Precious Blood Parish Has Small-Town Feeling

By Linda Busetti
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 6/13/02)

CULPEPER — It is very fitting that Precious Blood Parish in Culpeper was chosen as one of six pilot parishes in the current diocesan Capital Campaign. Theirs is a long history of faith, dedication and fiscal responsibility.

Earliest records of Catholic religious services in Culpeper are from 1868, when Father Francis Janssens started a mission for the area’s Irish Catholics who had come to build the railroad. Father Janssens, of the Richmond Diocese, traveled to Culpeper about once a month to celebrate Mass in Green’s Hall at the corner of Main and Davis Streets. In 1879, land for a church was purchased for $400. A little Gothic brick church was dedicated on Sept. 8, 1881.

From 1880 to 1946, Precious Blood was a mission church with no resident priest and parishioners spread over four counties. On Nov. 15, 1946, Richmond Bishop Peter Ireton established Precious Blood as an independent parish with two missions, St. John in Orange and St. Mark in Gordonsville. Richmond Bishop Peter Ireton entrusted the pastoral care of the parish, which consisted of 39 families, to the Missionhurst-C.I.C.M. community.

Missionhurst Father Maurice du Castillon was appointed Precious Blood’s first pastor. When he arrived, there was no rectory, so he rented a room on North West Street. Except for 1947-55, when Father du Castillon resumed a teaching career in Belgium, he served Precious Blood until 1979.

Fundraisers, including the Catholic Women’s Club’s ham and turkey dinners, financed construction of a rectory that served the parish from 1949 until the present rectory-office was built in 1991.

By 1957, Precious Blood Parish had grown to 63 families. The parish bought the nearby Gospel Tabernacle on Edmondson Street for use as a parish hall. This structure was torn down in 1980 to make room for the present parish hall and CCD facility.

Facing the need for additional space, the parish bought the Culpeper Terrace Motel next to the church in 1969. The old motel cabins were used as CCD classrooms until 1981.

By 1979, the parish was debt-free, but in need of a larger church to accommodate 250 parish families. Much-loved Father du Castillon was reassigned and Missionhurst Father Leo Zonneveld became the new pastor. He formed a parish advisory board that began planning construction of a new church and parish hall. In November 1981, Arlington Bishop Thomas Welsh dedicated the new CCD building and parish hall. Arlington Bishop John R. Keating dedicated the new church on August 5, 1983, his first official act as the diocese’s second bishop.

By April 1995, the parish debt was once again paid in full — more than a year ahead of schedule.

The new Precious Blood Church incorporated many items from the old church, including a beautiful marble baptismal font that sits at the church entrance. Copper Stations of the Cross brought from Belgium by Father du Castillon line the walls. Statues of Jesus and Mary were also transferred from the old church. Father Zonneveld tells a story about the Byzantine crucifix hanging to the left of the sanctuary. During the Depression, a painter who was looking for work repaid the parish for giving him a painting job by making the crucifix, which shows Jesus in royal robes, triumphant over death.

Precious Blood Church features beautiful stained glass. A stained glass cross with a bleeding heart at its center rises behind the main altar. The eleven stained-glass windows are unusual in that they contain many pastel or colorless sections. Windows on the right side of the church depict what parishioners bring to God through worship: praise, thanks, petition, community, service and atonement. Five windows to the left depict life, spirit, Word, Eucharist and mercy.

A large blue and white banner featuring the Capital Campaign logo and theme, "Rooted in Faith — Forward in Hope," hangs from the choir loft.

Photographs of children who will receive their First Communion are posted in the church vestibule. Parishioners are encouraged to "adopt in their prayers one of these children," Father Zonneveld said and often send the child a note recalling what their own First Communion meant to them.

Father Zonneveld, who has been pastor for 23 years, led the parish in reaching and surpassing their Capital Campaign goal of $550,000. He speaks of the parish’s generosity, noting a few members tithe to the church — regularly contributing 10 percent of their income.

Located 75 miles from the seat of the diocese, Precious Blood parishioners were especially interested in plans to use campaign dollars for proposed Internet or long-distance training of CCD teachers.

About 25 miles northwest of Culpeper in Washington, Va., is St. Peter Church, a mission of Precious Blood, administered by Father Jerry Pokorsky. According to Father Pokorsky a couple of children from St. Peter attend Epiphany Catholic School, located at Precious Blood.

According to Father Zonneveld, Precious Blood is an integral part of a small town in an affordable region that attracts both young families and retirees who relocate from the North. Parishioners include owners of 800-acre estates as well as those who live in "true poverty," Father Zonneveld said. They include doctors at Culpeper Regional Hospital, office workers at IBM in Manassas and local furniture makers.

Parish organizations include the altar society, Eucharistic ministers, adult choir, children’s choir and Knights of Columbus.

Patricia Reed is parish director of religious education. About 250 CCD students meet on Sundays from 9:30-10:45 a.m.

Epiphany Catholic School, an inter-parish school established in 1997, is located in space originally intended for Precious Blood’s CCD program. Barbara Terry is principal of Epiphany, which has an enrollment of 90 kindergarten through sixth-grade students and 49 preschoolers. (Next year, to mirror the cutoff point for county public elementary schools, Epiphany will only go up to the fifth grade.) According to Father Zonneveld, Precious Blood’s share of funds from the Capital Campaign will be earmarked for eventual construction of a new school building.

"What makes Precious Blood unique," Father Zonneveld said, "is the smallness gives you the opportunity to develop and experience a real family spirit. … There are a lot of spontaneous, family-like reactions when someone is sick, someone needs a ride or somebody needs a visit. We don’t need a committee."

At a Glance

Precious Blood

114 East Edmondson St.

Culpeper, Va. 22701

540/825-8945

Pastor: Fr. Leo J. Zonneveld, C.I.C.M.

DRE: Patricia Reed

School: Epiphany Catholic School

114 E. Edmondson St.

Culpeper, Va. 22701

540/825-9017

Principal: Barbara Terry

Mass Schedule:

Sat.: 6 p.m.

Sun.: 8:30, 11 a.m., 6 p.m. (Spanish)

Parish Founded: 1946

Parishioners: 1,925

St. Peter Mission

12762 Lee Hwy.

Washington, Va. 22747

540/675-3432

Administrator: Fr. Jerry Pokorsky

Deacon: Charles Coutu

DRE: Charles Coutu

Mass Schedule:

Sat.: 8:30 a.m.; 5:30 p.m. (Vigil Mass)

Sun.: 8:30, 10 a.m.

Parishioners: 330

Web Site: www.preciousbloodcc.org

Parish Boundaries: Comprises all territory within Culpeper and Rappahannock counties.

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