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Years marked by faithful service

Catholic Herald Staff Report

Fr. Gerard Creedon

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Fr. William M. Aitcheson

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Fr. Paul F. deLadurantaye

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Fr. Clement M. Aapengnuo

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Franciscan Fr. Paul J. Breslin

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Fr. Christopher J. Mould

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Fr. Larry J. Snyder

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Missionhurst Fr. Leo J. Zonneveld

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The following priests are celebrating jubilees in 2013.

55 years

Missionhurst Father Leo J. Zonneveld was born in
Holland Sept. 8, 1934, to Johannes and Querina Zonneveld, one
of seven children. He entered the Missionhurst Congregation
of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1952, pronouncing his
first vows a year later on Sept. 8, 1953. He was ordained to
the priesthood July 25, 1958, in Nijmegen, Holland.

Father Zonneveld’s mission assignment in the United States
began in 1959. He studied at Catholic University in
Washington while doing parish work at St. John the Beloved
Church in McLean. He taught at Msgr. Bonner High School in
Drexel Hill, Pa., 1961-64, and was parochial vicar of Holy
Spirit Church in Annandale, 1965-67.

From 1967 to 1969, Father Zonneveld was assistant director of
novices at Missionhurst in Arlington. During those years he
earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in philosophy from
Catholic U., where he also lectured until 1969. That year he
became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Father Zonneveld was
appointed provincial superior of Missionhurst’s U.S. province
in 1969, a position he held until 1979. He also has held a
number of other leadership positions within the community.

For the diocese, he has served as dean of Deanery IV, a
diocesan consultor, a member of the diocesan finance
committee and a judge on the Tribunal.

Father Zonneveld served as pastor of Precious Blood Church in
Culpeper from 1979 until his retirement in 2012. He resides
at Missionhurst in Arlington.

25 years

Father Clement M. Aapengnuo was born Nov. 23, 1960, in
Nandom, Ghana. He is the oldest of six children and the son
of two teachers, Lawrence and Mweyang Aapengnuo. He attended
St. Charles Borromeo High School in Tamale, Ghana, and hoped
to be a medical doctor. He graduated in 1980 and went to St.
Victor Seminary in Tamale, where he studied for eight years.
He was ordained to the priesthood Aug. 6, 1988, the feast of
the Transfiguration.

Following his ordination, Father Aapengnuo served as
associate pastor of the Our Lady of the Annunciation
Cathedral in the Tamale Archdiocese, secretary to the
archbishop and director of communications. In 1993, he went
to Rome for three years to earn a master’s degree in social
communications from the Pontifical Salesian University.
During that time, he interned in the Office of Radio and
Television for the Archdiocese of Hartford, Conn. He returned
to Ghana in 1996 to serve as director of communications and
administrator of the cathedral in the Damango Diocese until
2000. He earned a post-graduate certificate in public
administration from the Ghana Institute of Public Management.

In 2000, Father Aapengnuo started the Northern Ghana Peace
Project, which is supported by Catholic Relief Services. He
served as the director until 2006, when he was offered the
opportunity to study conflict resolution at George Mason
University in Arlington. He received his master’s in conflict
analysis and resolution in May 2008 and is working toward his
doctorate in the same field. Father Aapengnuo has resided at
St. Charles Borromeo Church in Arlington since 2006. He
currently is teaching peacemaking at Georgetown University in
Washington. He hopes to return to Africa to teach conflict
resolution.

Father William M. Aitcheson was born Oct. 3, 1954, to
Ann and Bill Aitcheson in Arlington. One of four sons, he
grew up in Prince George’s County, Md., and attended local
parochial and public schools.

After graduating from King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.,
with a bachelor’s degree in government and politics in 1979,
he was an elementary and high school teacher in Missouri for
two years.

He attended the North American College Seminary in Rome and
earned a bachelor’s in sacred theology from the University of
St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas at
the Cathedral of St. Thomas Aquinas in Reno Dec. 10, 1988,
and served there for five years. During that time, he was
involved in Operation Rescue.

