Arlington Bishop Michael F. Burbidge celebrated a memorial Mass
for Bishop John R. Keating March 22 at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More to
commemorate the 19th anniversary of Bishop Keating’s death.
Bishop Emeritus Paul S. Loverde, Arlington’s third bishop, joined
10 other diocesan priests in concelebrating the Mass, including Father Robert
J. Rippy, cathedral rector, and Father Thomas P. Ferguson, vicar general and
moderator of the curia.
Bishop Burbidge thanked God for blessing the diocese with his
three predecessors: Bishop Thomas J. Welsh, Bishop Keating and Bishop Loverde.
He said that as we recall Bishop Keating’s death, we are reminded
of the lesson at the heart of the Lenten season, “that we are dust and unto
dust we shall return.”