The mission of The Chapel of St. Martha and St. Mary of Bethany is to provide sanctuary and spiritual connection to people in the Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle.

Description:
For thousands of years, throughout the world, marketplaces and places of worship have been closely connected. It seems to be natural to give thanks to the divine for abundance, or perhaps it's that temples, churches, mosques, and such like are the only ones with the real estate to host weekly farmers' markets. The Chapel's sanctuary space looks down on the corner of First and Pike from six big windows upstairs in the Economy Building in the Pike Place Market. In the Chapel are tables to sit around, comfy sofas and matching wingback chairs, a riot of tropical plants, parakeets and finches, freshwater tropical fish, and a rocking chair beside the altar.

Here people gather from all parts of the world to take a break in a cheerful, uncrowded, and pleasing place. (Here’s a confession: we get a little loud during the World Cup soccer games, an enthusiasm not really shared by the chess players or the guitarists. They just hide until the games are over for another four years.) Religious services are scheduled at the altar twice a week. Community organizations use the premises regularly.

The Chaplain is available to folks who are looking for a religious community such as Church, Mosque, Temple, Gurdwara, Synagogue, or Sweat Lodge and to folks who are in need of pastoral care or who simply want to chat a bit. The Chaplain is also available for weddings, funerals, blessings, and baptism.

Further sanctuary of companionship is provided by members of the Chapel's community in the park at the north end of the Market, by the Totem Poles on a nice day or around the tables in the Chapel while playing dominoes, or in quiet conversation - perhaps sitting in the rocking chair - in the quiet space near the altar. Many of our Spanish-speaking members live under the freeway; from there, they are able to assist homeless people of the dominant Anglo society who may find themselves disoriented or in other dismay.

Members also provide a weekly voters' registration table in front of the Market's pig "Rachel," a weekly transport of 1-2 tons of food from the warehouse to a rural food bank, a monthly luncheon with folks who live in a Market apartment building, an annual "Sweetheart Dinner" at the Pink Door restaurant for the 300 senior and disabled residents of the Market. For ourselves and our guests we prepare a raucous Mexican supper together on the last Sunday of each month.

The Chapel's community is bilingual (Spanish and English) and comprises members of the fishing fleet, seasonal workers, members of partner parishes, Market residents, Eastsiders, Downtowners, and an astonished Australian.

We’re doing things a bit differently for the time being, though. Really filthy luck began an ugly run in 2001 when Chaplain O’Shea became seriously ill; this was diagnosed and corrected in 2002. A month later Assisting Lay Chaplain Carolyn Bryce was diagnosed with cancer of which she died in 2003. Four months later the Chaplain was injured and suffered a long series of hospitalizations, surgeries, and complications. So now Chaplain O’Shea uses a power wheelchair and oxygen to continue her work via computer and telephone. There's an open door to her apartment, which is located nearby, for meetings and for people to stop by for a word or two. The Senior Warden comes each day to bring the mail, to discuss the day, and to introduce new members. Visiting priests and pastors provide religious services. The Chaplain's recovery is expected to be complete, though not immediate. The Chapel community continues with its work under the care of long time members and wardens.

As long as we’re doing things differently anyway, we change with all the changes around us. We have a dizzying array of opportunities before us among English speaking people, even as we shrug off all that rotten luck. Changes and chances are all over downtown as Seattle seems to lose itself among the high-rises. We can get to know more folks and just "be there" for the vendors, entertainers, and residents who all scramble to accommodate the changes. All the while they try to remain unchanged-looking and to continue the legacy of the Market as it nears its century mark.

Nowadays, for example, really big cruise ships park downstairs and their thousands of tourists can swamp out or hide the Market's famous medley and jumble, hodgepodge and mélange of fish and friends and carrots and cookware, glittery hats down under with the ghost and the gummi bears, on the stairs with the singers, in the street with the piano and sausage and cheese, clowns and cabbage: a medley, a mélange! It’s just that few tourists from the ships buy one of Faro’s Meats beautiful rib roasts, or light bulbs and locks from Rainier Hardware, or a dozen ears of picked-this-morning organic corn on the cob.

Hey, let's have late afternoon hours so folks can stop by after work, have a picnic in a park July 29, visit the crew of a cruise ship to say hello, get to know the Market well enough to be a walking information booth, and mmmmmmmm what else?

