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PARISH PROFILE
 St. Theresa’s, Farmville: Preparing for transition as pastor retires
By Steve Neill
Of The Catholic Virginian
As St. Theresa’s parish in Farmville plans a farewell reception for Father Carl De Souza, their pastor who is retiring from active priestly ministry at age 74, parish leaders are optimistic that they’ll receive a new resident pastor.
But Ralph Charlton, who chairs the parish finance council at St. Theresa’s, told The Catholic Virginian that both Deacon Robert Ewan, assistant director of the diocesan Office of the Vicar for Clergy, and Beth Neu, director of the Office for Pastoral Planning, recently visited the Farmville parish and told parishioners there are 11 parishes in the diocese seeking a new pastor and only six priests to fill those slots.
The two diocesan representatives were at St. Theresa’s to ask parish leadership about what they considered the parish’s strengths and weaknesses and what qualities they are seeking in a pastor.
“We are debt-free, have a new rectory and have two hard-working deacons who don’t get paid,” Father DeSouza said.
“With that description, you may get too many priests who will want to come,” he added, laughing.
St. Theresa’s counted 269 registered families in last year’s annual report sent to the diocese and Marilyn Reid, parish secretary, says that since the report many new families have joined the parish, bringing the total number of families to almost 300.
Mrs. Reid, who has been parish secretary for over nine years says she has worked for four priests and three deacons at St. Theresa’s. She was there when the new church was built and the former sanctuary renovated into what is known as the Great Hall, with Father Joseph Metzger as her first boss. Mrs. Reid says of the priests and deacons during whose tenures she has served that, “Each had his own ways, and each was dedicated to his vocation. Each was at St. Theresa’s at the right time and for the right reasons.” She was happy to be there when the new church was dedicated on June 13, 1998. Robert Winthrop, well-known church architect, who lives in Farmville designed the new church.
 Along with the transition to a new pastor, St. Theresa’s has been going through the diocese’s “We Walk by Faith” process of parish renewal. At the Sunday liturgies the weekend of April 28-29 registered parishioners and youths who had been confirmed were asked to answer 25 questions in a self-assessment survey.
Parishioners completed the survey after Communion to get as quick a response as possible.
“It has been tremendously helpful,” Cecilia Charlton, chairperson of the parish pastoral council, said of the “We Walk by Faith” process which the parish began last September. “It has given a focus to our parish council as to what we want to do.
“We want to improve our communications between all our ministries, committees and our parishioners,” she continued.
“There are a lot of good things going on and we need to make everybody aware of the opportunities to serve our parish and beyond to the larger community.”
Among the opportunities for service is the Food Pantry which serves 35 families a week and is open each Wednesday from 10 to 11 a.m.
“There is no boss and nobody is in charge and each one does what they do best,” Horst Kaiser said jokingly. Mr. Kaiser is one of the volunteers who works from the Food Pantry located in its own building behind the Parish Center.
 Families are referred by the Prince Edward County Department of Social Services.
“People come in and we load them up with plastic and paper bags,” Mr. Kaiser said.
“Although we are open only one hour to the public on Wednesday, we usually don’t get finished in an hour because we have so many people.
Parishioners regularly replenish the shelves of the Food Pantry.
“The Catholic church in Farmville has helped the folks in the Prince Edward County community tremendously,” said Roma Morris of the county’s social services department.
“I can’t tell you how much money they have given to people needing help with their electric bills and paying their rent so they can get started.”
Christian formation is another opportunity to serve. St. Theresa’s offers a religious education program for children between kindergarten and the 11th grade for 80-plus students, said Karel Bailey, director of religious education.
Mrs. Bailey, who has a master’s degree in special education, has worked part-time in the parish for 24 years.
“Our Christian formation program pulls in people from Amelia, Buckingham, Cumberland, Charlotte Court House and Crewe as well as from Farmville,” she said.
 “We have more Catholic students here so they have a sense of being part of a bigger church.”
Twelve youths received the sacrament of Confirmation April 26 from Bishop Emeritus Walter F. Sullivan. Earlier this past winter they participated in a multi-parish Confirmation retreat at the United Methodist Church Assembly Center in Blackstone with approximately 300 other candidates from many parishes in the diocese.
“Especially for a parish of our size, it’s been a wonderful experience for our youth to see other Catholic youth their own age with their own issues,” Mrs. Bailey said.
“We have 13 volunteer teachers (for religious education) and periodically we have students from Longwood University and Hampden-Sydney College who volunteer their time to help in the program,” she continued. “They come when they can because of their busy schedules.”
Bob Zupanek is Catholic campus minister for both Longwood and Hampden-Sydney. The two schools share a single campus ministry program. Between them there is a total of 5,585 students. One of the campus ministry activities is called “Pizza Theology,” an evening gathering in which the students go to a local pizza parlor to discuss a topic they have chosen ahead of time. A rosary group meets on Friday nights.
 Hampden-Sydney, one of the remaining all male colleges in the country, has been the undergraduate school for at least three priests who grew up in the Diocese of Richmond. They are Father Joseph Metzger, pastor of Blessed Sacrament, Norfolk; Father Michael Boehling, parochial vicar of the four Portsmouth-Chesapeake parishes, and Father Neil Nichols, a priest with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter who grew up in Richmond.
In addition, John David Ramsey, a diocesan seminarian, was a professor at Hampden-Sydney and entered the Catholic Church through St. Theresa’s RCIA program. He participated in St. Theresa’s Holy Week Triduum this year, serving as a lector taking the role of Jesus in the Gospel at the Good Friday liturgy.
Deacons Emmett McLane and Peter Menting direct the RCIA program whose classes are held on Sunday mornings at the same time as the religious education program classes meet between the 8 a.m. and 10:30 liturgies.
“This year we had five candidates, three college students and two other adults,” Deacon McLane said.
“One neat thing we did was go to visit a home-bound parishioner,” he said. “Father Carl anointed her and the class participated in prayer while she received the sacrament.”
 Among the newly initiated Catholics is Kenneth Moorefield, a Hampden-Sydney senior from Greenville, NC who is a religion major. He had never been to a Catholic church before but accepted the invitation of Dr. Ramsey, one of his professors, to accompany him to Mass.
“The first reason I became interested in going was curiosity,” Mr. Moorefield explained.
“I thought ‘what is this other sect of Christianity I know nothing about?’
“I became interested in the sacramental life, especially the Eucharist,” he continued.
“I felt the Catholic faith allowed me to go much deeper in my experience of Christ.”
Visitors to the parish are warmly welcomed. At the end of each liturgy Father De Souza asks any visitors to stand and give their names and say where they’re from.
“It has always been like a family to me because my own family lives somewhere else,” said Mrs. Charlton, who said she came to Farmville 24 years ago from Pittsburgh. “The people were very welcoming immediately.
 “I can remember coming to Mass here the very first time and a parishioner offered her phone number if there was anything I needed or had any questions about the parish.”
Father DeSouza plans to remain in Farmville when he retires because his doctors there have been helpful in his treatment for multiple myeloma. They have told him that he needs more rest and cannot keep up with his full round of activities which takes him to two colleges, local jails and to Southside Community Hospital in Farmville when he gets a phone call.
“We are in good fiscal health because we’re debt-free,” Ralph Charlton said. “Our growth in membership has gone up and the plate collection has grown along with it. Our people are quite generous.”
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Copyright © 2006 The Catholic Virginian Press. Articles from Catholic News Services, including Fr. Dietzen’s column, may not be reproduced here due to copyright considerations.
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