Joan Fogarty, a reporter for the Catholic Virginian newspaper, wrote that it was a “pleasant summer day.” Father Thomas J. Lehning, pastor emeritus of St. Clare Church in Clifton, had a slightly different recollection. “It was a very hot day — that I remember,” he said. Sister Patricia Helene Earl, a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, believes it was a sunny, special day. “I just remember in the church and outside the church, it was a beautiful day in every way,” she said.
Forty-eight years ago, the Arlington diocese came into being, its first bishop — Bishop Thomas J. Welsh — was installed, and the parish church of St. Thomas More in Arlington became the cathedral Aug. 13, 1974. Today, the diocese is in the midst of a three-year celebration of the Golden Jubilee, its 50th anniversary in 2024. The theme of this first year is “Remembering the past with gratitude.”
After years of deliberation, the Vatican announced the creation of the Arlington diocese, separating Northern Virginia from the Richmond diocese. “One of the interesting things was ours was the first diocese ever that had a county as the see rather than a city,” said Father Richard Ley, parochial vicar emeritus of St. John Bosco Church in Woodstock with special care of Our Lady of the Shenandoah Mission in Basye. “Now there’s at least one other, I know Orange in California. We were the first. Of course, everybody thinks of Arlington as a city.”
At the time, the new diocese had 70 diocesan and 98 religious priests, 83 seminarians, 49 parishes and six missions. St. Thomas More, founded in 1938, was chosen as the cathedral. Msgr. Richard Burke became its first rector, though the retired pastor, Msgr. Arthur J. Taylor, remained in residence there. “(Msgr. Taylor) had always prophesied that it would be a cathedral church,” said Father Ley. “He lived to see it, (though) he died shortly after the diocese began.”
On the morning of the installation, red graffiti was discovered on the exterior of St. Thomas More, recalled Father Ley, but it was removed long before the Mass began. The church was standing room only, filled with hundreds of people including religious sisters, Knights of Columbus, priests, deacons, clergy of other faiths, seven archbishops, three abbots and one cardinal, wrote Fogarty. The opening hymn was “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.”
Sister Patricia, director of the Catholic School Leadership Program at Marymount University in Arlington, was then a teacher at St. Thomas More School. Because she was entering the IHM community, the sisters gave her and her aunt a seat with them at the Mass. “I remember the pageantry, the music — it was such a beautiful expression of people coming together. People were just so excited,” she said. “I can’t tell you what they played, but the music was outstanding. It was heavenly, it was beautiful, it was uplifting, it was so praiseworthy. Just a beautiful, beautiful opportunity to initiate a new diocese and install a new bishop.”
She also had a behind-the-scenes part in preparing for the day. An IHM sister, the art teacher at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, was asked to make a copy of the Coat of Arms for the bishop’s chair. “Sister Eileen Mary did not drive,” said Sister Patricia. “(So) I had the privilege of driving her all over Arlington to find the materials that she wanted in order to make the bishop’s crest.”
After the opening hymn and procession, Msgr. Paul Heller, pastor of St. James Church in Falls Church and the diocese’s new vicar general, read and signed the apostolic letter establishing the diocese. Msgr. Burke read the document appointing Bishop Welsh the first bishop of Arlington. Msgr. Leonard J. Koster, pastor emeritus of St. Charles Borromeo Church in Arlington, led a prayer for the bishop.
Archbishop Jean Jadot, apostolic delegate to the United States, addressed the congregation, saying, “Today the church of Arlington comes into being. It is now a Christian community. But there is real community only when there is a deep will for communion. The deepest communion is our coming together in Christ.” In his homily, Bishop Welsh said the Arlington diocese would strive to educate children in the faith and share with the needy everywhere.
At the closing hymn, the congregation, newly minted members of the Arlington diocese, sang “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”
