|
PARISH PROFILE
 St. Bridget’s, Richmond: Multi-generational parish serves 2,600 families
By Steve Neill
Of The Catholic Virginian
As he begins his third year as pastor of St. Bridget parish in Richmond, Msgr. William H. Carr is inviting parishioners to a greater sense of fellowship and hospitality which he feels will enhance the already good liturgy and a sense of knowing other members of the parish as neighbors.
St. Bridget’s is doing this through zip code parties, a recent event known as the Moon Dance and a concert featuring an Irish tenor in the fall.
“I go to all of them,” Msgr. Carr said of the zip code parties to which all registered parishioners in particular zip codes are invited. “I’m meeting a lot of nice people whom I might not meet on Sunday morning.”
 St. Bridget’s, located at Three Chopt and York Roads in Richmond’s West End, has approximately 2,600 families with 7,000-plus people who come from all parts of the Richmond area. It is the second largest parish in Richmond, surpassed only by St. Edward’s.
“They come because they like the traditional look of the church and the quality of the school,” Msgr. Carr said, adding that the school has close to 500 students, 99 percent of whom are Catholic and members of the parish.
On the weekend there are six Sunday liturgies, Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and on Sunday at 7:30, 9, 10:30 a.m., 12 noon and 5 p.m. Weekday Mass is offered each day at 8 a.m., Monday through Saturday. “We normally get 60 to 100 people at daily Mass, depending on the season,” Msgr. Carr said.
In addition to Msgr.Carr, clergy are Benedictine Father James Glass, parochial vicar and two permanent deacons, John Arkestyn and Robert Giovenco. Father James Gordon and Dominican Father Becket Soule frequently help celebrate Mass on the weekends.
With perhaps the recognition that the Sunday liturgy reaches the largest number of parishioners, Msgr. Carr is insistent on good liturgy which he says was in place when he arrived as pastor two years ago.
“The music is fabulous,” he said. “The people sing their hearts out. They have long worshipped God in a reverent and dignified manner.”
 Youth ministry is an important component of St. Bridget’s. Katie Skirtich, a recent graduate of the University of Notre Dame, has been hired as the new youth minister. The parish plans to initiate the LifeTeen program for teenagers in September.
“LifeTeen and the EDGE (middle school component of the LifeTeen program) are dynamic youth-centered programs that are fun and Eucharist-centered so they bring the teens closer to Christ,” Ms. Skirtich said.
This summer will mark the third year in a row that teens from the parish will participate in the Catholic Heart Work Camp, a week-long mission experience (June 17–23) which will involve 53 youths and eight adults.
“We’ll spend the night at Bishop Sullivan High School in Virginia Beach with 250 kids from other parts of the country,” said Ann McCulla, one of the adult advisers.
“We’ll be painting houses, doing yard work and working with the elderly and disabled in home improvement projects in the Tidewater area.
“The kids go out on the work sites from 8 in the morning until 3:30,” she continued. “Most of the kids are in a group where they don’t know one another.”
This is done deliberately, she explained, “just so they can meet other kids of the Catholic faith.”
 The youths and adults attend daily Mass. Both Msgr.Carr and Father James have plans to come and celebrate Mass during the week.
John McCulla, who recently completed his eighth year on St. Bridget’s parish pastoral council, including serving as its chairman, is current chair of the building committee. He spoke of the challenges the parish has faced.
“The biggest thing of the last several years is going through four pastors at St. Bridget’s,” he said. “That’s a challenging thing to any parish while trying to maintain continuity and programs.”
But the recent transition of Msgr. Carr as pastor has been smooth, Mr. McCulla reports.
“We’re very pleased that Msgr. Carr is here,” he said. “He brings a real sense of understanding our parishioners and families here.”
“He took a wait-and-see approach the first year and did not make any changes,” Mrs. McCulla added. “But then he took the bull by the horns and made youth ministry a priority of his and hired a full-time youth minister.”
 Allen Bean, music minister since October 2005, says he sees himself as a program builder.
“I try to get as many people involved in the music ministry as I can and try to have different choirs according to different levels of experience and training,” he explained.
The adult choir at the 10:30 Mass has 24 members. There is a cantor at each Mass.
“We also have on Sunday night the contemporary ensemble which has teenagers and adults with guitars, drums, piano, electric bass and singers,” Mr. Bean said.
“We have a children’s choir and the younger ones learn basic reading skills,” he continued. “The older ones do music theory production.
“Then there’s the men’s ministry choir. It’s a pick-up choir which has a half hour rehearsal before Mass. We have an average of 15 show up and each month they sing at a different Mass.
“Sometimes keeping all the balls in the air is challenging because there’re so many liturgies and so many people to coordinate.”
 The late Msgr. Francis J. Byrne was the founding pastor of St. Bridget’s when the parish was established in 1949. The first parishioners included many senior citizens who have been there from the beginning. Among them are Joe and Mary Tokarz who recall going to Mass first at the Westhampton Theater and then at Douglas Freeman High School before the church was built. Their three children all attended St. Bridget’s School which currently has 591 students.
“From day number one, we were members,” Mr. Tokarz told The Catholic Virginian.
For 14 years he took Communion to Catholic patients at Henrico Doctors Hospital every Friday. He recalled visiting a man in the hospital who told him that he was a Catholic who had not been to church in 27 years. With the man’s permission, Mr. Tokarz immediately contacted St. Bridget’s parish office and a priest went to visit the man while he was still in the hospital. He returned to church soon after.
A major part of St. Bridget parish is the elementary school which has two classes each of grades kindergarten through 8th. Principal Anne Carroll acknowledged that some people put their children on the waiting list for kindergarten as soon as the child is baptized at St. Bridget’s.
 “It’s a very energized parish, a very young parish,” Msgr. Carr said, pointing out that in addition to the students in the parish school, 148 children received their first Communion in May and 90 teens received the sacrament of Confirmation.
Msgr. Carr, who first came to St. Bridget’s as a newly ordained priest in 1969, was pastor of St. Bede parish in Williamsburg, when he was reassigned as pastor of St. Bridget’s in 2005. He was glad to see many of the parishioners he had known from his earlier years. He had been away since 1974.
Among the first things he did was refurbish the old rectory which was no longer serving as the priests’ residence. He moved into the rectory which, he says, had served him well as a newly ordained priest. In recent years he felt it was under-utilized as a meeting space.
“I had an ulterior motive,” Msgr. Carr said, grinning. “I needed to get more priests there because I had looked at the weekend Mass schedule and thought it was crushing.
“My desire was to get good priests who were available and invite them to come for the weekend,” he explained, adding that the convenience of guest quarters right next to the church would make it more convenient for everyone.
“I give a lot of credit to the pastors here over the years,” Msgr. Carr said. “They inspired people to take care of the church and maintain the quality of the school.”
Among the future plans as the parish prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2009 is developing enhancements to the sanctuary so as to eliminate the overflow seating in the parish commons at the Sunday liturgies.
Among the many parish groups are the new Knights of Columbus Msgr. Francis J. Byrne Council in which Carl Barrafato serves as Grand Knight; Old Saints and Sinners, a group of seniors which plans a variety of activities, and the Men’s Ministry which meets the first Saturday of the month at 6:45 a.m.
back to top
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.
The Catholic Virginian is a biweekly publication serving the people of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. This website includes some, but not all, of the articles from the print version of The Catholic Virginian.
For subscription information Contact Us.
|
