By Mary Frances McCarthy
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 2/12/04)

Mary Peffley, mother of Father Fran Peffley, pastor of Holy Trinity Parish in Gainesville, said she never expected she would get married.

Raised in Indiana, she moved to Philadelphia as a young woman to help organize more Legion of Mary groups in the archdiocese. She traveled to Reading to help a group, and there she met Bill Peffley. "It was love at first sight," Bill said.

Mary admits to being "slightly disappointed" when Bill took his laundry to the laundromat after their first meeting instead of going to a Legion breakfast.

It wouldn’t be long before they got to know each other. They worked together in the Legion Curia in Pennsylvania; Mary was president and Bill, her vice president. Their first dates consisted of Legion meetings and helping start new Legion groups. They raised a few eyebrows when they were caught holding hands.

The couple was married on Sept. 8, 1958, on the Feast of Our Lady’s Nativity. They spent their five-week honeymoon in Dublin studying the Legion and its founding members.

"[The Legion] has been the center of our life," said Mary.

"When our kids were little, I would tell them: This is the mission of our Church and God wants me to go out and work and bring souls to the Church," Bill said.

Although it took some work, Mary said, "It is possible to combine [Legion work] with family life. As Father Fran says, ‘If you want to do something, you find a way to do it.’"

As part of their Legion work, Bill and Mary opened the Catholic Shop in Norristown, Pa., after they returned from their honeymoon. "Mom still recruits for the Legion when she’s working," said their daughter Natia, named after Father Ignatius Szal, the priest who urged Bill to join the Legion.

It was through Mary’s recruiting that her oldest child, Edel, named after Edel Quinn, Legionary and missionary, met Steve Lukens. The two married in 2000.

Their middle child, Francis Peffley — named after Frank Duff, founder of the Legion — was ordained a priest for the Arlington Diocese in 1990. He serves as spiritual director of the diocesan council of the Legion of Mary.

One of the first weddings Father Peffley officiated was the marriage of his younger sister, Natia, to Greg Meehan on Sept. 8, 1990, at St. Mary Church in Alexandria.

Greg was born in McLean but moved to Norristown for work. He was on a lunch break one day and stopped into a church where he saw a sign asking for volunteers to help the Legion. Greg met Bill Peffley in the Legion and about a year later started dating Natia.

"He was my dad’s friend first," Natia said. "Dad loved Greg from the beginning."

Natia said that because she grew up in a family active in the Legion of Mary, "I always hoped I would meet someone who loved the Legion as much as me."

Natia and Greg’s dating life before their marriage was very similar to her parents. Their first dates were missions.

Bill and Mary’s life together has been a great example for Greg and Natia.

When she was growing up, Natia said, "My parents’ store was a real extension of the home. It started hitting us when our first child was born, we wanted that."

In 1993, on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, Natia and Greg opened the Catholic Shop in Chantilly.

Natia and Greg, parishioners at Holy Trinity Parish in Gainesville, now have five children: Clare, 11; Christopher, 9; Johnny, 8; Sarah, 6; and Megan, 2. Their two oldest children are members of the Junior Legion of Mary group that meets on Thursday mornings at the Catholic Shop. Almost 30 children are active in the group. Natia said parents have told her, "What a blessing it is to their children to have a husband and wife together as a role model to their children. Not everyone can do that. We’ve been blessed."

Although every couple has their conflicts and quarrels, Greg and Natia agree that they’ve always found their marriage to be an easy vocation.

"I recommend that all couples practice true devotion," Greg said. "When understood and done correctly and lived, it gives this sort of ease to the marriage that we feel we’ve always had. The closer you are to Our Lady, the closer you’ll be to Christ."

"And the closer you’ll be to each other as a married couple," Natia said, finishing Greg’s sentence. "There is a sense of peace because she is in control. I saw that trust that my parents had in her in every decision they ever made."