During Easter break, two teachers from St. Veronica School in Chantilly hit the road to visit all the diocesan churches named for Mary.
Inspired by the challenge featured in the Catholic Herald, the March 23 “Make a Jubilee Journey to the 11 parishes named after Mary,” middle school English and reading teacher Kandis Rouck and Latin teacher Jenifer Scott mapped out their itinerary to see all 11 churches, covering more than 300 miles in two days, from Luray to Potomac Falls.
At each church, the teachers strolled the grounds, read up on the history and stopped inside, if they could, to snap a shot of the sixth Station of the Cross, where Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.
“No matter whom a church is named for, each one has an image of St. Veronica,” said Scott. “We take special note of how she saw Jesus at his lowest point and reached out to show him kindness and compassion. She’s a real model for teachers, especially in the middle school years.”
The teachers, colleagues for more than a decade, started the journey April 11 at the far-flung parishes: Our Lady of Angels in Woodbridge, St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Fredericksburg, Our Lady of the Blue Ridge in Madison and Our Lady of the Valley in Luray.
Day Two brought the journey closer to home, starting with the commonwealth’s oldest parish, the Basilica of St. Mary in Alexandria, where former St. Veronica pastor Father Edward C. Hathaway serves as rector, succeeding Father Dennis Kleinmann, the St. Veronica pastor. From there, they visited Our Lady of Lourdes and Our Lady Queen of Peace in Arlington, Queen of Apostles in Alexandria, St. Mary of Sorrows in Fairfax, Our Lady of Good Counsel in Vienna (Scott’s childhood parish), ending at Our Lady of Hope in Potomac Falls, Scott’s current parish.
“The beauty of this journey was, not only did we spend two beautiful days touring 11 beautiful churches, we also marveled at the many ways the different churches honored our Blessed Mother,” said Scott. “We saw churches large and small, in classic and modern architectural designs, and images of Mary of varying artistic styles. Each church had its own particular way to honor Mary and it was a privilege to be able to see them all in such a short space of time.”
“While each church was different, we felt the presence of Jesus in every one of them, whether he was in the tabernacle in repose, or in the active ministries of the congregations,” said Rouck. “It was a wonderful way to spend our time out of the classroom, dropping by Our Mother and her many houses.”
