Local

New pastors named

Catholic Herald Staff Report

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Bishop Michael F. Burbidge announced
the appointment of four new pastors effective June 27, except where noted
differently. Father Juan Espino will become pastor of Queen of Apostles Church
in Alexandria; Father Edwin E. Perez will become pastor of Our Lady of the
Valley Church in Luray; the Very Reverend Patrick L. Posey, V.F., will become rector
of the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington; and Father Paul D. Scalia
will become pastor of St. James Church in Falls Church. 

 

Disciple of the
Hearts of Jesus and Mary Father Juan Espino
returns to the Diocese of
Arlington from St. Mary Church in Littleton, Co., where he served as parochial
vicar and school chaplain (2013-14) and (2018). He will become pastor of Queen
of Apostles Church in Alexandria July 1.

Prior to St. Mary, he served the same
roles at Queen of Apostles Church (2014-18). 

He was born April 19, 1974, in Ciudad Juarez,
Mexico, and grew up in El Paso, Texas, with his parents and five siblings. 

He was a high school teaching
assistant in El Paso, Texas, for the summers of 1993 and 1994. He earned a
bachelor’s from Columbia University in New York (1996) and he worked as an
analyst and research assistant for the U.S. Department of the Treasury in
Washington (1997). He was a research associate with Policy Studies Associates
in Washington (1998-2005) after completing his master’s in public policy at
Harvard University Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass. (1998). He
worked as a teaching assistant for economics and statistics courses at the
master’s program.

He studied at the Ecclesiastical
University of San Damaso in Madrid, Spain (2006-12), where he earned a bachelor’s
in theology. He was ordained to the diaconate Dec. 23, 2012, in Cuenca, Spain,
and took perpetual profession Oct. 13, 2012, in Littleton. He was ordained to
the priesthood June 22, 2013. 

He taught fifth- and seventh-grade
religion at Queen of Apostles School in Alexandria (2016-18). 

 

Father Edwin E. Perez will become pastor of Our Lady of
the Valley Church in Luray. Most recently he was parochial vicar of St.
Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Lake Ridge. 

He
was born Dec. 11, 1967, the son of Eriberto and Esmeralda Perez of Dale City.
He has one brother and one sister. He earned a bachelor’s in music from West
Virginia University in Morgantown, W.Va., in 1989.

His
diaconate assignment was at St. Luke Church in McLean. He was ordained to the
priesthood by Bishop Paul S. Loverde at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in
Arlington June 9, 2001. 

His
diaconate assignment was at St. Luke Church in McLean (2000-01). He was
parochial vicar of St. Michael Church in Annandale (2001-04). He was parochial
vicar at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Fredericksburg (2004-08). Father
Perez served as chaplain at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria (2008-13),
while in residence at St. Rita Church in Alexandria. He has been parochial
vicar at St. Elizabeth since 2013.

 

The Very Rev. Father
Patrick L. Posey, V.F.,
will become rector of the Cathedral of St.
Thomas More in Arlington. He has served as pastor of St. James Church in Falls
Church since 2006.

Father Posey was born Jan. 21, 1965,
in Washington to Aubrey and Peggy Posey, one of three children. He graduated
from Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington in 1983. He studied for the
priesthood at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa., where he earned
a bachelor’s in philosophy in 1987. He earned a master’s of divinity at Mount
St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., in 1991, and was ordained at the
Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington by Bishop John R. Keating May 18,
1991.
He was parochial vicar at Sacred Heart Church in Winchester (1991-95), before
serving for eight years at the diocesan mission in Bánica, Dominican Republic.
When he returned from Bánica in 2003, he was named pastor of St. Francis de
Sales Church in Purcellville (2003-06).
Father Posey is diocesan director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, the dean
of Deanery I and director of the Propagation of the Faith for the Diocese of
Arlington.

 

Father Paul D.
Scalia
will become pastor of St. James Church in Falls Church, while
continuing as episcopal vicar for clergy and director of the diaconate
formation program.

He was born Dec. 26, 1970, one of nine
children of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin and Maureen Scalia.

He attended Langley
High School in McLean and graduated
from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester,
Mass., in 1992. After a year of
theological studies at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, he was sent to Rome to study
at the Pontifical North American College. He was ordained a deacon in St.
Peter’s Basilica in Rome in October 1995. He served his diaconate year at St.
James Church in Falls Church, and was ordained to the priesthood May 18, 1996,
by Bishop John R. Keating at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington.

He served as parochial vicar of St.
Bernadette Church in Springfield (1996-2000); St. Patrick Church in
Fredericksburg (2000-04); and St. Rita Church in Alexandria (2004-08).

He was named parochial administrator
of St. John the Beloved Church in McLean in 2008 before becoming pastor in 2009.

Father Scalia was appointed episcopal
vicar for clergy and director of the diaconate formation program in October
2015. He is in residence at the St. Rose of Lima Priests’ Retirement Villa in
Annandale.

 

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