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Who’s your new pastor? 2010

Catholic Herald Staff Report

With the announcement of
new clergy assignments
last week by Arlington Bishop Paul
S. Loverde, including nine new pastors and administrators,
new faces will be popping up everywhere from Alexandria to
Dale City to Front Royal.

Read below to find out who’s going where, and to get a little
background information on your new parish priest.

The changes will go into effect July 7, 2010, except where
noted.

Who? Father Gerry Creedon

Where was he? St. Charles Borromeo Parish in
Arlington

Where’s he going? Holy Family Parish in Dale City

Full bio: Father Gerard (Gerry) Creedon, newly
appointed pastor of Holy Family Parish in Dale City, was born
in County Cork, Ireland, on Feb. 16, 1944, to John J. and
Margaret Creedon.

After attending Redemptorist College in Limerick, from where
he graduated in 1961, Father Creedon attended University
College and All Hallows Seminary, both in Dublin. He was
ordained a priest for the Diocese of Richmond by the late
Bishop Joseph B. Houlihan in June 1968.

Father Creedon served as parochial vicar of Blessed Sacrament
Parish in Alexandria, 1968-75; St. Luke Parish in McLean,
1975-78; St. Agnes Parish in Arlington, 1978-79. He served as
pastor of Good Shepherd Parish in Alexandria, 1979-91.

In 1981, while pastor of Good Shepherd, Father Creedon was
appointed director of diocesan Catholic Charities, a position
that he held until 1988. In 1991, he moved to Bánica,
Dominican Republic, where he helped found the diocesan
mission, 1991-95.

In 1995, Father Creedon returned to the United States and
became pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Arlington,
where he spent the next 15 years. He developed the Peace and
Justice Commission in 2002, for which he serves as chair.

Who? Father John C. De Celles

Where was he? St. Mary Parish in Alexandria

Where’s he going? St. Raymond of Peñafort
Parish in Springfield

Full bio: Father John C. De Celles, newly appointed
parochial administrator of St. Raymond of Peñafort
Parish in Springfield, was born Aug. 19, 1960, in San
Antonio, one of five children. He graduated from Central
Catholic High School in 1978 and from the University of
Texas, San Antonio, in 1981 with a bachelor’s in accounting.
He received a post-graduate degree in accounting from the
University of Texas in 1984. Prior to entering the seminary,
he worked as a certified public accountant in his own
accounting firm.

Father De Celles entered Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in
Emmitsburg, Md., in 1991 and was ordained to the diaconate on
May 27, 1995. He served his diaconate year at St. Timothy
Parish in Chantilly.

Father De Celles was ordained to the priesthood on May 18,
1996, by the late Arlington Bishop John R. Keating. He served
as parochial vicar of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Alexandria,
1996-99; St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Clifton, 1999-2002;
St. Michael Parish in Annandale, 2002-06; and St. James
Parish in Falls Church, 2006-07. He was named parochial vicar
of St. Mary Parish in Alexandria in 2007, where he served for
the last three years.

Who? Father Denis M. Donahue

Where was he? St. Rita Parish in Alexandria

Where’s he going? St. Philip Parish in Falls
Church

Full bio: Father Denis M. Donahue, newly appointed
pastor of St. Philip Parish in Falls Church, was born Nov.
13, 1962, in South Pasedena, Calif., one of five sons of
Francis and Mary Donahue. He attended Catholic elementary and
high school in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Eastern Michigan
University in Ypsilanti, graduating in 1984. He also took
courses at Christendom College in Front Royal before entering
Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md.

Father Donahue was ordained by the late Arlington Bishop John
R. Keating in 1990. Before his priestly ordination, he served
as an acolyte at St. Patrick Parish in Fredericksburg during
the summer of 1988; during his diaconate year he served at
St. Timothy Parish in Chantilly.

Father Donahue was parochial vicar of St. Agnes Parish in
Arlington, 1990-94; St. Louis Parish in Alexandria; 1994-96;
and St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Falls Church, 1996-2000.
In 2000, he was appointed pastor of St. Rita Parish in
Alexandria, where he served for the last 10 years.

Who? Father Paul M. Eversole

Where was he? Our Lady of Angels Parish in
Woodbridge

Where’s he going? St. Matthew Parish in
Spotsylvania

Full bio: Father Paul M. Eversole, newly appointed
pastor of St. Matthew Parish in Spotsylvania, was born Nov.
14, 1964, in Hampton, Va., one of three children of Clark and
Kim Eversole.

Father Eversole attended Kecoughtan High School in Hampton
and graduated from the College of William and Mary in
Williamsburg in 1987. He worked as a technical writer before
entering St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa., in
1990. After attending the Pontifical North American College
in Rome from 1991-95, Father Eversole was ordained by the
late Arlington Bishop John R. Keating on May 20, 1995.

Father Eversole served as parochial vicar of Our Lady of
Angels Parish in Woodbridge, 1995-99, and All Saints Parish
in Manassas, 1999-2000. He worked as associate rector of the
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
in Washington, D.C., 2000-01. In 2001, he was appointed
parochial vicar of St. William of York Parish in Stafford,
where he served until 2005. He was named administrator of Our
Lady of Angels in 2005, and in 2007 he became pastor.

Who? Father Daniel M. Gee

Where was he? Christendom College in Front Royal

Where’s he going? St. Rita Parish in Alexandria

Full bio: Father Daniel N. Gee,newly appointed pastor
of St. Rita Parish in Alexandria, was born Dec. 19, 1967, in
Portsmouth, Va., one of four children of Rear Adm. and Mrs.
George Nicholas Gee of Key West, Fla.

