Parents of priests hold a special role in the diocese, said Father Joseph W. Farrell, newly appointed director of the Arlington diocese’s Priest Parent Association. Nearly 75 parents of diocesan priests attended the association’s inaugural Mass and dinner at St. Robert Bellarmine Chapel in Fairfax Nov. 1.
“It’s a great gift to a very important demographic in our diocese: the parents of priests,” Father Farrell said.
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge originally tapped Father Farrell to serve in the role in early 2020. Bishop Burbidge planned to model the association after a similar program he directed in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in the 1990s, Father Farrell said. While the pandemic and various roadblocks delayed their plans, the association formally launched this year.
“The priests are in the business of making saints as best they can, so to honor the priests’ parents on All Saints’ Day, it’s meaningful,” Father Farrell said.
The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Burbidge and concelebrated by Father Farrell. In his homily, Bishop Burbidge thanked the parents for their witness of faith to their sons.
“I can tell you, knowing your sons, you have done a great job,” he said.
He said the association is intended to provide parents with community and fellowship but also “to put you to work.”
Bishop Burbidge asked parents to pray a special prayer for priests once a week. “We’re going to rely more than ever on your prayers, for priests serving this diocese and for an increase of vocations,” he said.
Through our shared baptism, Bishop Burbidge said the goal of priests and married couples alike is to get to heaven and become saints.
“Sometimes we focus only on our failures, our limitations, our weaknesses and our sins, and we get frustrated, even to the point of asking, ‘Who, me? A saint?’ And we forget that the saints were just like us. They were fallen, they were weak, they were sinners. And God called them to be saints, and we are called to be the same,” he said.
After Mass, parents mingled and swapped stories over a plated dinner. They received prayer cards with the prayer for priests and a commemorative Diocesan Golden Jubilee-themed Christmas ornament.
Father Farrell said the association will host a Mass and dinner every fall and a Mass and talk every spring, in addition to regular newsletters.
Father Farrell said he is honored to serve as the association’s director. “The experience of being the parent of a priest is a unique experience, and to be able to have somebody to share that with, who also has that same background is really helpful, and they can, through both joys and difficulties, they can prayerfully support each other and come together regularly. And that gives them the opportunity to have that base of support,” he said.
Meredith Hinkle, mother of Navy chaplain Father James C. Hinkle, said that the evening provided an opportunity to encounter parents she had never met before.
“While my husband and I knew several parents from our son’s seminary days, there were many we met for the first time,” she said. “We have followed and prayed for so many of our priests through their discernment journeys to the priesthood. It was such a wonderful opportunity to meet the parents of these good men.
“The All Saints’ Day Mass was beautiful and timely; the food, company, prayer card and 50th Diocesan Anniversary Christmas ornament made it all that more memorable,” she said.
Jodi St. George, mother of Father Peter J. St. George, parochial vicar of Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria, likewise enjoyed meeting old and new friends.
“There was a very meaningful camaraderie amongst the parents,” she said. “We all share a personal love for our sons the priests and especially for the people they serve.”
