Following are biograhpies of the new pastors and
administrators recently appointed by Arlington Bishop Paul S.
Loverde:
Father Thomas P. Ferguson, newly appointed pastor of
Good Shepherd Parish in Alexandria, was born in Woodside,
N.Y., on May 27, 1966, one of six children. After attending
elementary school in Woodside, his family moved to
Alexandria, where he graduated from Bishop Ireton High School
in 1984.
After graduating from Allentown College of St. Francis de
Sales in 1987, he earned a master’s in 1989 and a doctorate
in 1991, both from the University of Virginia. He then
entered Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., for
theological studies. His diaconate assignment was at St. Mary
Parish in Alexandria.
Father Ferguson was ordained to the priesthood by the late
Arlington Bishop John R. Keating on May 21, 1994. He served
at St. Bernadette Parish in Springfield, 1994-96.
From 1996 to 1998, Father Ferguson completed studies in canon
law at St. Paul University in Ottawa, Canada. He was
appointed in 1998 to the diocesan Tribunal while also serving
at St. Luke Parish in McLean.
In 2002, Father Ferguson was named administrator of St.
Bernadette Parish, where he served until 2006, when he was
appointed pastor of St. Thomas à Becket Parish in
Reston. He was named a judge on the Tribunal in 2004. In
2008, he was appointed episcopal vicar for faith formation
and director of the Diaconal Formation Program, with
residence at St. Ann Church in Arlington.
Father Ferguson was appointed parochial administrator of Good
Shepherd in May, and as pastor, he will continue serving as
episcopal vicar for faith formation, diocesan judge and
director of the Diaconate Formation Program.
He has served on diocesan committees, including the
Ecumenical Committee and the committee for the diocesan 25th
anniversary celebration. He served for many years as
secretary of the Presbyteral Council.
Father Ferguson wrote a four-part series on the history of
the Church in Northern Virginia, which was published in the
Catholic Herald in the summer of 1999. He is also the author
of Catholic and American: The Political Theology of John
Courtney Murray, published by Sheed and Ward in 1994.
Father Paul M. Grankauskas, newly appointed parochial
administrator of St. Thomas à Beckett Parish in
Reston, was born April 20, 1970, in Pittsburgh. The son of
Mary and the late Carl Grankauskas, he has four siblings.
After completing high school in Pittsburgh, Father
Grankauskas came to Arlington to study English, philosophy
and theology at Marymount University, where he graduated in
1992. Before entering Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg,
Md., Father Grankauskas worked as an intern and staff writer
for the Catholic Herald.
He was ordained to the diaconate in 1999 and spent his
diaconate assignment at St. Mark Church in Vienna. He was
ordained to the priesthood June 10, 2000, by Arlington Bishop
Paul S. Loverde at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in
Arlington.
Father Grankauskas served as parochial vicar of All Saints
Parish in Manassas from 2000 to 2003, before being
transferred to St. Mary of Sorrows Parish in Fairfax, where
he served as parochial vicar until 2007. He has been
parochial vicar of St. Ann Parish in Arlington since 2007.
Father James C. Hudgins, newly appointed parochial
administrator of St. Jude Parish in Fredericksburg, was born
May 11, 1970, in Clayton, Mo., and moved to Arlington 10
years later. He attended St. Agnes School and Bishop
O’Connell High School, both in Arlington. In 1992, he earned
a bachelor’s in history from Dartmouth College in Hanover,
N.H.
In 1993, Father Hudgins began his priestly formation at St.
Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa. While a
seminarian, he worked and studied Spanish in Puebla, Mexico,
for two summers, augmenting his 1990 study at the University
of Granada in Spain.
He served at St. Leo the Great Parish in Fairfax during his
diaconate year.
Father Hudgins was ordained May 16, 1998, by the late
Arlington Bishop Thomas J. Welsh. His first assignment was as
parochial vicar of Queen of Apostles Parish in Alexandria.
In 2002, he was appointed parochial vicar of All Saints
Parish in Manassas.
Father Hudgins became the parochial vicar of St. Luke Parish
in McLean in 2006. The following year, he was appointed
chaplain and assistant principal of O’Connell.
Father David L. Martin, newly appointed pastor of St.
Luke Parish in McLean, was born May 10, 1945, in Pittsfield,
Mass., the son of Edward and Frieda Martin. After graduating
from St. Joseph’s Catholic Central in Pittsfield, he entered
the Stigmatine novitiate.
He received a bachelor’s in philosophy from Catholic
University in Washington, D.C., in 1969 and returned to
Massachusetts to study for his master’s in divinity at St.
John’s Seminary in Brighton. He was ordained a Stigmatine
priest in 1973.
Father Martin was assigned to All Saints Parish in Manassas
where he served until 1977, when he was reassigned to Sacred
Heart of Jesus Parish in Milford, Mass.
Father Martin was assigned to the Espousal Conference Center
in Waltham, Mass., in 1978, where he served as community
superior and director of the youth and
divorced/separated/widows and widowers program. He served as
Stigmatine novice director and professed students director at
St. Joseph’s College Seminary, Mountain View, Calif.,
1981-85.
During his time in California, Father Martin received
master’s in counseling from Santa Clara University and
applied spirituality from the University of San Francisco.
Father Martin was incardinated into the Arlington Diocese
Feb. 15, 1991. His diocesan assignments have included: St.
Mary Parish, Fredericksburg, 1987-88; St. John the
Evangelist, Warrenton, 1988-89; St. Anthony of Padua, Falls
Church, 1989-93; Church of the Nativity, Burke, 1993-95; St.
John Parish, Orange, from 1995 until the parish combined with
St. Mark in Gordonsville in 2002 to form St. Isidore the
Farmer Parish.
Father Martin was appointed administrator of St. Jude Mission
in 2003 when it was established. He was made pastor when the
mission was elevated to a parish in 2007.
Father Christopher D. Murphy, newly appointed pastor
of St. Peter Parish in Washington, Va., was born April 19,
1969, in Washington, D.C., to John and Maryann Murphy.
After graduating from Bishop O’Connell High School in
Arlington, Father Murphy completed two years at Virginia
Commonwealth University in Richmond before entering St.
Charles Seminary in Philadelphia.
He completed his studies at St. Charles in 1992 and went to
Rome for theology studies at the North American College. He
was ordained to the diaconate in 1995 in St. Peter’s Basilica
in Rome by Cardinal Edward Cassidy, then-president of the
Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. His diaconate
assignment was at St. Mark Parish in Vienna.
He was ordained to the priesthood May 18, 1996, by the late
Arlington Bishop John R. Keating at the Cathedral of St.
Thomas More in Arlington. He served as parochial vicar of St.
Mary Parish in Alexandria from 1996 to 2000 and St. John the
Evangelist Parish in Warrenton from 2000 to 2004.
He has been serving as parochial vicar of both San Francisco
De Asís and San José parishes at the diocesan
mission in Bànica and Pedro Santana located on the
Haitian border in the Dominican Republic since 2004.
