As Catholics prepare to turn the page on 2025, the Catholic Herald reflects on moments joyful and sorrowful throughout the year.
January commenced with a special Mass opening the Jubilee Year of Hope, which Pope Francis initiated Christmas Eve 2024. In the wake of the tragic American Airlines plane crash, a diocesan pastor reflects on ministering to victims’ families the night of the crash.
The death of Pope Francis in April united people in mourning and prayer, and the weeks preceding the election of Pope Leo XIV brought together Catholics and non-Catholics alike in anticipation.
Following the papal conclave, the Arlington diocese continued rejoicing for its second-largest ordination class: 12 new priests.
As the nation mourned the loss of 129 victims who perished in the Texas floods, one diocesan student told her story of surviving the Camp Mystic tragedy.
A Winchester parish opened a new campus in Stephens City, with hundreds attending the first Mass. More than 50 diocesan Catholics received papal honors, presented by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge at a special vespers liturgy. During the Diocesan Week of Service, parishes, schools and other entities carried out 175 service projects.
Just as the Jubilee year began with prayer, so it ended in prayer, with hundreds of Catholics venturing to Winchester to venerate the relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, which toured the U.S. this fall.
An altar server carries the jubilee cross down the aisle of the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington at the start of the Mass for the Opening of the Holy Year 2025 Jan. 5. JIM HALE | CATHOLIC HERALD
Fr. Frederick H. Edlefsen, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Arlington, recalls ministering to grieving families the night a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter collided with American Airlines Flight 5342 over the Potomac River. Mother and daughter Justyna and Brielle Beyer, parishioners of Corpus Christi Church in Aldie, lost their lives in the Jan. 29 crash. ANNA DONOFRIO | CATHOLIC HERALD
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge anoints the altar of the newly renovated St. Francis de Sales Chapel at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria March 21. ANNA DONOFRIO | CATHOLIC HERALD
U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell places a seal on the casket of Pope Francis before the late pope is buried in Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major April 26. VATICAN MEDIA | CNS
Pope Leo XIV, formerly known as Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, waves from the balcony at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome after he was elected pope by the College of Cardinals May 8. He is the first U.S.-born pope and a native of Chicago. VATICAN MEDIA | CNS
Diocesan priests lay their hands on 12 ordinandi during their ordination Mass at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington June 7. The ordination class of 12 is the second largest in diocesan history. JIM HALE | CATHOLIC HERALD
Callie McAlary, a sophomore at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, shares her story of surviving the devastating floods at Camp Mystic in Kerr County, Texas, the weekend of July 4. The flash floods claimed the lives of 129 adults and children in the surrounding hill country. COURTESY
Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish opens a new campus in Stephens City, with more than 500 parishioners from Winchester and Front Royal attending the campus’ first Mass Aug. 15. JIM HALE | CATHOLIC HERALD
Fiddler Ruth Shumway performs with bluegrass band Catfish in the Sky at the 10th anniversary of the Appaloosa Music Festival in Front Royal. Hundreds of Catholics gathered Aug. 30-31 for the festival, which featured 14 bluegrass bands and a special Aug. 31 Mass celebrated by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge. WILLIAM MELANCON | FOR THE CATHOLIC HERALD
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge presents “Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” (“For the church and the Pontiff” in Latin) papal honors to Katherine and Stephen Pryor at a vespers liturgy at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington Sept. 28. Pope Leo XIV bestowed papal honors upon 50 members of the Arlington diocese in August. JIM HALE | CATHOLIC HERALD
Grace Major (left) places a sticker on a meal package as Mirella Chelala looks on at a parish meal-packing event at St. Theresa Church in Ashburn Nov. 15. The meal packing event was one of many service projects held as part of the diocese’s first Diocesan Week of Service Nov. 9-16. ANNA DONOFRIO | CATHOLIC HERALD
A woman touches the plexiglass enclosure surrounding a large reliquary containing relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Winchester Nov. 26. The relics were on tour throughout the U.S. Oct. 1-Dec. 8 in honor of the saint’s 100th anniversary of her canonization. JIM HALE | CATHOLIC HERALD
