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PARISH PROFILE
 Church of the Holy Family, Virginia Beach: Outreach to the poor is key
By Barbara Hughes
Special to The Catholic Virginian
Church of the Holy Family in Virginia Beach may best be known for its large extended family.
From multiple Haiti projects to the Catholic Worker movement, the focus seems to be on those who are most in need even as the parish builds up its own community of believers.
The birth of the parish family dates back to 1977. Responding to the growing number of Catholics in the Great Neck area, Bishop Walter F. Sullivan appointed Father Thomas Reardon as pastor of the worshipping community that was an offshoot of Star of the Sea at the Ocean Front.
On August 27, 1981, following several years of renting space in local schools and a Protestant Church, Holy Family had a permanent home. As the parish family grew, the need for additional space was soon apparent and in 2000, a 36,695 sq. ft. addition was completed.
Greg Brown, Grand Knight of Knights of Columbus Council 10804 describes the 100 active Knights, their wives and families as the heartbeat of the parish.
“Although it’s a fraternal organization, our activities are family affairs, a marriage between the Knights and the parish,” he said.
In addition to the usual breakfast and Tootsie Roll drive, the Knights sponsor Mardi Gras and Oktoberfest, help with the set up for the annual fair and other social events.
“We’re the social fabric of the parish,” said Greg.
 Their involvement and fundraising efforts have won them the national distinction as one of the 10 best in the Knights of Columbus Circle of Honor.
But if the Knights are the heart of the parish family, then outreach efforts are its hands.
Dan Creedon, who serves as chair of the Haiti Commission, attributes parish involvement in Haiti to previous pastor, Father Thomas J. Quinlan.
“I think he looked for the most remote and poorest area of Haiti,” laughed Dan.
Holy Family has twinned with St. Jude in Baptiste and has adopted the 20,000 people who live there by responding to an ongoing needs assessment.
Early projects included building a school and a presbytere for the parish of St. Jude and renovating an abandoned clinic. According to Leo Blumle who has been to Haiti about seven times, “The prebytere is more than a rectory. It has 16 rooms and serves as a guest house for visitors and for the two doctors, a nurse and a pharmacist whom the Minister of Health provides to staff the clinic.”
In addition, Drs. John Kenerson and Elizabeth Hanson, husband and wife physicians in the parish, have spent time in Haiti lending their medical expertise to the effort.
Holy Family contributes $30,000 annually to the parochial school in Baptiste to pay teachers’ salaries.
The children at Holy Family Pre-school did their part by donating bicycles, books and basketballs and recently presented the school with a check for $200 which they raised by helping with household chores.
 Where there are children, there are health issues and the parish addresses this need by collaborating with Partners for Health, Physicians for Peace, Operation Smile and Sentara Health Care System.
Leo Blumle explained that to date about seven or eight 40-ft. containers filled with medical supplies and equipment have been shipped to the poverty stricken country.
“When the old Sentara Hospital in Williamsburg closed, they gave us pretty much free rein to take what we wanted or sell what we could to defray shipping costs,” said Leo.
As a result, x-ray machines, 50 hospital beds and countless other materials have made their way to a near-by Haitian hospital.
But the current and perhaps most challenging effort before the Holy Family Haiti Commission is the creation of a water system that will bring water from the mountains to fountains in town.
Dave Plum, an engineer in the parish, has provided the expertise. The plan is ultimately to make the system available to private homes which will make the system self-supporting.
Despite the many outreach activities, Holy Family has not neglected parishioners at home. The parish has the unique distinction of being the only parish in the diocese to have a fulltime Minister of Health as a fulltime staff person.
 Jim Fedor is a board certified hospital chaplain, grief therapist, and an addictions and domestic violence counselor. He spends about half his time at local hospitals, and the other half at the parish counseling and training parish volunteers to work with the sick.
“I thank God for the people here,” he said. “Without their help we wouldn’t have the kind of ministry we do and yet there’s still a lot of untapped potential for more to be engaged.”
George Hamilton helps with local outreach activities. Although the parish is located in one of the more affluent sections of Virginia Beach, Holy Family provides assistance with rent, utilities and food to a steady stream of homeless and the working poor who walk or arrive on bicycles.
“In Birdneck Woods, not far from the parish, a woman gave birth last year,” George said. “That’s the kind of poverty you don’t see when you drive through the neighborhood.”
Sensitivity to the poor comes naturally to Father Joe Slattery who was appointed pastor three years ago.
Prior to this assignment, he spent several years in Africa teaching in the national seminary and serving as Director of Ministry to priests.
“Holy Family is a wonderful parish with a tremendous enthusiasm for the poor,” said Father Joe. “I feel like I’m coming in on the harvest that was planted by my predecessors, Father Jim Dorson, Father Richard Mooney and Father Tom Quinlan.”
 Catechesis for adults weaves the gospel values through study groups such as JustFaith and Life Teen for teens in the parish. Tim McCarthy describes the presence of Sowers of Justice as a way to blend the footprint of charity with the footprint of justice.
Thirty parish graduates of the JustFaith group combine knowledge with praxis through efforts such as Empower Hampton Roads and advocacy efforts in Richmond and Washington, D.C.
“I just think it’s a great community to be part of and applaud the participation by so many who are involved in so many ways,” said Tim.
One of the young people who has said “Yes” to ministry at the parish is Michelle Bousquet. As a senior, she is part of the Confirmation I team for sophomores and said she does it because “When I was going through it, I had so much fun and learned so much. I met so many people and it changed my life.”
The group of about 30 to 40 meets for two hours twice a month. The curriculum is modeled after “Life Teen” and offers a combination of prayer time in chapel, Scripture reading, a lecture on Church teaching given by an adult, a testimonial by one of the teens and time to socialize.
Tiffany Watson, Coordinator of Christian Formation, has tried to implement a similar format with children K–5. Apart from the regular Sunday morning religion classes, the children have an afternoon gathering one Sunday a month.
 “We try to be dynamic and engage them in diverse lesson plans,” said Tiffany “but the monthly gatherings are a time for the kids to get to know other kids in the parish who go to other schools.”
There are also outreach projects like Stockings of Love at Christmas and the Lenten almsgiving which helps the poor in Africa where Father Joe was.”
“The 570 children and teens in the religious education program are taught to think locally and globally,” explained Tiffany.
With more than 1,100 households in the parish, the community is broken down into geographical areas called “House Churches.” Tom Johnson, newly elected chair of the Council of Elders, explained that leaders of the House Churches serve as a conduit of communication to and from the pastor. They meet in homes on a monthly basis and the format varies from group to group.
Some base their discussion on Scripture, others may use a DVD or a book.
The Council of Elders of about 18–20 people has only been in existence a few weeks. Currently, the group is researching charters and by-laws as they embark on writing their own.
Like most families today, Church of the Holy Family is a bevy of activity.
“There are always cars in the parking lot,” several parishioners pointed out. “And there’s always something going on.”
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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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