Cover of the 2023-24 Directory of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington .

Arlington Diocese, Virginia was established on the 28 of May, 1974 by Pope Paul VI, separated from the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia. It covers 21 counties in Northern and North West of Virginia. The 50^th Anniversary Concelebrated Mass is held on Thursday, September 5, 2024 at the Cathedral of Saint Thomas More at 2:00 pm.

General background of Arlington County's Geopolitics

Arlington County was once part of Washington, the District of Columbia. Prior to that, the Provisional Capital of the United States was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the Declaration of Human Rights was signed and the Liberty Bell still hangs there. In 1783 there was a protest against the Federal Government when a group of soldiers in Pennsylvania broke away (Pennsylvania Mutiny). In 1800, the United States Capital was moved to Washington, DC, part of the state of Maryland. The following year 1801, the State of Virginia ceded Arlington County to the Federal Government as part of the United States Capital.

There have been rumors as to why the US Congress chose this part of Maryland as its capital is because this area has no natural disasters such as hurricanes, big floods, sweeping tornadoes, forest fires and earthquakes. It has been also said by rumor that if Virginia soldiers occupied the Capital, there would be Maryland soldiers to relieve the siege or vice versa.

Today, when looking at the Capital map, one can see some Federal Government Agencies such as the Pentagon, the National Cemetery are located in Arlington. Ronald Regan Washington National Airport is also in Arlington County. Looking at the picture in the map, people still have the impression that Arlington is a part of the Capital with a square shape, with two corners pointing directly to the north and south and the other two pointing directly to the east and west. Nearly half a century later in 1846, the United States Congress returned Arlington to the State of Virginia. According to a 2016 Bankrate.com study, Arlington was the smallest of the US counties, but the median household income was the highest in 2016 with high-rise buildings  and luxury shopping malls close together, with train tunnel like in a big city. Arlington is also home to the largest concentration of singles in the region.

General background of Virginia's Geopolitics

Virginia locates its capital in Richmond with conservative political leanings in the past. The first capital of Virginia was Williamsburg. Richmond was once also the Capital of the South including 13 States, against the industrialized North. The American Civil War was fought between the Northern and the Southern States from 1861-1865. In 1865, the forces of the Confederate Army of the Southern States in turn surrendered or disbanded themselves due to lack of funds and weapons to continue fighting.

Recently, many factories and companies, public and private elsewhere, have built and set up business in Northern Virginia to facilitate bidding and do business with the Federal government, thus attracting young employees with specialized university degrees from other states. As a result, the population of Northern Virginia have increased dramatically. There was a time when it was common to hear Southern Virginians complain that the Virginia government spent too much of their tax dollars on social and administrative services in Northern Virginia.

Along with the population increase in Northern Virginia, the political leaning of the population of Northern Virginia  has become more liberal especially in Arlington County, Fairfax County, the southeastern part of Loudon County and the northeastern part of Prince William County. In the past, voters of Virginia used to vote Republican. However, in recent US presidential elections of 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020, Virginia voted for the Democratic Party.

The Diocese of Arlington in the Geopolitics of Virginia State and Arlington County

 

Boundary of Arlington Diocese  -  Cathedral of Saint Thomas More renovated for the Golden Jubilee, taken                                                by John TB Trong from Route 50 eastward.

Usually the name of each diocese is named after a city. The Diocese of Arlington, however, is not a city name, but the name of the county of Arlington.  An elderly priest in the Diocese of Arlington was asked about the reason for using the county name for the diocese and his answer was when a certain former pastor of St. Thomas More of Arlington built the church, he wanted his church to become the cathedral for a future diocese. The Cathedral of St Thomas More of the Diocese of Arlington is located at the corner of Route 50 and Glebe Road. Route 50 runs from the Atlantic coast east to the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. Driving on Route 50 at the corner of Glebe Road, one can clearly see St Thomas More Cathedral.

Being close to the Capital, the secular press tends to be interested in what is going on peculiarly in the Diocese. This happened in the early years of the establishment of the Diocese. When a church official wants a press report on his church, the press can write a good article. At another time, a press coverage can be a nightmare for him. That is the double-edged sword of the press.

