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Small things can be big things

Leslie Miller | Catholic Herald Staff Writer

Deacon Peter M. McShurley will be a parochial vicar at St. Agnes Church in Arlington. MATT RIEDL | CATHOLIC HERALD

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Small things are important to Deacon Peter M. McShurley. 

The past year has been a whirlwind for the soon-to-be ordained priest,
who was uprooted from his final year of seminary at the Pontifical North
American College in Rome and rushed home to Virginia for a two-week quarantine
to ensure he hadn’t picked up the coronavirus in his travels. As soon as the
quarantine ended, he jumped into his duties assisting Bishop Michael F.
Burbidge as a deacon at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington, where he
could be seen carrying the Paschal candle and chanting the beautiful Service of
Light prayers at the Easter Vigil Mass, livestreamed to thousands. 

But when asked about his favorite memory from the past year,
Deacon McShurley didn’t mention any of those dramatic events. He said his
favorite memory was being able to participate in Mass in a new way — by
proclaiming the Gospel. 

“While it may seem like a small thing, because you’re just
reading what’s already written, it sort of awakened in me that I’m
participating in something so much bigger than myself,” he said. “To be able to
proclaim the words of Christ in a public setting fills me with a reverence and
awe every time I do it.” 

His role model for becoming a priest was his pastor growing up,
Father Jerome Fasano of St. John the Baptist Church in Front Royal, who
embodied “the joy of being a priest.” Father Fasano will vest him in the
priestly stole and chasuble at his ordination June 6, where most of his guest
slots will be filled by his large family, which includes his parents, four
brothers and five sisters, and 17 nieces and nephews. Deacon McShurley, who
turns 28 June 16, said he knew other friends and well-wishers will watch the
ordination via livestream, and will attend his first Mass celebrated as a
priest, at St. John the Baptist.

His first assignment will be at St. Agnes Church in Arlington,
where he’ll join the staff as a parochial vicar June 25, and where he said
parishioners will probably see him around the neighborhood when he goes for
runs. On warm days when windows are open, some might also hear him practicing
classical piano — he said he’s played all his life, but only classical. “It
takes me a really long time to learn a new piece of music,” he admitted.

In his new duties as a priest, he especially looks forward to
preaching, but also to hearing confessions, which he said “is partly scary, but
one of the things that draws me to the priesthood. We all have obstacles in our
hearts to really loving God and our neighbors,” and he looks forward to
participating in the “spiritual healing of being able to remove those obstacles
and help reconcile people to the Lord.” 

Meanwhile, Deacon McShurley wants St. Agnes parishioners to know
that he’s looking forward to meeting the community. Maybe it’s a small thing,
but he wanted them to know “I’m already praying for them, and the grace that
I’ll be a faithful priest,” he said.

Miller can be reached at [email protected]
or on Twitter at @LMillerACH.

 

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