September
9.  Father Ryan offered a special Mass of the Holy Spirit with the O’Dea High School community as they began their new school year.
26.  Our EMs, Ushers, Servers, and Readers gathered for their annual Liturgy Day, a time to get renewed in the meaning of their ministries.
28.  The 13th Annual Hunthausen Charity Golf Tournament was our most successful to date, netting $72,000 in support of Cathedral Outreach Ministries, the Cathedral Kitchen in particular.
 
October
4.  At the Noon Mass, we celebrate a First Sunday Youth Celebration, which included a blessing of children, parents, and catechists as they began a new school year.
 
November
2.  All Souls Day.  Father Ryan said in his homily for today: “The surpassingly beautiful music of Maurice Duruflé is a homily on death all its own, and a bold statement of faith.  The haunting but comforting cadences of the plainsong, the sometimes uncertain, other times exultant harmonies, the soaring melodies, the insistent rhythms—all these resonate with our own struggles and longings to affirm our faith in the victory of life even when death seems to have the last word.”
8.  Parishioners David Unger and Anna Horton shared their story on Sacrificial Giving Sunday.  After the morning Masses, we had our annual Ministries Fair in Cathedral Hall, a chance for parishioners not only to volunteer for a Cathedral ministry, but also to celebrate the rich variety of ministries in our parish.
9.  At the conclusion of our annual Mass for the Deceased Homeless, we gathered in the courtyard as the tower bell is tolled 85 times in remembrance of the men, women, and children who died homeless in King County this year.
26.  At the beautiful Mass on Thanksgiving Day, we brought our gifts of food for the poor and placed them around the altar at offertory time.  The Cathedral Kitchen served a magnificent feast of turkey and all the fixings to nearly 300 of our neighbors in need.
 
December
5.  The colorful celebration of Madre de las Americas gathered Catholics from across Western Washington to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Mother of the Americas.
6.  We celebrated the Rite of Admission to Candidacy for twenty-five men who feel called to explore the possibility of ordination to the permanent diaconate.
6.  Dozens participated in our annual Giving Tree which benefited our neighbors at Frederic Ozanam House and First Nations House. 
12.  We gathered for the annual celebration of Simbang Gabi, the Advent Blessing Mass. 
17.  In observance of the Year for Priests, Father Ryan sent a letter to the parish meditating on the gift of the priesthood.  “ministry is never a one-way street. It goes in both directions.  So many times over the years it has been your faith that has inspired mine, your hope that has sparked mine, and your love that has challenged mine.  That’s why I am absolutely convinced that anything I have been able to accomplish through my ministry here pales by comparison with all that I have received—received from you.”
18.  Today Archbishop Brunett gathered with the Chancery staff for a Mass celebrating his 12th Anniversary of Installation as Archbishop of Seattle.
20.  The children of the parish presented a wonderful Advent program of readings and songs, Candlelight, Carols, and Cathedral Children, which especially featured the gifts of two of our youth choirs—the Schola Cantorum and Jubilate!
21.  We celebrated the vigil of the Solemnity of the Dedication of the Cathedral.  The Cathedral was dedicated by Bishop Edward J. O’Dea on December 22, 1907, 102 years ago today.  Father Ryan said: “The building, no matter how beautiful, only makes sense if it welcomes us warmly and then sends us forth to live out there what happens in here: to do out there what Jesus did as he brought glad tidings to the poor, proclaimed liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, healing and hope to all.  That was his call and it is ours as well. On this feast of our dedication, may we renew our commitment to that call, and may the Eucharist we now celebrate with beauty, dignity, and grace strengthen us to live it!”
24-25.  Nearly 7,000 people celebrated Christmas at St. James Cathedral.  In his homily for today, Father Ryan asked:  “I have a question for you: do you believe in the Incarnation?  If you believe in the Incarnation, then nothing can stay the same because you begin to see everything—and everyone—with new eyes.  You begin to see the manger scenes that are all around us—the living ones—not just those on our Christmas cards and beneath our Christmas trees or on our fireplace mantels.”
31.  The Cathedral was packed for our annual New Year’s Eve Gala Concert, which this year featured the magnficent music of Handel.
 
January
3.  We celebrated the great feast of the Epiphany.
9.  Archbishop Brunett presided at a special Mass in Thanksgiving for the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
15.  We gathered for a special prayer remembering the victims of the terrible earthquake in Haiti.  In the spontaneous collection taken up in the days following the devastating earthquake, the Cathedral parish donated over $44,000 to CRS for the relief effort.
17.  We celebrated the Santo Niño—the Holy Child Jesus at the Noon Mass, which was followed by a great fiesta in Cathedral Hall.
 
February
12-13.  Great Music for Great Cathedrals returned with color, light, processions, and above all—music!
15.  A new set of The Stations of the Cross, the work of Cathedral iconographer Joan Brand-Landkamer, were installed in the Cathedral (a special thanks to Trent Mummery, who engineered the hanging of the stations).  These Stations, inspired by the work of Georges Rouault, will hang in the Cathedral each Lent.  They are a powerful invitation to encounter the suffering Christ.
17.  The solemn observance of Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of the Lenten season.