Spokane’s West Central Abbey has been a central fixture in its neighborhood for more than a century. It’s gone through phases of use, neglect, and revitalization.
The Abbey serves its neighborhood well, but for one basic function. That is on its way to being addressed, thanks to a grant from the National Fund for Sacred Places.
But first, the Abbey has to raise its own funds to match that grant. So it’s asking the help of local artists, either secular or sacred, who have drawn upon the church for their own work.
This is a transcript of the audio piece. Click "Listen" above to hear the story.
Jess Walter’s latest novel “So Far Gone” is about estranged grandfather Reese Kinnick reuniting with his grandchildren. In this scene that Walter reads, Reese takes his grandson Asher to a chess tournament.
Jess Walter: “The chess tournament, according to Mrs. Gaines, was being held at an old abbey in west central Spokane, the city's oldest working class neighborhood. The Spokane Chess Club met in this 19th century Episcopal church, a barn red steepled church building with an abbot's house attached. A sign out front read ‘We cultivate justice, joy, compassion, and peace.’ There were only four cars in the gravel parking lot, a few more on the street. Reese parked and turned back to consider his grandson. ‘You ready to go get ‘em, Kasparov?’ Asher looked up from his paper and notebook, suddenly seeming panicked. ‘I have to pee.’ ‘I'm sure there's a bathroom in there.’ ‘I hope so.’”
Eliza Billingham: So how did you find out that the Abbey doesn't actually have a bathroom inside?”
JW: “Well, Katy Shedlock reached out to me and asked if I would help in this fundraising effort to try to put a bathroom in the Abbey. So until that point, I just sort of assumed there was one. I've lived in West Central for 22 years and walked by that beautiful building on my way to second breakfast most days. And so, I suppose I should have done a little more research, but I think it's kind of... it speaks to my abilities as an author that I think it would be easier to raise money to put a bathroom in the Abbey than to go change a sentence in my book.”
To be fair to Walter, the Abbey technically does have a bathroom. But it’s not inside the Abbey. It’s in the parish hall next door and requires a walk outside to get to it.
The caretakers of the Abbey hope that’s about to change. West Central Abbey was the second church in Washington to receive a grant from the National Trust of Sacred Places, fifty thousand dollars to help keep the building usable.
To Reverend Katy Shedlock, that means a bathroom in the same building as the sanctuary. And there should be enough money to replace the cedar shingles that are falling off the roof, too.
The grant is a matching grant—the Abbey got news of the award in 2024, but it needs to raise its own fifty thousand dollars first.
So Shedlock asked three West Central writers who have been inspired in some way by the old church to host a reading. They’ll hold that reading next week. All proceeds will go towards matching the grant.
What is it about the Abbey that has captured both local and national attention?
Katy Shedlock: “The National Fund for Sacred Places, they really look for what I think can be kind of a unique blend of they want really cool historic buildings and they want churches that are really committed to serving their communities.”
Shedlock says the Abbey is actually a gothic chapel, with some original stained glass windows and others that were painted in the 70s.
KS: “But the colors are really vivid and vibrant, and the lighting in the space is pretty low. And especially as you're coming in from outside, you know, you kind of adjust to the light.”
As your eyes adjust, you can see huge wood beams curve up to a vaulted ceiling.
KS: “People almost always look up when they come in the door. People almost always, their shoulders kind of drop, which I think is about putting down whatever burdens that we have when we enter the space.”
Though the space has an ancient feel, the church’s mission is progressive. Parishioners give out Narcan at free Wednesday night meals. Its sanctuary pews circle around a wobbly communion table instead of facing the high altar. Its hymnal includes Be Thou My Vision and Brandi Carlile.
KS: “We've done free funerals for people from our dinner table community who wouldn't have otherwise had a beautiful space in which to say goodbye.”
Even though West Central is built on a grid, Dean Avenue takes an unexpected curve around the Abbey. The red building kind of juts out into the pavement. Shedlock says that’s what first earned the Abbey its nickname “church in the streets.”
KS: “I love that image of the church in the streets. I think a way that connects to our congregation now is we have a lot of people who are deeply passionate about social justice, people who are willing to go protest for things that they believe in.”
And for our detail-oriented listeners—no, this isn’t actually an abbey.
KS: “So an abbey historically speaking is a place where people who have taken vows of living together in religious community would live and work. We are not an abbey in that traditional sense…But we have some things that we do hold in common with abbeys of the past. One is that we have this big giant garden and agricultural life was often a part of monastic community work and life together. We have lots of really creative folks who are people who practice the arts in lots of different ways.”
There’s even a banner above the doorway that encourages whoever is leaving the sanctuary to “Live Creatively.”
Thom Caraway: “English novelist David Jones describes creativity, basically, art making as the surest sign of our own createdness.”
Thom Caraway is a Whitworth professor, book printer, author, and poet. He is one of the writers who will read at the fundraising event. He gives entire lectures on the overlap of sacredness and creativity.
TC: “You don't need to make art. We must make art, right? Our souls demand it. And so why is that? And I think it's because that creativity is the expression, the outer expression of our own kind of inner sacredness, right? And you can call it whatever you want in different people from different spiritual backgrounds or different belief systems or without belief systems at all.”
But what exactly makes a place sacred?
JW: I probably have a much more working class idea of sacred spaces.
That’s Jess Walter again.
JW: “I grew up next to a drive-in movie theater, which was a little bit sacred to me. Any time I go by a basketball court in the middle of a city, that's kind of a sacred place for me. Every library branch to me speaks of the sacred. And so, you know, I think there are a lot of different places where we transcend the everyday and the regular.”
He says church services never did that for him. Same goes for Leyna Krow, an author, creative writing professor, and West Central resident who will read at the fundraiser, too.
Leyna Krow: “I don't think about sacredness, but I like the notion of it. And I would say, as a person who's more connected to the arts than I am to, I think, conventional notions of religion, that art does feel sacred to me. I guess I would think of sacredness as something that's essential in a very core way, either on an individual level or a community level.”
EB: “Do you think the neighborhood would lose anything if the abbey kind of fell into disrepair?”
LK: “Oh, definitely. First of all, the abbey is in a really practical sense, it's a place that's providing social services in West Central in a really welcoming and low barrier way. It's also connected to a lot of other organizations that are in West Central. So yeah, it's definitely a neighborhood hub and an essential spot in West Central for sure.”
TC: “There are places in West Central that are important and useful and meaningful. And the Abbey is one of the only ones that is all three. But it's not just a symbol either, right? It's a working symbol, right? They're doing good work for the soul. They're doing good work for the bodies of the neighborhood and the population that they serve. And the spirit that flows out of it comes back to it.”
JW: “It's fallen into disrepair before, and so I like to think human nature and the desire for connection would mean that it would come back in some other way. But it's got such good caretakers right now, and they care not just about their own particular faith and the space, but they also care about the neighborhood and the people around it.”
KS: “I think on the one hand, a sacred place can be any place, right, because God is everywhere. I think when I think about that in terms of my own life, like, if I were to give someone a list of, like, 'Here at Katy Shedlock's top five sacred places,' they're all places where something meaningful really happened that helped me understand myself and the world in a different way. And I certainly hope that that's what happens here.”
The reading will take place on Friday, February 6 at the Abbey. If you attend, make sure to ask someone where the bathroom is.