Raised in a military family, Father Gee attended W.T. Woodson
High School in Fairfax before graduating from Coronado High
School in Coronado, Calif., in 1986.

Father Gee studied at the University of Oregon, where he
majored in Spanish, then entered the collegiate level of St.
Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa., in 1989. He was
ordained in 1995 after spending his diaconate year at St.
Charles Borromeo Parish in Arlington.

Father Gee served as parochial vicar of All Saints Parish in
Manassas, 1995-99, and Our Lady of Angels Parish in
Woodbridge, 1999-2003.

In 2003, Father Gee was assigned to serve at the diocesan
mission in Bánica, Dominican Republic. After five
years as a missionary, he returned to Virginia in 2008 to
serve as chaplain of Christendom College in Front Royal.

Who? Father James R. Gould

Where was he? St. Raymond of Peñafort Parish in
Springfield

Where’s he going? St. John the Evangelist Parish in
Warrenton

Full bio: Father James R. Gould, newly appointed
pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Warrenton, was
born on July 5, 1955, in Memphis, Tenn., to James and Alice
Gould. One of nine children, he grew up in Des Moines, Iowa,
and attended Sacred Heart School and Dowling High School in
West Des Moines. He attended Niagara University in New York,
N. Y., and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa.

As a seminarian, he was vice-director of Christ House in
Alexandria in 1978 and director of St. Martin de Porres
Senior Center in Alexandria in the summer of 1978.

Ordained on May 9, 1981, by the late Arlington Bishop Thomas
J. Welsh, Father Gould was parochial vicar of Holy Spirit
Parish in Annandale, 1981-84, and St. John the Beloved Parish
in McLean, 1984-85. While serving as diocesan director of
vocations from 1985-2000, Father Gould was in residence at
the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington, 1985-88; St.
Ann Parish in Arlington, 1988-92; and St. John, 1992-93. He
was pastor of St. Agnes Parish in Arlington from 1993-2000.
He served as pastor of St. Raymond of Peñafort Parish
in Springfield for the last 10 years.

Who? Father Horace (Tuck) Grinnell

Where was he? St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Falls
Church

Where’s he going? St. Charles Borromeo Parish in
Arlington

Full bio: Father Horace (Tuck) Grinnell, newly
appointed pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Arlington,
was born on Aug. 12, 1947, in Charlottesville to Thomas and
Ruth Grinnell. He attended Holy Comforter School in
Charlottesville and graduated from Benedictine High School in
Richmond in 1965. He attended St. Mary’s College Seminary
near Catonsville, Md., from where he graduated in 1970. He
graduated from the University of Louvain, Belgium, in 1973.

Father Grinnell was ordained on May 4, 1974, by
then-Auxiliary Richmond Bishop Walter F. Sullivan. He served
as parochial vicar of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in
Arlington, 1974-77; St. Louis Parish in Alexandria, 1977-80;
St. Charles, 1980-84; and St. Mark Parish in Vienna, 1984-86.
He served as pastor of St. Charles, 1986-95, and has been the
pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Falls Church since
1995.

Who? Father J. Kevin O’Keefe

Where was he? Church of the Nativity in Burke

Where’s he going? Our Lady of Angels Parish in
Woodbridge

Full bio: Father J. Kevin O’Keefe, newly appointed parochial
administrator of Our Lady of Angels Parish in Woodbridge, was
born Aug. 11, 1962, in East Orange, N.J., one of three
children. He graduated from Butler High School, Butler, N.J.,
and from the Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, N.Y., in
1984 with a bachelor’s in marine engineering.

Prior to entering the seminary, Father O’Keefe served as a
reservist in the Merchant Marine and worked as a Defense
Department contractor and a mechanical engineer for the Navy.

He entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa.,
in 1991 and was ordained to the diaconate on May 28, 1994. He
served his diaconate year at Holy Spirit Parish in Annandale
and was ordained to the priesthood on May 20, 1995, by the
late Arlington Bishop John R. Keating.

He served as parochial vicar of Queen of Apostles Parish in
Alexandria, 1995-97, and St. James Parish in Falls Church,
1997-2001. He was appointed parochial vicar of Church of the
Nativity in Burke in 2001, where he served for nine years.

Who? Father Kevin B. Walsh

Where was he? St. Philip Parish in Falls Church

Where’s he going? St. Anthony of Padua Church in Falls
Church

Full bio: Father Kevin B. Walsh, newly appointed
pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Falls Church, was
born Feb. 2, 1962, in Detroit. He attended Catholic schools
in Warren and Madison Heights, Mich., and graduated in 1987
from Christendom College in Front Royal.

After receiving his priestly formation at Mount St. Mary’s
Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., Father Walsh was ordained by the
late Arlington Bishop John R. Keating on May 16, 1992. His
diaconate year was at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in
Arlington.

Father Walsh was parochial vicar of St. Anthony, 1992-96; St.
Rita Parish in Alexandria, 1996-98; and St. James Parish in
Falls Church, 1998-2000. Father Walsh celebrated the first
Spanish Mass at St. James in May 1998.

Father Walsh served as chaplain of Marymount University in
Arlington, 2000-02, while in residence at St. James. He
served as parochial administrator of St. Philip Parish in
Falls Church, 2002-04, and was appointed pastor in 2004.
Father Walsh served as pastor of St. Philip for the last six
years, taking a three-month sabbatical to Vietnam in 2008.

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