If there’s a parish party, at the end of the event Carolyn LaRosa can always be found cleaning up in the kitchen. On an average day, she’s likely to be sorting canned goods in the parish food pantry or on the road to pick up gleaned donations from Safeway or Panera. Her fellow parishioners at St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax think of her as a charitable clearinghouse where requests and donations intersect. And everyone knows her chili.
“There is nothing too small, nothing too great — if there is a need, she’s willing to always go first and do whatever needs to be done,” said Father James S. Barkett, pastor. “She always steps up. People will tell me, ‘Why can’t you be more like her?’ ”
LaRosa believes her heart for service and hard work was fostered in her childhood home. She grew up in Long Island, the oldest of six children. At age 11, she was working in her parents’ pizzeria. “We never wasted anything in our family. You learned as a child, there’s poverty — don’t waste food, don’t waste the clothes,” she said. “We’re a disposable society and it takes effort to (save things), but it’s not work if you like what you’re doing and you see people are so grateful.”
LaRosa, her husband, John, and her son, Michael, joined the parish 37 years ago when they moved to the area for John’s job. The couple will celebrate 50 years of marriage next July. They made lasting friendships at the parish through ushering, serving coffee and doughnuts after Sunday Mass, and getting involved with the Boy Scout troop. Over the years, the relationships she’s made with people at the parish, local charities and nearby Protestant churches have allowed her to effectively serve the whole community. She credits the La Salette Sisters in part for inspiring her to keep serving.
The first three sisters came to the diocese from the Philippines 22 years ago. “They came here in tropical habits and sandals in January and our parishioners were more than happy to help them,” she said. “(My husband and I) have worked closely with the sisters as lay associates supporting their international mission communities and their work here in the diocese. Mary’s message at La Salette has guided us to continue our volunteer work.”
During the pandemic, LaRosa and others expanded the parish food pantry from a 6’ x 8’ storage unit to a classroom-sized space in the parish center. In addition to a small weekly distribution, they provide food monthly to a group of Dunn Loring public school teachers who pass the food along to hungry students and parole officers who give the food to the needy families of released prisoners. Some volunteers deliver food to clients of A Woman’s Choice pregnancy resource center
Other parish ministries such as the Gabriel Project can tap into the parish to offer food to their clients. If the pantry has extra food, they give it to the pantries of neighboring Protestant churches. They support Catholic Charities Christ House in Alexandria, too, said LaRosa. “Ever since Covid started, every Tuesday my husband and I would go down to Restaurant Depot and buy crates of fruits and vegetables and deliver them to Christ House to be distributed there, because the numbers increased,” she said.
The work she does goes on and on. She’s involved with the Arlington Diocese Council of Catholic Women, is on the board of her homeowners association, and serves on the lunch committee of the Shepherd’s Center of Fairfax-Burke, a charity that helps older adults live independently. For LaRosa, it all comes down to relationships and doing what she knows is right.
“If I went into education, I probably would have looked at becoming a resource teacher. Because as people come to you and say, ‘What am I going to do with this?’ the challenge is unburdening someone by finding a home for it,” she said. “I think that’s what we’re called to do.”
She’s not only brought spare clothes, food and furniture to those who need it, she’s connected people to ministries. “There’s some people that would just go to Sunday Mass and that was it, but now they really feel involved and rooted in their parish and in their faith just by their activities,” she said. “Everybody has something to give.”
Maraist is a freelancer in Reston.
