By Mary Frances McCarthy
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 6/16/05)

Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde established this week a parish in Rappahannock County and two missions in Loudoun and Prince William Counties. Although Masses have been held in all three locations for years, the designations of the parish and missions provide the communities with new recognition.

St. Peter Mission in Washington, Va., is now a parish, being served by Father Robert J. DeMartino who has been administrator to the mission.

Missions have been named in Bull Run and South Riding, both within the boundaries of St. Stephen the Martyr Parish in Middleburg. Father Sean K. Rousseau, who has served as administrator of St. Stephen Parish, will be administrator of the Mission of Corpus Christi in South Riding. Father William B. Schardt will be pastor of St. Stephen Parish and the Mission of St. Katharine Drexel in Bull Run.

“As one of the fastest-growing dioceses in the country, we face the welcomed privilege of serving a vibrant and growing flock of the body of Christ,” said Bishop Loverde. “I praise God for this time of building foundations for future generations. With these two new missions — both named in honor of this Year of the Eucharist, proclaimed by our beloved John Paul the Great — and one new parish, we will better ensure that our growing numbers have the essentials by which to worship, educate and serve.”

St. Peter Mission was formed in 1979 and serves all of Rappahannock County. Father DeMartino said he is “grateful to God and to our bishop for recognizing the mission that he has given to St. Peter Church and its considerable growth over the last two decades.”

St. Stephen the Martyr Parish in Middleburg will celebrate its 30th anniversary this month. In September, South Riding and Bull Run will celebrate the fifth anniversary of their first Masses. In 2000, when St. Stephen Parish expanded and began offering Masses in locations other than Middleburg, there were about 939 registered members. Since then, the parish has grown more than 150 percent to 2,482.

Father Rousseau has been celebrating Masses in all three locations within the St. Stephen Parish boundaries. Each location also has its own director for religious education and at least one coordinator.

“Each community already has its own identity,” Father Rousseau said. “That’s been a challenge in having unity and distinctness.”

Now that each location has its own name and is recognized as a parish or mission serving the people in a smaller area, Father Rousseau thinks it will help the members of the missions see that they have a future as a parish.

“People have been waiting for this to happen,” he said. “Until you get mission status, it’s there, but it’s not recognized.”

 “I’m excited about it all,” Father Rousseau said about the formation of the missions. “My life just got a whole lot simpler. It’s very hard to pull three places in one direction.”