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AROUND
 Meeting with Muslim leaders
Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo and Msgr. Raymond Barton, diocesan Vicar for Ecumenism and Interreligious Affairs, met on Feb. 15 with Muslim leaders in Richmond. The bishop had called for the meeting and had asked Michael Stone, director of the diocesan Office of Justice and Peace, to bring together Muslim leaders to seek numerous ways Catholics and Muslims can collaborate in the area of social ministry and meeting human needs. A second gathering is planned for late May or early June at the Islamic Center in Richmond. Bishop DiLorenzo has expressed a desire to meet with Muslim leadership in Hampton Roads.
Meeting with Religious
 Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo talks with, from left, Sister Mary Amata and Sister Maria Teresita, both members of the Nashville Dominican community and teachers at St. Mary Star of the Sea School in Hampton, and Benedictine Brother Robert Nguyen of Mary Mother of the Church Abbey in Richmond at a reception Feb. 8 at St. Paul Church in Richmond for Religious who serve in the Diocese of Richmond. The group gathered for a prayer service, after which there was a dialogue in which many expressed concerns and visions they had for their ministry in the diocese. Among the suggestions was to have three regional liturgies in which Bishop DiLorenzo would preside at Mass for members of religious communities in that region. Guests at the reception also included the Sisters of Mercy and Daughters of Charity in Petersburg, the Little Sisters of the Poor, Comboni Missionary Sisters, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and Father Esteban DeLeon, of the Society of the Divine Word, pastor of Star of the Sea, Virginia Beach.
Obituaries
Father Matthias Newell, 79, diocesan priest, dies in Tampa
Father Matthias Newell, a retired priest of the Diocese of Richmond, died Feb. 13 in Tampa, FL, where he was a resident of John Knox Village, a Catholic residential facility where he offered Mass regularly. He was 79.
Father Newell had moved to the Tampa area, in the Diocese of St. Petersburg, in 2000. He had last served in active ministry as pastor of St. Paschal Baylon parish in South Boston and at St. Elizabeth’s in Brookneal.
Born in Panama, Father Newell served as a Marianist Brother before coming to the Diocese of Richmond where he became active and was known as Brother Matthias. With the encouragement of Bishop Walter F. Sullivan and the diocesan Commission for Black Catholics, he entered the seminary and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Richmond on May 16, 1987.
He had also served as pastor of St. Elizabeth parish in Richmond and was briefly a part of Mary Mother of the Church Benedictine Abbey in Richmond.
A memorial Mass was celebrated Feb. 22 in the chapel of John Knox Village.
Father Philip J. Higgins dies; had served at St. Victoria, Hurt
Father Philip J. Higgins, a retired priest of the Diocese of Richmond who had served as pastor of St. Victoria parish in Hurt, died Feb. 15 in Lynchburg. He had turned 70 on Feb. 10.
A native of Massachusetts, Father Higgins was ordained a priest May 1, 1972 for the Archdiocese of Boston. He served as an Air Force chaplain from 1976 to 1985.
He was incardinated into the Diocese of Richmond Jan. 1, 1986. He served as pastor of St. Victoria, Hurt, from 1985 to 1994. He then served briefly at Our Lady of Lourdes in Richmond until he retired.
Mass of Christian Burial was on Feb. 19 at St. Victoria in Hurt.
Merritt P. Jones, former priest, dies in Roanoke
Merritt Palmer Jones, a former priest of the Diocese of Richmond who last served as parochial vicar at Ascension parish in Virginia Beach, died Feb. 10 in Roanoke. He was 63 and died of a heart attack.
Ordained a priest of the diocese in 1973, he served as a deacon at Blessed Sacrament parish in Harrisonburg, and later served at Incarnation, Charlottesville; St. Jerome parish, Newport News; and the parishes in Floyd, Carroll and Patrick Counties.
Msgr. Thomas Miller presided at Mass of Christian Burial at St. Andrew Church in Roanoke on Feb. 14.
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