Local

Meet him at St. Louis

Gretchen R. Crowe | Catholic Herald

Fr. Richard Mullins has been named parochial administrator of St. Louis Parish in Alexandria.

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Though he’s been an ordained priest for 14 years, Father
Richard Mullins is feeling like a new father these days.

Beginning in mid-October, the 43-year-old Cuban-American
priest will transition into the next phase of his ministry by
leaving both his position as director of the Office of
Multicultural Ministries and his residence at St. Charles
Borromeo Parish in Arlington to become parochial
administrator of St. Louis Parish in Alexandria. His
appointment as administrator of St. Louis, which is
sandwiched between Old Town and Mount Vernon off of Route 1,
is his first such role, but it’s a position he has been
anticipating since entering the seminary.

“Every day of my priesthood has been a preparation for this
moment of being able to be an administrator and being able to
reach out with love and to be a father to this community,”
Father Mullins said, sitting in the Chancery office he will
soon vacate. “I’m sure it’ll have, like every parish, many
challenges and many blessings. I look forward to being a part
of their story and for them to be a part of mine.”

Even if you’re not a regular to Arlington, chances are good
that you’d recognize Father Mullins. In addition to his
Multicultural Ministries work, the priest has served for the
past several years as a regular master of ceremonies during
Masses with Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde. Father Mullins
will give up these duties, as well as many others, as he
transitions into full-time parish life.

From two worlds

With a Cuban mother and an American father, Father Mullins
grew up “with a foot in both worlds,” he said. In some ways,
he’s a local guy: born in Fairfax, raised in Vienna, schooled
in Arlington (“go Knights”) – but he’s never lost touch with
his Latino culture. He watched his non-English speaking
grandparents struggle with acclimating to life in the United
States, including feeling at home within their Catholic
Faith.

“I remember how difficult it was for them to be spiritually
nurtured,” he said. “It gives me a tremendous desire to reach
out.”

From a young age he soaked up the example of his “heroes,”
the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales for whom he served at the
altar at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Vienna, and other
priests, such as Father Luis “Louie” Valdivieso, a former
teacher at Bishop O’Connell, a fellow Cuban and “one of the
funniest men I ever met,” said Father Mullins. The example of
Father Valdivieso, coupled with that of now-Cardinal Sean
O’Malley, who ministered so whole-heartedly to the Cuban
community in the D.C. area that he was known simply as
“padrecito,” was not forgotten by the young Father Mullins.

“All of these things have conspired to make me who I am
today,” he said. “I know what it’s like to be part of a small
ethnic group and to need someone to reach out to you and
share your faith in your own language and your own way.”

A non-Catholic higher education at High Point College in
North Carolina gave Father Mullins insights into secular
worldviews. He had to study up on Church teaching in order to
debate life issues in an ethics class.

“I think that class kind of shocked me into a deeper faith –
why the Church teaches what it does and the importance of
getting that message out,” he said.

During college breaks, Father Mullins served at Masses at the
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
in Washington, D.C., a role that enabled him to celebrate the
first Mass of his priesthood there years later. After
college, he did development work for the American Red Cross
for two years before deciding it was time to look seriously
into the priesthood, which had been such a big question for a
long time.

During a visit to Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md.,
Father Mullins knelt in the back of the chapel and “felt this
overwhelming sense of peace,” he said. He thought: “I have
found my niche and this is it.

“It has to be the same feeling that someone has when they
fall in love and know that this is the person they are going
to be with for the rest of their life,” he said. “That was
exactly where I needed to be, and this was the beginning of
my new life.”

Entering the priesthood

Five years at Mount St. Mary, interspersed with stints in
Bánica, Dominican Republic; St. Anthony of Padua
Parish in Falls Church; and All Saints Parish in Manassas,
gave Father Mullins a “broader understanding” of the Church –
especially his time at the diocesan mission.

Father Mullins was ordained May 20, 1995. He spent one year
at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Winchester, four years at
St. Michael Parish in Annandale and three years at St.
Theresa Parish in Ashburn, celebrating Mass in the gym and
sharing meals with the parish’s young families. A
transitional year in 2003 at St. Rita Parish in Alexandria,
while adjusting to his new position of associate director of
the Spanish Apostolate, paved the way for the last five years
in residence at St. Charles. His full-time work was with the
multicultural groups with whom he could relate so well.

The Multicultural Ministries office was created in response
to both the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop’s document
“Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity” and the
ethnically diverse Northern Virginia population.

“We had all of a sudden this great mosaic of color in the
diocese,” he said. “It was time to see how we could meet
those needs and how we could create an atmosphere of
welcoming.”

Leaving the nest

Presented with the challenge of parish administration, Father
Mullins will transition not only from multicultural
ministries, but also from the home he has built at St.
Charles. About that parish and what he has learned there,
Father Mullins could not say enough.

“There’s an energy there and an enthusiasm that I hope I will
be able to foster and grow in St. Louis Parish,” he said.

For the priest so sensitive to the importance of cultural
diversity, St. Charles served as a “template” for how all
Catholic communities should be.

“It’s a place where the door is always open and the light is
always on,” he said. “I think it’s a place where it’s
impossible to feel unwelcome.”

The witness, in particular, of St. Charles’ young adults
struck a deep chord with the priest.

“What a powerful experience that has been seeing the young
people at the 6 p.m. Mass and watching the young Church
respond,” he said. “That’s the future. Seeing them come to
Mass en masse and watching them in their life transitions
… has been a powerful school for me.”

Father Mullins will combine his experiences from St. Charles,
the Chancery and the other parishes where he served with what
he’s learned from the clergy with whom he has worked.

He hopes that St. Louis is a place of welcome for everyone
and he looks forward to being at the church for a “long, long
time.

“It’s a new adventure and a new beginning, and I look forward
to it with tremendous joy,” Father Mullins said. “I can’t
wait to start.”

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