He came to the Arlington Diocese in 1993 and served as
parochial vicar of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church in
Colonial Beach, 1993-97, and St. Patrick Church in
Fredericksburg, 1997-2000. Father Aitcheson was appointed
administrator of St. John Bosco Church in Woodstock, 2000-02.
He served St. John as pastor from 2002 until 2005, when he
had to take a short leave of absence for medical reasons. He
was appointed a member of the Presbyteral Council in 2004 by
Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde.

He served as a parochial vicar of St. John the Evangelist
Church in Warrenton, 2005-08.

Father Aitcheson has been involved in Scouting, offering
Masses and hearing confessions at Scout events and campouts.

He has been a parochial vicar of St. Timothy Church in
Chantilly since 2008.

Franciscan Father Paul J. Breslin was born in
Fayetteville, N.C., Oct. 6, 1948, to Hugh and Dorothy
Breslin. He was the second of seven children. His father was
in the Army, so the family traveled around the world.

In 1966, he graduated from Pallotti High School in Laurel,
Md., and entered the University of Maryland in College Park
graduating with a degree in aerospace engineering in 1971.
After graduation he entered the U.S. Air Force, serving for
nine years, and worked as a meteorologist, eventually earning
a master’s degree in meteorology from the University of Utah
in 1977.

In 1982, he entered the Order of Friars Minor of the Province
of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in New York. He was ordained
to the priesthood Sept. 10, 1988, at St. Camillus Church in
Silver Spring, Md.

In the summer of 1983, Father Breslin was sent to Kingston,
Jamaica, to assist at St. Anthony’s Children’s Home.

In 1993, he was appointed parochial vicar of St. Anthony of
Padua Church in Camden, N.J.

Three years later, he was assigned to work in the vice
province of San Felipe Jesús in the Yucatan Peninsula
of Mexico. While serving in Mexico he would hear confessions
and bring Communion to three Pallotine sisters at Our Lady of
Good Counsel Convent. The sisters were from the same
community that taught Father Breslin at Pallotti High School.

Father Breslin returned to St. Anthony of Padua Church in
1999 to serve as pastor and guardian of the friar community
in Camden until 2002.

In July 2002, he returned to Peru as pastor of Santisimo
Nombre de Jesús Church and School, as Guardian of the
Friars of Holy Name Province in Peru and as director of
formation of the Peruvian Friars in formation in Peru.

In September 2012, Father Breslin was assigned as parochial
vicar of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Triangle.

Father Paul F. deLadurantaye was born June 13, 1963,
in Washington. He is the son of the late Robert E. and Ann P.
deLadurantaye. After graduating from Bishop O’Connell High
School in Arlington in 1981, he studied for the priesthood at
St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa., earning a
bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1984. He also earned a
bachelor’s of sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian
University in Rome in 1988.

Father deLadurantaye was ordained to the priesthood May 29,
1988, by Pope John Paul II, only 45 days after he was
ordained to the diaconate. He earned his licentiate degree in
sacred theology from the Pontifical John Paul Institute of
Studies on Marriage and the Family in Washington in 1990, as
well as a doctorate in moral theology in 1997.

He served as parochial vicar of St. Bernadette Church in
Springfield from 1988 to 1990 and associate director of the
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
in Washington from 1990 to 1995. Since 1995, he has served as
the Arlington diocesan secretary for religious education and
sacred liturgy. He was a parochial administrator of Queen of
Apostles Church in Alexandria from December 2000 to August
2001, and at St. Bernadette from October 2003 to February
2004. From 2005 to 2006, he served as pastor of Queen of
Apostles, and from 2010 to 2011 he was in residence at St.
Rose of Lima Priest Retirement Villa in Annandale. From April
to June 2012, he served as parochial administrator of Holy
Spirit Church in Annandale.

Father deLadurantaye teaches at the Notre Dame Graduate
School of Christendom College in Alexandria and the Marymount
University Catholic School Leadership Program in Arlington.
He belongs to the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and the
Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, is on
the board of trustees at Catholic Distance University in
Hamilton and serves on the Presybyteral Council.

