Our Lady of Angels Is Faith-Filled, Sacramentally Rich

By Linda Busetti
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 5/9/02)

WOODBRIDGE — Our Lady of Angels’ Perpetual Adoration Chapel is the physical and spiritual center of the Woodbridge parish. More than 500 parishioners take turns praying before the Blessed Sacrament in the oldest parish building.

Father Robert A. Lange (pictured at right), who has been pastor since 1999, describes Our Lady of Angels Parish as "faith-filled and sacramentally rich." As an example, he recalls that about 850 people filled the church for an evening Mass on Sept. 11 — brought together only by word of mouth.

In the 1950s, long before suburban sprawl made its way down I-95, Woodbridge area Catholics traveled 17 miles to All Saints Church in Manassas for Sunday Mass. Stigmatine Father George Ecker, pastor of All Saints, arranged for them to attend Mass in the nearby Occoquan School auditorium. Sixty-six people attended the first Mass there in 1956.

Richmond Bishop Peter Ireton and diocesan Chancellor Msgr. Justin McClunn chose a site on what is now Mary’s Way, just off Route 1, for a much-needed church in Woodbridge. Ground was broken for the Woodbridge Mission chapel in 1958. Parishioners carried a portable altar in their car trunks from Sunday to Sunday until the chapel was completed in October 1958. The John Cooney Family, who were parish benefactors, chose the name, Our Lady of Angels.

Stigmatine Fathers James G. Shea and Richard Ahern moved into a renovated bungalow on the Woodbridge Mission property in 1959. Together they provided religious instruction for parish children on Saturday mornings.

Attendance at Sunday Mass increased rapidly and Our Lady of Angels was formally declared a parish on Sept. 26, 1959, with Father Shea as first pastor.

The parish has had a building fund since its earliest days. The first "Zingo" night in 1962 brought in less than $50. According to longtime parishioner Harry Sellers, Zingo was a variation on bingo, which was illegal at the time. Parish fundraisers have also included Summer Family Festivals, Christmas Bazaars, the 50/500 Bonanza and weekly bingo (after 1974).

In 1962, a parish center was dedicated, where Mass was celebrated until Our Lady of Angels Church was constructed in 1985.

A sign hanging over the church entrance reads, "Pray for Vocations." Framed photographs of parish men and women, who have answered the call to the priesthood or religious life, are displayed in the shape of a cross on the church vestibule wall.

Parishioners are very active in the Pro-Life Movement and attend the annual March for Life, Father Lange said. A Memorial to the Unborn was dedicated near the church entrance in 1999.

"One reason people gravitate to Our Lady of Angels," Father Lange explained, is Aquinas School, a regional Catholic elementary school established on Our Lady of Angels property in 1977 to serve four parishes. Dominican Sisters of the St. Cecilia Congregation, as well as lay teachers, instruct 540 students at Aquinas.

According to Father Lange, within the diocese only St. Anthony Parish in Falls Church has a larger Hispanic population than Our Lady of Angels. Two Sunday Masses — at 1 and 7 p.m. — are in Spanish. Both parochial vicars, Father Daniel Gee and Father Richard Carr, celebrate Mass and hear confessions in Spanish.

Father Carr, who has served at Our Lady of Angels since his ordination last June, is parish director of religious education. Father Carr said he was especially impressed by how many people took advantage of the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation during Lent.

About 80 high school students attend Sunday evening gatherings hosted by youth minister Don Bain. They recently enjoyed meatball subs and attended Stations of the Cross. Bain, who has been youth minister for seven years, believes "time and relationship building" are essential to working with young people. That is why he spends lunch hours at Woodbridge High School, which his own seven children attended, "being there and being available" to students who may want to talk.

For 37 years, the parish has served the community through the St. Vincent de Paul Our Lady of Angels Conference located at 13744 Mary’s Way. Together more than 160 members contributed 45,000 service hours to more than 26,500 families in FY 2001 — totaling $1.9 million in cash and in-kind services. "We get people whatever they need," conference Director John McNeil said. According to McNeil, a volunteer, the conference is able to provide grocery certificates, clothing and medical supplies to the 150-200 families who seek assistance each week. "But, if you don’t have the support of the pastor and the diocese," McNeil said, "It doesn’t operate."

Our Lady of Angels provides local, national and international outreach through the Society — paying for a local boy’s burial in his native Bolivia, providing clothes and shoes to five poor parishes in Clarksville County, Pa., and sending clothes to the mountains of Tibet. McNeil explains, "Jesus is doing it and His Blessed Mother. We have nothing to do with it."

Our Lady of Angels Parish at a Glance:

Our Lady of Angels Church

13752 Mary’s Way

Woodbridge, Va. 22191

703/ 494-2444

Pastor: Fr. Robert Lange

Parochial Vicars: Fr. Richard Carr, Fr. Daniel Gee

Deacons: Danny E. Johnson, Jose I. Pardo

Rectory: 13752 Mary’s Way

Woodbridge, Va. 22191-2079

DRE: Fr. Richard Carr

YM: Donald W. Bain

Mass Schedule:

Sat.: 9 a.m., 5:30 p.m.

Sun.: 8:30, 10, 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. (Spanish),

5:30 and 7 p.m. (Spanish)

Parish Founded: 1959

Parishioners: 8,522

Web Site: www.olacc.org

Parish Boundaries: Beginning at Potomac River and Route 610 — West on 610 to I-395, north on I-395 to Occoquan River (in Fairfax County), northwest on river in Fairfax County to Route 123, northwest on Route 123 to Furnace Rd. (Route 611), southeast on Route 611 to Hooes Rd., northeast on Hooes Rd. (Route 636) to Silverbrook Rd. to Monocan Rd., east on Monocan Rd. to prison land edges to Pohick Rd., southeast on Pohick Rd. to I-95, northeast on I-95 to Backlick Rd. (Route 617) — Southeast on Route 617 to western boundary of Ft. Belvoir — South and east along this boundary to Potomac River — South along river to starting point. 

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