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PARISH PROFILE
 Our Lady of Peace, Appomattox: Return of religious education sparks new growth
By Steve Neill
Of The Catholic Virginian
After most of its 26-year history as a parish with few or no children in its parish family, Our Lady of Peace in Appomattox has finally initiated a regularly scheduled religious education program which has boosted membership of younger members.
“Religious education had not been offered here in 10 years so families with children were not coming,” said Father James Gallagher, administrator of Our Lady of Peace.
The number of parishioners has doubled in the past three years even though there are approximately 100 people in approximately 70 families.
“You asked for it. You got it!” Father Gallagher said joyfully at the March 29 Sunday Mass when he announced there are to be five baptisms on April 27. Those being baptised include an adult, children and an infant.
 Appomattox, site of the official end of the four-year Civil War, is 25 miles east of Lynchburg and 100 miles southwest of Richmond. The light color frame church, which also has an adjacent cemetery, is not far from Civil War battlefields.
Bishop Walter F. Sullivan established the new parish at Appomattox in 1982 after a number of Catholics who were new to the largely rural area wanted their own church. Bernadette and Ray Servis are among those who were there almost from the very beginning.
“We first met at Trinity United Methodist Church and then we met at the Ruritan building in the Oakville section of Appomattox,” Mrs. Servis said.
“We had bumps along the road, it wasn’t always a straight journey,” she recalled. “It was really at first a community of older retired people.”
Our Lady of Peace was first a mission of Holy Cross in Lynchburg and then a mission of St. Theresa’s in Farmville.
“At one time we shared our pastor with Buckingham (Nativity parish) and now we are linked with St. Victoria parish in Hurt,” Mrs. Servis said.
 “We have been involved in strategic planning for a long time,” she continued. “There are a lot of benefits from networking with the surrounding Catholic communities.
“We’ve been doing this from the very beginning.”
Mrs. Servis, who with her husband and children moved to Virginia 29 years ago from New Jersey, is excited about the newcomers who are now coming to Our Lady of Peace. Most of the newcomers as well as those who have been in the Appomattox parish for a while are from the Northeast, particularly from New York and New Jersey.
“We have children now,” Mrs. Servis said of the newly registered families. “On Wednesday afternoon two school buses drop children off here for religious education and the first person to greet them is Father Jim.”
In fact, the parish now has 12 altar servers who have been trained by Father Gallagher.
Among the newcomers are Jeff and Tina Neal and their three children who moved to Virginia from Foxboro, Mass. Their previous parish of St. Mary’s in Foxboro had approximately 20,000 people and some 1,300 teenagers alone in the parish’s LifeTeen program.
“When we moved here we searched around for a Catholic church which was hard to find,” Mrs. Neal said.
 “Since we’ve been here just about a year, I’ve seen this place take off,” she continued.
“We started in early September with religious education. The program we’re doing is called ‘We Believe.’
“We started out with 15 kids and we’ve had new kids coming in since September and we’ve added another 10 kids. Two more came in just last week.”
The location of the church is often hard to find for visitors and parishioners are grateful when newcomers make the effort to track them down.
“We’re so far off the main drag that people can’t find us,” Mrs. Neal said. “We’ve actually had people come for Mass and they’ll say they had to stop at the Visitors Center to find out where we are.”
There is adult Bible study after the Sunday 10 a.m. Mass. This new program is led by Betty and Mike Berry.
Michael Haggerty, whose Irish name indicates he has Catholic family roots, is becoming a Catholic and will be baptised, confirmed and receive first Communion at Sunday Mass April 27. He began attending RCIA classes this past January. He is following in the footsteps of his wife, Tracie, who was previously baptised a Catholic at age 19 at St. Ann parish in Ashland.
 But perhaps the greatest influence on why he wants to become a Catholic is the faith formation of his two children. Both Catherine, 8, and Sean, 3, will be baptised with him on April 27.
“As I look at raising our children and want them to live in a home with Christian values, I feel that if it’s right for them, it should be right for me, too,” Mr. Haggerty said. “I think parents should lead by example.”
The Haggertys began coming regularly to Mass at Our Lady of Peace back in November.
“The parishioners made us feel very welcome,” Mr. Haggerty said.
They initially came to Mass in Appomattox seven years ago, but felt uncomfortable when their daughter, then 1, became “fidgety.” They sensed that some in the community were disturbed by a squirming child.
“It seemed to be disruptive to the Mass so we didn’t come back until last November,” Mr. Haggerty said.
“When we first came seven years ago, the church did not have children’s programs,” he continued. “Katie loves coming here now. She gets to see her friends.”
 The parish’s RCIA program is continuing to meet on Saturday mornings at 10 through Pentecost. Anthony Rago, Jr., an administrator with the City of Lynchburg, is in the program along with his younger brothers, Michael and Daniel. They had received most of the sacraments as children but had never received Confirmation until this year’s Easter Vigil.
“The sessions with Father Jim have been excellent,” Mr. Rago said, adding that he found the one on conscience formation particularly enriching.
He has gotten involved in a young adult ministry program which includes members from Lynchburg’s Holy Cross and St. Thomas More parishes. He attended the diocese’s recent Young Adult Ministry all-day meeting in Richmond.
Father Gallagher told The Catholic Virginian that the parish pastoral council, which had been disbanded, will be reinstated by this fall.
“We will be rewriting our mission statement and identify and call forth ministry chairpersons,” he said.
He is pleased with the music ministry which has a choir director, Bonnie Toth, and Mark Perry on keyboard.
“Neither one is stipended,” Father Gallagher said. “They both do it out of the generosity of their hearts.”
Volunteers are responsible for the maintenance of the building and the church cemetery which was dedicated last fall.
“Ray Moyer’s gift to the parish is his ministry in repair and maintenance and his dedicated team,” Father Gallagher said.
 In addition to Sunday Mass at 8:30 a.m., parishioners gather for Mass on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. When Father Gallagher cannot be present on Tuesday, they still meet for morning prayer and evening prayer.
Father Gallagher says he receives inspiration from the willingness parishioner’s show in serving their community.
“We don’t have all the bells and whistles,” he said, “but the Spirit is moving. People believe in their baptismal call.
“The priest of a small rural parish has to be a cheerleader who encourages, affirms and empowers every gift, no matter how small, of God’s holy people,” he said.
Josephine Rago, a native of New York has returned to the Catholic Church in Appomattox after having left and sometimes worshiping in other local Christian churches. She says she is glad to be back worshipping in the religious tradition of her roots.
“We’re home now,” she said.
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Copyright © 2008 The Catholic Virginian Press. Articles from Catholic News Services, including Fr. Dietzen’s column, may not be reproduced due to copyright considerations.
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