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PARISH PROFILE
 Holy Family, Pearisburg: Appalachian Trail hikers are welcome guests
By Jean Denton
Special to The Catholic Virginian
For the more than 1,000 hikers who go through Virginia on the Appalachian Trail every year, Pearisburg is a common place to stop, rest and resupply.
For one thing there’s a hostel there that has a reputation as a great place to spend the night.
Simple but sturdy, it’s spacious, clean and comfortable and overlooks a beautiful part of the New River Valley. And if you happen to stay there on a Sunday and want to go to Mass you’re welcome at Holy Family Catholic Church. It’s right across the lawn.
Not only that, but hikers staying at the Holy Family hostel on the fourth Sunday of the month are invited to potluck breakfast at the church as well.
“Hikers tell us that as hostels along the trail go, this one is like the Ritz,” said Holy Family pastoral council chair Jim Thompson.
Holy Family Church built the hostel on its property more than 30 years ago as an outreach of hospitality to visitors on the popular 2,174-mile trek through the Appalachian Mountain range.
With the help of a $1,500 grant from the Richmond Diocese the parish purchased a corn crib from an adjacent farm, explained current pastor Father John Prinelli.
 The corn crib was moved onto the church grounds and became the foundation for what is now a two-story structure that sleeps 11. Father Prinelli estimated that 400-500 hikers stay at the Holy Family hostel every year.
Holy Family member Rob Dillon, who heads the committee that maintains the hostel, said it is actually located on a side trail off the main trail but it is listed in trail guides and well known to hikers.
A free will offering is asked, but not required, of those who stay, Dillon explained.
Parishioners enjoy the fact that hikers join them for Mass and some who don’t attend Mass still come for breakfast on the Sundays it is available.
Father Prinelli has taken on the task of laundering towels for the hostel guests, and enjoys supervising hikers who volunteer to do odd jobs for church upkeep. That’s a big help to a small parish with beautiful grounds and no staff.
Hikers who come to Mass or breakfast (donuts on the second Sunday of each month) at Holy Family will find a Catholic faith community that is “small but vibrant,” said long-time parishioner Alice Journell.
All 60 households are active in the church, Thompson said.
“Everybody does something— we’re so small, they’ve got to,” he added.
Because there is no staff, every task in the life of the parish, from maintenance to liturgy to formation, is done by parish volunteers and the pastor.
 The Holy Family community enjoys socializing and does it often. Parishioners will tell you that everyone (literally) comes to the monthly potluck and donut gatherings after Mass.
When the church celebrated Father Prinelli’s 30th anniversary and annual Eucharistic procession on May 25, guests came from all over the country as well as from Holy Spirit Parish and the Roanoke Vietnamese community that he also pastors.
Practiced as the parish hands are at coordinating meals and fellowship, hosting twice as many people as there are in the parish seemed effortless and certainly joyous. With everyone pitching in, “it makes for family-like community,” said Cindy Thompson.
 Pearisburg, with a population of just under 3,000, is the county seat of Giles County. The town is located about 30 minutes northwest of Blacksburg less than 10 miles from the West Virginia state line.
Among the parish families are many employees of Virginia Tech and a sizable number of retirees. Many came to the area previously to work at the nearby Celanese chemical plant.
“We are mostly transplants,” said Ms. Journell explaining that a lot, like her, were transplanted long ago and stayed. “People come and fall in love with the scenery,” she said.
As early as 1911 priests came occasionally by train or horse from neighboring towns including Lexington, Blacksburg, Wytheville and Bluefield — then part of the Diocese of Wheeling — to serve Catholics in the community. In 1941 the priests of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate took on fulltime pastoral care of the region for the diocese.
For two decades Mass was offered in homes and then in a tiny “house-church” down the hill from the present church site. Finally, in 1966 the present building was constructed and dedicated “by the singular grace of God and the countless, untold sacrifices of so many people,” in the words of Father Prinelli.
 In 1974, the Diocese of Richmond assumed jurisdiction of the area and provided priests for Holy Family.
Although Holy Family’s hostel is well known to through-hikers, the parish’s imprint, particularly in social ministry, is highly respected by the Giles County community.
Since its beginning, the church has been a leader in social ministry in the county. Indeed, through various projects and programs for the poor, the parish serves four per cent of the entire county population, Father Prinelli said.
“Not bad for such a small parish, huh?” he asks.
The parish takes a monthly collection to support its social ministry and additionally raises more than $2,000 annually at its “Spectacular Salad Luncheon.”
A yearly grant of another $2,000 from the diocese through its Fuel and Hunger Fund supplements the effort.
These programs provide ongoing assistance to the poor including support of the Giles County Mission. Parishioners also give large holiday food baskets to 30 local families every year and additionally purchase Christmas gifts for 40 children through an Angel Tree project.
The children of the parish help with a Souper Sunday collection on Superbowl Sunday that goes to support Christian mission.
 “Nobody is more proud of our parish than I am,” Father Prinelli said. “I am astonished by how generous with its own resources such a tiny community is in helping the poor.”
The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) provides funds to Giles County every year for emergency financial assistance 95 per cent of which is administered by Holy Family Parish because of its proven “track record” in providing for the indigent, the pastor added.
The Pearisburg church has a varying but small number of children among its families. This year there will be only six young people in the entire Christian Formation program. But no matter the number, class is held every Sunday.
The desire by parish adults to grow in faith is obvious from the level of participation in Little Rock Scripture Study offered twice a year. Jim Thompson noted that the group averages 15 people each session.
Father Prinelli, who spent his early years training for the priesthood in Vietnam where he had initially been sent by the Army, enjoys sharing multi-cultural Catholic spirituality with the faithful he pastors.
Ms. Journell said, “Father is very spiritual, very traditional, and we like that here.”
 In this parish where he has served for 10 years, Father Prinelli explained, “I try to be an inspiration and to lead the people. I hope to do that, and I pray — oh, how I pray — that I can do that.”
His challenge, he said, is “to continue to enhance the authentic character of the parish by outstanding preaching of the Gospel and always incorporating Catholic tradition into every sermon.
“I try to lead the people forward,” he added, “by increasing their focus on Jesus, collaboratively and cooperatively with each other and with other churches, so we see ourselves as a most important part — though a tiny part — of the universal church. And so we put our beliefs into practice each day as the Gospel says.”
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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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