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Local
By Dave Borowski
After 55 years of priestly service that included pastoral duties and teaching, Josephite Father Francis M. Hull retired Sept. 28. He served as pastor of St. Joseph Church in Alexandria since 2002. Josephite Father Ugochukwu J. Cletus is the new parochial administrator of St. Joseph Church. Father Hull was born Dec. 20, 1923, in Philadelphia […]
Columns
By Barbara Curtis
Theirs was a love story like many others – cradle Catholics who’d known each other since parochial school, fell away from their faith in college, married at 22, and finally returned to the church after the birth of their first child 18 months later. But they returned to the church on their own terms, still […]
Local
The Most Reverend Paul S. Loverde, Bishop of Arlington, has announced the following clergy appointments: Parochial Administrator Reverend Ugochukwu J. Cletus, S.S.J. – from service outside the diocese to Administrator of the Church of Saint Joseph in Alexandria, was effective September 28, 2012. Reverend Christopher J. Pollard – from service at the Apostolic Nunciature to […]
Columns
By Fr. William P. Saunders
Q: Being elderly, I attend a good number of funerals. I am surprised at the number of cremations. When did the church start allowing cremation? (Alexandria) A: Since the earliest times of the church, Christians traditionally have buried the bodies of the faithful departed, in contrast to pagans who normally cremated. As professed in the […]
National
By Nancy Frazier O’brien
WASHINGTON – The teachings of the Second Vatican Council are neither optional nor second-class, but must be seen in the proper context, the former prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said Sept. 26 as he opened a conference at The Catholic University of America in Washington. The talk by Cardinal […]
Columns
By Thomas Craughwell
The Bible mentions only three archangels by name – St. Michael, the warrior who drove Lucifer and the rebel angels out of heaven and down into hell; St. Raphael, the guide and guardian of Tobias; and St. Gabriel, God’s favorite messenger. St. Luke’s Gospel opens with Gabriel appearing suddenly to Zachary, Elizabeth’s elderly husband, with […]
Local
By Dave Borowski
“When you’re out in the mountains, you’re in the presence of God,” said Msgr. John B. Brady, a lifelong Scout, Scout chaplain and avid outdoorsman. He still loves those mountains and rivers even into his eighth decade. When he talks about hiking or canoeing you can see a bit of the young Washington schoolboy and […]
Columnists
By Marybeth Bonacci
Why do you suppose Blessed John Paul II talked about the “new evangelization” and not the “new catechesis”? Until recently, I was the director of evangelization and catechesis at a large parish here in Denver. And in that time, it became clear to me that (1) there is a significant difference in meaning between those […]
Local
By Katie Bahr
Lucas Gallegos, a parishioner of St. John the Beloved Church in McLean, can still remember the first time he saw his wife of 70 years. As children living in Albuquerque, N.M., their two families knew each other. When Lucas met his future wife in 1928, Earlene was only 4 years old. More than a decade […]
Local
By Dave Borowski
Several weeks ago Pat Brown, 82, was sitting in her Fairfax Station home reading in the Catholic Herald about the dedication of the new St. John the Apostle Church in Leesburg. “I looked at the first page and said, ‘Oh, a new church in Leesburg.’ I turned the page and my eye hit that altar,” […]