History:
We began life in 1984 as The Pike Market Ministry, gathering for hospitality and prayer in the old Lotus Café. Our founder, The Rev Carol Ludden, hoped we could be a church without walls, a peripatetic chaplaincy among the Market’s vendors and residents, but it quickly became clear that the community really wanted a place to gather. So we grew as a Market Residents’ advocacy program of the Episcopal Church and moved to our current location in 1989.

The Bishop's Committee asked the Bishop to appoint the Rev Susan O'Shea to be their Chaplain/Director and, on April Fools' Day 1991, he did so.

The Chapel premises were opened 20 hrs per week for people to gather or to meet with the Chaplain. Religious services began on Sundays at 10 in the morning and on Wednesdays at noon with a brief moment of prayer at noon each day in the Chapel. Sunday afternoons we provided religious services and chaplaincy for the residents of Heritage House in the Market. Through an enthusiastic supporter, we offered two HUD houses for folks who would otherwise be homeless. Each week these residents prepared lunch on Sundays for homeless folks in church who missed the city’s downtown feeding programs. We prepared a festive dinner annually for Market Residents.

Diocesan participation included fund-raising for the new Episcopal Charities Appeal, active prison ministry with Kairos, and preaching and teaching with our 26 partner parishes. We were happy also to speak to such secular organizations as the Downtown Rotary, City Club, and Redmond Rotary.

In 1994, the Chapel was a ‘spin off’ from our parent organization, the Episcopal Church and we incorporated as a 501(c)3 organization. This designation means the Chapel is nonprofit, nonpolitical, and donations are tax deductible.

There converged, in the early 90's, four events that changed us.
First, the new premises, though considerably larger, are not accessible to folks with differing mobility skills.
Second, the city became host to 3,000 Spanish-speaking laborers for the fishing fleet who sought out the Chapel.
Third, the Senior Center welcomed their new full-time Residents' Advocate who took up much of what we had been doing.
Four, the low-income HUD housing contracts were beginning to expire and many of the low income apartment buildings would join the open market; rents would easily quadruple. We began saying good bye to many of our senior friends as they sadly moved out.

These four changes in the world around us suggested we develop a different skill set, a new way to be alive in and to the world around us. So we became bilingual and an advocate for downtown survival services, participating in the establishment of such as Aloha Inn and Casa Latina. Worship materials changed to a bilingual format and hymns were sung in Spanish. The new people needed to use the telephone for job searches, to use the address for mail from home, and to have a place to stash a duffle bag. We began to offer evening hours with an Assisting Lay Chaplain, hired in 2001. In 2003, the Chaplain was asked to provide services for a month in an Alaskan community; this happy turn continues annually each August when the Chapel is closed anyway because of the summer heat upstairs (100° +).

The start of the new millennium was not kind to us. The Chaplain became gravely ill in 2001 and it was 2002 before correct diagnosis and treatment were established. A month after her return to work, Assisting Lay Chaplain Carolyn Bryce was diagnosed with cancer, of which she died in 2003. A few months later Chaplain O’Shea was injured and began a series of surgeries and complications. She continues part time, using the computer, the telephone, a power wheelchair and her nearby apartment.

Now it's the 21st century and once again "The Times They Are a-Changin'." The Bering Sea fishery is greatly reduced and most of our Spanish-speaking people have left to follow the fishery. Folks in apartments around us are pretty upscale nowadays. The number of downtown businesses is increasing. The new WaMu building at First and Union, besides being a gorgeous place for part of the Seattle Art Museum to expand into, will bring in thousands of workers to our corner.

We are currently at a dizzying height of opportunities among English speaking people, even as we shrug off all that rotten luck. We can jump right to it and "get out there" in our community's tradition of strength and ingenuity. These opportunities are already growing rapidly as downtown Seattle seems to lose itself among the high-rises.

Anyway, that's our story so far.

Contact person: Susan O'Shea, Chaplain, (phone), (email)
Office fax number: use PDF attachment to email chapel@qwest.net

Address:

93 Pike St #317 Seattle, WA 98101 This location is NOT handicap accessible (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.chapelinthemarket.org - awaiting a new server

Directions:

Up the stairs from the Pig 'Rachel' under the clock in the Pike Place Market, 1st and Pike, downtown Seattle.   Nearest Bus Stop: Most Metro buses, 0-3 blks minute walk

Miscellaneous Information

Liability
	Yes
Does your organization welcome court-ordered community service volunteers?
	No
Does your organization have volunteer positions for youth 12-18?
	No