August 15, 2008

The day was overcast, at least from the coast. The forecast indicated it would be a nice 100 degree day and sunny. I didn't do a lot today. I drove to some of the beaches about twenty miles north of the hotel. They were all very foggy. At one point it was difficult to even see the car. I wanted to see some rocky beaches and was expecting to see something like Maine's beaches. Unfortunately, nothing could be seen in the fog.

The beach by the hotel was just as bad with fog. It was disappointing.

August 15th is the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is a holy day of obligation for Catholics. I went to church in a town called Amanda Parks (yes, that's a town name). Because this is a harbor area, it's a long way to drive around the harbor. It was about an hour and ten minutes away.


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The church is called Our Lady of the Olympics. Washington's West Coast is considered the Olympic Peninsula. The capital city is Olympia. There is the Olympic National Park in the area. So, the church name fits right in.

The church is quite small. There would probably only be room for 100 people. The total attendance at the Mass was just over ten people. The priest and one of the attendees recognized that I was not from around here. The priest was happily surprised that someone from so far away would be visiting. He has not gone farther east than eastern Montana. He joked that I was like Lewis and Clark.

Apparently, the priest shortage is so bad in this area that there are three priests for six churches. These are not "clusters" like the ones in the Northeast. The churches are at least thirty to forty-five minutes apart. The mileage may not be that far as the crow flies, but the mileage in terms of driving is great due to the harbor. This is an area of low population so Mass attendance is also low. In fact, the Sunday Mass for Amanda Parks actually takes place on Saturday morning at 9am simply due to the lack of priests.