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Woodbridge mother-daughter ministry builds family bonds, Eucharistic devotion

Mary Stachyra Lopez | Catholic Herald Social Media Coordinator

The Daughters of Veronica for Eucharistic Stewardship pray with Fr. Stephen J. Schultz, parochial vicar, before a recent meeting at Our Lady of Angels Church in Woodbridge. MARY STACHYRA LOPEZ | CATHOLIC HERALD

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The Daughters of Veronica for Eucharistic Stewardship pose for a photo after a recent meeting at Our Lady of Angels Church in Woodbridge. MARY STACHYRA LOPEZ | CATHOLIC HERALD

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Colette Stanton, a third-grade home-schooled student, cleans a paten, used by altar servers during distribution of Holy Communion. MARY STACHYRA LOPEZ | CATHOLIC HERALD

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Keri Shanks, head sacristan and co-leader of the Daughters of Veronica for Eucharistic Stewardship, polishes a paten with Mariana Bingham in the sacristy at Our Lady of Angels Church in Woodbridge. MARY STACHYRA LOPEZ | CATHOLIC HERALD

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Twice a month, before Julie Stanton and her three daughters
attend Mass at Our Lady of Angels Church in Woodbridge, they say a prayer
together in a small room at the back of the church before covering their heads
with a blue lace, triangle-shaped veil. They then take out two golden chalices and fill them with unconsecrated hosts, and pour the wine into a glass cruet.  

Julie and her daughters Grace, Avila and Colette are members of
the Daughters of Veronica for Eucharistic Stewardship, a small mother-daughter
ministry at Our Lady of Angels. As sacristans, the Doves work behind the scenes
to prepare for the Mass, care for the altar linens and keep the adoration
chapel in tip-top shape.

“Life is so busy,” said Julie, who co-leads the group along with
Keri Shanks, the head sacristan. “There’s so much going on in people’s lives
today. This is a chance to slow down, be together as mother and daughter and
pray.”

Whether they’re polishing patens or laundering linens for the 22
Masses celebrated each week, the goal is for mothers and daughters to build a
relationship with Christ in the Eucharist — side by side.

Often, multiple girls will serve at the same time as their
sisters — like Grace, Avila and Colette. 

“I grow closer to them through serving our Lord,” said Grace, a
senior at Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School in Dumfries. 

“While I’m back there in the sacristy with my sisters preparing
the ciborium and the chalice, my brother is (altar) serving. I place it in his
hands,” she added. “So it’s a family affair.”

Teresa Bingham, a seventh-grader at Seton School in Manassas,
serves alongside her two sisters, Lucia and Mariana, who are home-schooled.
“They know a lot more than I did at their age,” Teresa said. 

Their 5-year-old sister, Veronica, can’t join Doves until she
makes her first Communion, but watches everything. They call Veronica a Dot
(Dove of Training). “She knows what a chalice is, a ciborium, a couple of the
priest’s garments,” Teresa said.

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Anais Naupari, an eighth-grade home-schooled student,
pours the unconsecrated wine into the glass cruet.  

To ensure the ministry stays grounded in prayer and not just the
practicalities of running a sacristy, the Doves meet the first Saturday of every
month for catechesis and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. After Mass, they
kneel before the altar to pray the “Anima
Christi
.” When they serve inside the sacristy, they wear a veil as an
imitation of Christ “hidden” but truly present in the Eucharist under the
appearance of bread and wine.  

The Daughters of Veronica were founded on the feast of St.
Veronica seven years ago, after a parishioner, Sharon Willoughby, answered an
ad in the church bulletin for sacristans. Willoughby, who has since moved to
Alabama, asked the parochial vicar, Father Michael R. Duesterhaus, if
she could bring along her 6-year-old daughter as a sacristan-in-training.
Others soon followed, including Natalie Sutton, an eighth-grader at St. Thomas
Aquinas Regional School in Woodbridge. 

The Daughters of Veronica for Eucharistic Stewardship pray the “Anima Christi” after a recent meeting at Our Lady of Angels in Woodbridge. 


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“When I entered the Doves, I found that the girls there put their
heart and soul into preparing the Mass,” said Natalie. “I think it brings us
closer in our faith, together, to help the priest prepare for Mass.”

Natalie said she decided to join the Doves when she discerned a calling to the religious life in the second grade, shortly after making her first Communion. She hopes to enter the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville after she graduates from high school. Until then, she plans to stay involved in the sacristy. 

“In my opinion, the Doves are like a preparation for the
consecrated life,” she said.

Whatever the girls’ vocations in life, Julie hopes they’ll benefit from their time in the sacristy long after they leave the group.

“I pray that when my daughters are older, this is a special time that they’ll remember,” said Julie. 

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