History of the Diocese of Arlington

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Golden Jubilee Documentary: A History of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington

Catholicism in Virginia predates the establishment of the first permanent English colony in the New World at Jamestown in 1607. More than 80 years before those English adventurers arrived, an attempt at settlement was made in 1526 by a Spanish group accompanied by Dominican friars, including Antonio de Montesinos. Their enterprise was abandoned, however, and the settlers returned to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

More than forty years later, Fr. Juan Baptista de Segura and seven other Jesuit missionaries set out to evangelize the Algonquins in coastal Virginia and likely visited areas now within the Diocese of Arlington before their martyrdom by the Algonquins in 1571.

The 17th-century English colonists claimed all of what is now Virginia for the British crown and established Anglicanism as the official religion. However, Virginia’s location and relative religious tolerance made it a haven for Catholics fleeing from Maryland, after that colony was taken over by Protestants who enacted anti-Catholic laws. The first known Catholic family – Giles Brent and his sisters – moved to Virginia in 1650-51, settling in the Northern Neck, between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, in what now makes up the southeastern portion of the Diocese of Arlington.

After England’s so-called “Glorious Revolution” in 1688, Virginia, too, became hostile to Catholics. The Catholic community remained small and private. Priestly activity was prohibited, and Anglicanism was enforced. In the 1900s, Virginia Catholics relied on the ministry of a few itinerant priests (including John Carroll, later the first Catholic bishop in the U.S.) traveling from Maryland.

The American Revolution resulted in a return of religious tolerance in Virginia, helped by the passage of Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786. Saint Mary’s in Alexandria, established in 1795 (within the current boundaries of the Diocese of Arlington), became the “mother church” of all Catholic parishes in the Commonwealth. The Diocese of Richmond – Virginia’s first diocese – was established in 1820, with territory split from the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Despite this progress, Virginia’s Catholic population remained small until well after the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865). The need for charity work during and after the war led to the establishment of a Saint Vincent de Paul Society in Richmond in 1865. Catholic Charities began in Richmond in 1922 and was established in Northern Virginia in 1947. Josephite priests began their ministry to African-Americans in Virginia in 1915; contributions to the effort were also made by the Redemptorists, Holy Ghost Fathers, and other congregations.

Rapid population growth in the suburbs of Washington followed World War II. From 1946 to 1957, 11 parishes were founded or granted resident pastors in the City of Alexandria and in Arlington and Fairfax Counties; there had been eight parishes in 1945. In 1950, the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary established a women’s college in Arlington, which became Marymount University.

Continued growth led to the erection of the Diocese of Arlington in 1974 in the northern part of Virginia, with Most Rev. Thomas J. Welsh as its first bishop. Three years later, the second Catholic college in Virginia – Christendom College – was founded in the new diocese. Initially located in Triangle, it moved in 1979 to a new campus in Front Royal, in the western part of the Diocese.

The years since the Diocese’s establishment have seen continued steady growth in population, as Washington, D.C.’s suburbs grew to encompass all of Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax, and extended into Prince William, Loudoun, and counties beyond. The availability of government and government-related business has, in recent years, provided stable employment for people in many professional fields.

Following Bishop Welsh’s 1983 appointment as Bishop of Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Diocese was led by Most Rev. John R. Keating until 1998, Most Rev. Paul S. Loverde from 1999 to 2016, and Most Rev. Michael F. Burbidge from 2016 to the present. Growth in Catholic population has kept pace with growth in the general population, due to evangelization efforts and the relocation of Catholics to Virginia from more heavily Catholic areas in the northeastern U.S. and Latin America. In addition to the Latino population, the Diocese also has sizeable numbers of Catholics from Vietnam, Korea, and other nationalities and cultures from Asia and Africa.

Since the Diocese was established, 22 new parishes have been established, as well as five missions, several of which are now maturing toward future parish status. The Diocese now has 70 parishes and six missions.

Catholicism in the Commonwealth of Virginia

  • 1570: Jesuit Father Juan Baptista de Segura and companions were brutally killed in the Virginia wilderness near what is now Williamsburg.
  • 1647: Catholicism in Virginia was revived when Governor Giles Brent of Maryland and his sister Margaret maintained the first Catholic settlement in Virginia as one that embraced religious tolerance.
  • 1650: Pope Urban VIII established the Prefecture Apostolic of Virginia, entrusting it to the Capuchin Fathers, and appointed Father Martial, O.F.M. Cap., its first Prefect Apostolic. Also, James II of England granted his Proclamation of Religious Tolerance.
  • 1785: Thomas Jefferson’s Act for Establishing Religious Freedom decreed that Catholics were free to worship openly in the Old Dominion and the Church began to grow in the area.
  • 1795: Thanks in part to George Washington, the Basilica of St. Mary in Alexandria became the first Catholic church in Virginia.
  • 1820: Pope Pius VII decreed that the Commonwealth of Virginia (including what is now West Virginia) would be contained in the new Diocese of Richmond. In actuality, the Diocese of Richmond was governed by Baltimore until 1841.
  • 1972: The priests of the Alexandria and Arlington Deaneries requested the Bishop John J. Russell, Richmond ‘s 10th Bishop, to initiate the process toward the establishment of a new diocese in their part of the Commonwealth.

The Diocese of Arlington

  • August 13, 1974: Bishop Thomas J. Welsh, auxiliary of Philadelphia and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, Pennsylvania, was installed in St. Thomas More Church as the first Bishop of Arlington. St. Thomas More Church was elevated to become the new diocesan cathedral.
  • 1974: The Diocese of Arlington had more than 136,000 Catholics, 60 diocesan and 33 religious priests, 49 parishes and 7 missions.
  • 1974-1983: Bishop Welsh opened 4 elementary schools, 1 high school and 6 parishes and dedicated 11 new churches. He was also instrumental in the founding of Christendom College in Front Royal, the then-Notre Dame Institute in Alexandria, and Catholic Distance University.
  • 1983-1998: Bishop John R. Keating was named Arlington’s second Bishop. Bishop Keating served until his death on March 22, 1998 and is best remembered for his encouragement of vocations during the continued rapid growth of the Diocese. He ordained 84 men and dedicated more than 20 new churches and 7 schools.
  • 1999: More than 336,000 Catholics in the Diocese welcomed Bishop Paul S. Loverde to Arlington. Bishop Loverde established four primary goals for our Diocese: evangelization, unity, reconciliation and service.
  • 2016: Pope Francis announced Bishop Michael F. Burbidge as the fourth Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington. In December of that year, he was installed at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More.
  • 2017 – Bishop Burbidge announced the creation of the Diocese of Arlington’s 70th parish – St. Bridget of Ireland in Berryville. Prior to 2017, St. Bridget of Ireland in Berryville was a mission of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Winchester.
  • 2018 – Bishop Burbidge established two new missions – St. Gabriel Mission in Manassas Park and Our Lady of LaVang Mission in Chantilly. Three priests were bestowed with the papal honor of “Chaplain to His Holiness” by Pope Francis and given the title “Monsignor” – Rev. Msgrs. Robert Avella, John Cregan, Stanley Krempa.

History of Diocese of Arlington Copyright, Arlington Catholic Herald. Reprinted with Permission