January 26, 2014
January 26, 2014 Column Father De Celles
Committed Volunteering. Today I want to follow up on my column of two weeks ago, when I wrote about New Year’s resolutions. In particular I want to strongly encourage you to consider increasing your involvement in the parish by being a committed volunteer. That is, contacting one or more of the parish committees/groups and committing to actively participate in their activities.
Different groups obviously require different commitments. For example, the choir requires you to attend at least one practice and the 8:45 Mass every week, while the Flower Committee would require only occasional assistance with arranging flowers or decorating in the church, and the Samaritans might only require occasionally preparing a meal to help a sick mother. Some are geared to more spiritual activities/goals, e.g., Adoration, while others are geared toward more practical activities/goals, e.g., Landscaping.
Perhaps you feel limited in what you are able to commit to a group. Fine; call the group’s leader and talk to them and see if there’s something you can work out. For example, maybe you can’t help the Youth Group every week, but maybe you can help once a month.
Some have told me that they would rather not be a volunteer at Mass (e.g., usher, lector, choir) because they prefer to concentrate on praying at Mass, or they need to be with their families. Understood. How about going to one Mass “to pray”/ and/or “with your family,” and then going to a second Mass to serve? I know that’s a bit of a sacrifice, but after all, the Mass itself is Christ’s Sacrifice. How hard is it, really, to go to 2 Masses?
Which gets to a key question: why do we volunteer in the parish? Many of you do great work serving the Lord in your professions or in volunteering for other charitable organizations. But the parish is different than your work and it is more than just another charity. It is in many ways our spiritual home, a concrete manifestation of the Body of Christ on earth. It is an opportunity for us to grow in charity and to live as Christians together in community. And to imitate Christ, keeping in mind Jesus’ saying that he “came not to be served, but to serve,” and St. Paul’s maxim: “Be servants of one another, out of reverence for Christ.”
What follows is a list of parish groups, their leaders, and contact numbers. Prayerful consider where you can serve.
Oremus pro invicem, Fr. De Celles
Parish Organizations, Groups & Committees
Adoration (Diane Spinelli)) 703-451-1779
Adult Education Programs (RCIA, Bible Study) (Bob Ward) 703-644-5873
Altar Servers (Mark Arbeen) 703-597-8564
Altar Society (Nena Brennan) 703-541-5151
American Heritage Girls (Mary Hanson) 703-405-4145
Bake Sales (Stephanie Curb) 703-569-2953
Basketball Team (Youth) (CYO) (Ed Gloninger) 703-451-8049
Bereavement Committee (Theresa Mullen) 703-455-4428
Book Club (Kathy Campbell) 703-451-5360
Choir (all music for Masses) (Elisabeth Turco) 703-506-4644
Cursillo (Chuck Tiso) 703-866-1081
Flower Committee (Rosario Méndez) 202-253-9471
Gift Shop (Rena DeRosa) 703-307-9351
Home School Group (Sheri Burns) 703-455-1820; (Tania Slaton) 703-493-8186
Knights of Columbus (Mike Mullen) 619-895-4267
Landscaping (Vacant) 703-440-0535
Lectors (Philip Bettwy) 703-690-6379
Legion of Mary (Tom Delaney) 703 690-1930
Library (Liz Hildebrand) 703-455-3193
Mother’s Group (Sarah Schrimpf) 703-728-8802
Natural Family Planning (Bob or Geri Laird) 703-339-7261
One Spirit Special Needs Apostolate (June Adelsberger) 703-690-2815
Prayer Group (Elaine Perricone) 703-440-8356
Respect Life Committee (Liz Hildebrand) 703-455-3193
Project Gabriel (Vacant) 703-440-0535
Project Rachel (Diane Spinelli) 703-451-1779
Religious Freedom (Bob Laird) 703-339-7261
Religious Education (“CCD”) (Maria Ammirati) 703-440-0537
Samaritans (Laura Haas Connolly) . 703-690-6254
St. Martin de Porres Society (Flavia Tommasi) 703-866-4671
Trail Life (Vince Drouillard) 703-992-0490
Ushers (Paul DeRosa) ) 703-307-9351
Wedding Committee (Carol Ann McKim)703-644-4040; (Kathy Siner) 703-569-0958
Welcome Committee 703-440-0535
Women’s Group 703-440-0535
Youth Apostolate (“Youth Group”) (Jeanne Sause) 703-440-0535