He has served as a diocesan judge since 1999 and serves as a
diocesan censor, reviewing texts for liturgical accuracy. He
is currently in residence at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More
in Arlington.

Fr. Charles W. Merkle III was born Dec. 9, 1959, in
Tampa, Fla. The son of Patricia T. Harris, he attended John
B. Stanton School in Norwich, Conn., and Broad Run High
School in Ashburn. He earned a bachelor’s degree in foreign
affairs from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in
1981, and worked for the government for two years.

He studied for the priesthood at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in
Emmitsburg, Md., and was ordained May 21, 1988, by Arlington
Bishop John R. Keating. He served as parochial vicar of St.
Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church in Fredericksburg
from 1988 to 1991, St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax from
1991 to 1995, and Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria from
1995 to 1999. From 1999 to 2001, he served as administrator
of St. William of York Church in Stafford and he was
parochial vicar of St. Ann Church in Arlington from 2001 to
2006. Since 2006, he has served as chaplain of Fairfax
Hospital in Falls Church, with residence at St. Ambrose
Church in Annandale.

Father Christopher J. Mould was born Dec. 1, 1959, the
fourth of seven children of John and Catherine Mould. He
attended St. John School in McLean and graduated from Bishop
O’Connell High School in Arlington in 1978.

In 1982, he graduated from the University of Virginia in
Charlottesville with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.

Accepted as a seminarian for the Arlington Diocese in 1982,
he later completed his theological studies at St. Charles
Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa. As a seminarian, he
served at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Arlington, St. John
the Apostle Church in Leesburg and St. Timothy Church in
Chantilly.

He was ordained May 21, 1988, by Arlington Bishop John R.
Keating. He served as parochial vicar of St. Mary Church in
Alexandria, 1988-92; St. Thomas à Becket Church in
Reston, 1992-95; Church of the Nativity in Burke, 1995-97;
and St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church in
Fredericksburg, 1997-2001. He was administrator of St.
Lawrence the Martyr Church in Alexandria, 2002-04.

He has served St. Lawrence as pastor since 2004.

Father Larry J. Snyder was born in Lincoln, Ill., one
of 12 children, to Donald and Dorothy. He attended Carroll
Catholic School in Lincoln and St. Bede Academy in Peru, Ill.
After graduation from high school he entered Illinois
Benedictine College in Lisle where he earned a bachelor’s
degree. Soon after graduation, he entered the Benedictine
monastery where he lived for five years.

He did not profess his solemn vows, but instead taught music
and German at a Catholic high school for eight years. He also
earned a master’s in divinity from the St. Paul Seminary and
a master’s in public administration from Hamline University
in St. Paul, Minn.

He eventually entered the seminary and was ordained a priest
of the St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese May 28, 1988. He
was associate pastor of parishes in the area from 1988 to
1991.

Father Snyder served with Catholic Charities of St. Paul and
Minneapolis from 1992 to 2005.

He was appointed president of Catholic Charities USA in
Alexandria in 2005.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI named him to the Pontifical
Council Cor Unum, which oversees the church’s charitable
activities around the world. In 2009, President Barack Obama
appointed Father Snyder to the newly created President’s
Advisory Council of Faith-Based and Neighborhood
Partnerships.

For the past year, Father Snyder has been in residence at
Good Shepherd Church in Alexandria.

45 years

Father Gerard Creedon, ordained June 16, 1968, is
pastor of Holy Family Church in Dale City.

40 years

Missionhurst Father Michael F. Hann, ordained May 26,
1973, is rector of the Dominican House in Arlington.

Father David L. Martin, ordained May 28, 1973, is
pastor of St. Luke Church in McLean.

35 years

Father Joseph P. Biniek, ordained May 13, 1978, is
retired and lives in New Orleans.

Oblate of St. Francis de Sales Father Anthony J. Pinizzotto,
ordained May 20, 1978, is parochial vicar of St. Timothy
Church in Chantilly.

Augustinian Father Cedric M. Wilson, ordained Sept.
16, 1978, is in residence at St. Agnes Church in Arlington.

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