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PARISH PROFILE
 Good Samaritan, Amelia: Rural parish without resident priest
By Steve Neill
Of The Catholic Virginian
Good Samaritan parish in Amelia — with 34 registered families — is the only parish in the Diocese of Richmond which continues to gather weekly, but normally there is Mass only once a month.
Parishioners who gathered for the annual parish picnic on Sept. 16 are nevertheless proud of their tight-knit community.
“The ideal situation would be to have a priest,” said Carol Hix, a member of Good Samaritan since 1986. “But the important thing is to have our parish and keep going.
“The parish is important to everyone here,” she continued. “We’re like a family.”
Established in 1980, Good Samaritan Church is located on Route 360, about 35 miles southwest of Richmond. Most of the 70 individuals who make up the parish are 50 and older. Many of them are retired and have moved to the rural county from other parts of Virginia and New York and New Jersey.
 Audrey and Al Worsham, residents of Amelia County since 1973, remember first worshipping there in a building in Amelia Courthouse owned by the Rudershausen family. A religious order priest from Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Blackstone came for Mass.
After Bishop Walter F. Sullivan officially established Good Samaritan in 1980, it came under the wing of Church of the Epiphany in Chesterfield County. Priests from Epiphany regularly came to celebrate Mass on Saturday night until the parish got down to only one priest. Father William Stickle, now a retired Richmond diocesan priest, then came out to the parish weekly while he was chaplain at McGuire Veterans Affairs Hospital in Richmond, but he later moved to North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Later Father David Bergner, who was director of Commonwealth Catholic Charities in Richmond, came out once a month to preside at Mass.
“I don’t think anyone in the church is a native Amelian,” Mrs. Hix said, pointing out that she and her husband, Jim, and their two children moved to the area from Rockland County, NY, because of a new job.
Father Jeffrey Garcia, pastor of St. John Neumann parish in Powhatan with which Good Samaritan is clustered, celebrates Mass the third Saturday of the month at 6:30 p.m.
On other Saturday nights people gather at the same time for a service known as Sunday Celebration in the Absence of a Priest. Deacon Bob Ewan, who at one time was pastoral coordinator of the Powhatan parish, presides on the first Saturday. Deacon Edward Schmidt of St. John Neumann presides on the second and fourth Saturday. Father Garcia returns to celebrate Mass in the event there is a fifth Saturday in the month
 Changing the 6:30 time Saturday night has never been an issue.
“Could we change it? Probably,” Mrs. Hix replied. “We’ve left it at 6:30 because there are more priests or deacons available at 6:30 than at 5 p.m.
“It makes it easier to keep it at 6:30 because we’re all used to it.”
Parishioners are grateful for the deacons who have helped bring the sacraments to them. At one time Deacon George Stonikinis, a professor at Longwood University in Farmville, came each week, but he moved away from the area when his wife was transferred in her job. Deacon David Nemetz, from St. Michael parish in Glen Allen, also came for about six months, conducting services on Saturday night, on Holy Days and at the Easter Triduum.
“We’ve been very fortunate in the people we’ve had,” Mrs. Hix said.
Even on the times the parish has been unexpectedly without a deacon, they have held a service. One time Jim Hix took over with no preparation.
“Nobody from the clergy showed up and the church was full of people,” Mrs. Hix said. “We got the book out and just followed the directions. We were all here and we received Communion.”
Like most other parishes in the diocese, Good Samaritan will send two representatives to the Vicariate-wide meeting which seeks to create a five-year vision on pastoral planning of the diocese in regard to staffing and sharing of resources. The two from the Amelia parish will be Tom Hayghe, a senior analyst with Capitol One, and his father, Howard Hayghe, a retired analyst with the U.S. Department of Labor.
“Good Samaritan is very unique,” Tom told The Catholic Virginian.
“Because we’re so small and because we’re so remote, we would probably have more stability if we could use some of the resources that are available in the local planning area.
“Now we pretty much fly by the seat of our pants because we don’t have an administrative staff and a full-time priest or deacon.”
“I think in our case it would benefit us to learn what resources are available,” the senior Mr. Hayghe said.
 Mike Zimmermann, who grew up in St. James parish in Falls Church and graduated from the University of Virginia, has been a member of the parish since 1998. The small size parish is far different from the parish in which he grew up.
“Unless you knew somebody from school, you didn’t know anyone,” he said of Sunday Mass at the Falls Church parish. “I wouldn’t even know if my grandparents were there, the church was so crowded.
“The church is small, but it’s a tight community,” he said of Good Samaritan. “Everybody looks out for everybody.
“We’ll have church clean-up and people will come. Some will make the food and others will be outside raking and cleaning.”
The parish’s new organist is Tom Casey, originally from Wilkes-Barre, PA. He visited the church in February 2007 and felt inspired to sit down at the organ after Mass and started playing.
Marie DeLotto, another parishioner, knew that long-time organist Mary de Kraft, 94 was stepping down from that role. Mrs. de Kraft died this past August.
“I asked Tom if he would be interested in playing for us and he said yes,” Mrs. DeLotto said, not knowing that it had been many years since Mr. Casey had been behind an organ.
 “I hadn’t played the organ since I was 15,” he said. “I bought a keyboard and started practicing.”
Jack Harbottle, cantor, leads the congregation in singing.
Jennifer Hayghe, who chairs the parish pastoral council, says the council works well despite the lack of guidance of a priest.
“We are going to do some landscaping and add more parking,” she said.
Another priority is putting in a water treatment system. Harry Duggan, a parishioner who is a retired plumber, will do the work without charge.
“We support the Southside Pregnancy Center in Farmville,” Mrs. Hix replied when asked about community outreach. “Then if some need comes up, we’ll help.”
Wendy Audley, a parishioner who is a teacher, recently learned that the family of one of her students was down on its luck and the parish helped them.
“We take up a collection once a quarter for the Good Samaritan fund and that’s what we use for the outreach,” Mrs. Hix explained.
 There is no religious education program as there was in earlier years when there were more school age children. With only seven children between ages six and 18, parents of these children have gotten permission to give home school religious education. They use a program and materials recommended by St. John Neumann.
While there is no RCIA program for adults seeking to become Catholic, Howard Dean Webster began worshipping at the Amelia church and felt called to become a Catholic. He spoke about it with Deacon Ewan who encouraged him to join the RCIA program at nearby St. John Neumann. At this year’s Easter vigil he was baptized, received first Communion and was confirmed. Deacon Ewan baptized Mr. Webster’s young children not long after at Good Samaritan. Now his mother has expressed a wish to become Catholic and is in the RCIA at St. John Neumann.
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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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