootseed dictionary in the 19th century, but federal Indian boarding-school policy from the early 1900s through 1932 suppressed native languages and culture. On May 11, 2008 — after the Tulalip Tribes and others had worked to bring the language back — Mass at St. Anne was again partially spoken in Lushootseed for the first time in many decades. Special Lushootseed Masses continue, including on Mother's Day, May 10, 2009, tying Catholic worship directly to tribal cultural recovery.
Parish Ministries and Outreach
As a small Mission, St. Anne relies on a tight circle of lay-led ministries for fellowship and outreach. Volunteers knit prayer shawls for the seriously ill, tend a parish garden whose vegetables go to the Marysville Food Bank (and whose flowers adorn the church sanctuary), and serve neighbors through the St. Vincent de Paul Society — including Spanish-speaking contacts for Spanish-speaking neighbors. The Knights of Columbus bring charity, fraternity and service outreach, and Mary's Guild fosters parish fellowship with social events.
- Prayer Shawl Ministry
- Parish Garden (Marysville Food Bank / sanctuary flowers)
- Saint Vincent de Paul Society (incl. Spanish-speaking contact)
- Knights of Columbus
- Mary's Guild
- Family catechesis partnership with Our Lady of Hope School under Partners in the Gospel
Parish Family 6 and Partners in the Gospel
On February 2, 2024 — the Feast of the Presentation — Archbishop Paul D. Etienne promulgated the final parish families of the Archdiocese of Seattle under Partners in the Gospel. St. Anne was placed in Parish Family 6 alongside Our Lady of Hope Parish in Everett, with Very Rev. Joseph F. Altenhofen appointed pastor of the family and Rev. Juan Carlos Rivera Zelaya as parochial vicar. The intent is that, over roughly three years, the family will move toward becoming one canonical parish while sharing staff, ministries and outreach.
- Parish Family 6: Our Lady of Hope Parish (Everett) + St. Anne Mission (Tulalip)
- Pastor: Very Rev. Joseph F. Altenhofen
- Parochial Vicar: Rev. Juan Carlos Rivera Zelaya
- Affiliated school: Our Lady of Hope School, Everett
Records, Archives, and Tribal Stewardship
The Archdiocese of Seattle Archives holds administrative records, memorabilia, sacramental registers (baptisms, marriages) from the 1840s–1920s, and cemetery and school data for St. Anne dating back to the 1840s and continuing to the present. Because much of this material pertains directly to the Tulalip Tribes, the Archives coordinates access with the Tribes; digital copies have been shared with the relevant tribal archives, and notarized sacramental certificates are issued with tribal approval.
- Archdiocese of Seattle Archives Ask an Archivist: [email protected] / (206) 382-4352
- Native records are closed to protect tribal data sovereignty.
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. August Royer1957
Celebrant of the centennial Mass on December 15, 1957, marking 100 years since the mission's 1857 founding.
- Rev. Edmund Long
Former pastor of St. Mary's Parish in Marysville; preached the sermon at the 1957 centennial Mass.