Our history begins with individuals searching for another way to be Catholic; individuals who were growing more dissatisfied with the direction that the Roman Catholic Church is taking toward a “smaller more orthodox” church.  The struggle of the Roman Catholic community of Corpus Christi in Rochester NY caught people’s attention, especially when that community chose to transform itself into Spiritus Christi, and ordained a woman as priest.   At about the same time people discovered Bishop Peter Hickman and St. Matthew’s Ecumenical Catholic Church in Orange, CA. 

A few of these individuals invited Mary Ramerman and James Callen of Spiritus Christi, and Bishop Peter and Mirella Hickman of St Matthew’s, and members of their faith communities, to visit the Puget Sound area as part of a retreat at the Seabeck Christian Retreat Center on the Hood Canal. At the retreat, these guests told their stories of finding themselves called to a new, more inclusive way to be Catholic.

On Labor Day weekend, September 2003, about 30 residents of this area attended that retreat to hear the stories of Spiritus Christi Catholic Community, and St. Matthew’s Ecumenical Catholic Church.  About ten people found themselves so moved by that experience that we continued to meet on a regular basis to discern what our experience meant, and what further actions we were being called to undertake.

When we met, we prayed a lay-led eucharistic prayer and shared reflective conversations about what concerns we had with the current Roman Catholic institution. We shared what we wanted to see in a Catholic community.  We came up with a values list that described what we desired, and we followed some Quaker models of discernment that led us to a sense sometime in the fall of 2004 to "be church."

We continued to wonder what "being church" meant.  While we wondered we met monthly for reflection and Eucharistic prayer. Some married Roman Catholic priests from the CORPUS community supported our efforts and at Pentecost 2005, we gathered with various Catholics from small alternative Catholic communities sprinkled throughout the Puget Sound area to celebrate the Holy Spirit's life in us and work among us. 

Planners of that event, held at the Wayside Church of Christ in Federal Way, were challenged to take the Pentecost energy we had experienced and bring it close to home. That step brought into being the ECC Explorers, drawing participants primarily from Seattle and the Eastside area.

Jim Callen and Mary Rammerman returned and spent time with us in 2004, and Bishop Peter Hickman and his spouse, Mirella, returned and spent time in September 2005, discerning with us our next steps. This discernment included visits by the bishop to the South Sound, Eastside, and Olympic Peninsula.  At a subsequent meeting, twelve of approximately 20 people who registered as "participants" in our local group agreed to step forth and serve as a leadership body.  A few months later, one of those twelve stepped aside from  leadership, leaving 11 leaders. That departing person left us as a legacy the name that we now choose for our community.

There is another way to be Catholic!

Ecumenical Catholic Communion Directory