Arlington is located close to Washington, D.C., just next to the scenic Potomac River that separates the Arlington County and the Capital of Washington. The area of ​​the Diocese of Arlington was established in 1974, consisting of 21 counties. The shape of the Diocese of Arlington looks like a square pan with a handle. One side of the panhandle borders the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. The other side of the panhandle borders the Rappahannock River. According to hearsays from some senior priests in Virginia in the past, when a new diocese was about to be established in Northern Virginia, a group of religious priests who were taking care of pastoral ministry throughout the panhandle, wanted to belong to the new Diocese. In 2009, that part of the panhandle was named the “Northern Neck of Virginia”, designated by the Congress as National Heritage Area.

Analyzing the Catholic population in the Diocese of Arlington clearly shows the overall Catholic population growth in Northern Virginia. The Catholic population of the entire State of Virginia 70 years ago was only about 5%. According to Wikipedia, the Catholic population of the entire State of Virginia in 2008 was 11%. Catholic population growth increased higher and faster in Northern Virginia.

Through 4 administrations of 4 diocesan bishops

In this section, the author wants to record only side stories about each bishop, instead of policy and accomplishments of each bishop for the diocese.

Most Reverend Thomas J Welsh. Picture taken from Liturgical Booklet of Solemn Mass / Golden Jubilee Celebration of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.

Appointed First Bishop of Arlington June 4, 1974, appointed Bishop of Allentown February 3, 1983. He was Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, and rector of the Seminary of Saint Charles Borromeo, a major seminary that is both large in number of seminarians and large in land and facilities. It has been said that Bishop Welsh decided to establish Holy Martyrs of Vietnam Parish on July 15, 1979 for about 600 Vietnamese refugees in the Diocese at that time when many of them were not independent yet in finance, housing and transportation, due to his sympathy for Vietnamese refugees. When they bought their first small and old church building in Annandale in 1979, they had to borrow money from St Michael Parish in Annandale of Virginia with 5% interest, instead of borrowing money from the bank with very high interest rates at that time, sometimes up to 15%. It was the first parish established for Vietnamese Catholics in the United States after the first wave of Vietnamese refugees had begun to escape Vietnam for the US in 1975.  Yet, Holy Martyrs of Vietnam parish in Arlington Diocese now has a mission  - Our Lady of Lavang Mission in Chantilly- that will become another good sized parish for Vietnamese Catholics in the near future. When welcoming Vietnamese refugees to the Diocese of Arlington, Bishop Welsh was seen being photographed with a little Vietnamese girl, sitting on his lap. That picture was published in the Arlington Catholic Herald. It was enlarged, framed and hung in the Chancery office when he was here. – RIP 

Most Reverend John R. Keating. Picture taken from Liturgical Booklet of Solemn Mass / Golden Jubilee Celebration of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.

Appointed Second Bishop of Arlington June 7, 1983; ordained to the episcopate August 4, 1983. When he was asked if he would want to be Bishop of Arlington, he thought it was Arlington in Texas. When he was appointed Bishop of Arlington, he was not a monsignor, but a regular priest. Yet, he was Chancellor, Vicar General and Personnel Director of the third largest Archdiocese of Chicago at the same time, after Los Angeles and New York. Bishop Keating in clergy shirts  shopped at Safeway for food near his residence in Arlington to cook. Cashiers snickered surprisedly to see coupons which he had saved for discount prices. He cooked for himself, once for two meals. Once during a meeting of diocesan priests, he said that during the year, he would have some free weekends. So any priest who wanted him to celebrate Sunday Masses, he would come to cover the weekend ministry for him. When a certain pastor in the Diocese needed to go to the Vatican for the Charismatic Worldwide Retreat of about 6,000 priests and 80 bishops from 101 countries in 1984, he invited the Bishop to come and cover the weekend masses for him. The Bishop accepted the invitation. He then wrote in the Diocesan newspaper that he had come to carry out pastoral ministry by offering the weekend Masses at that parish. He died in Rome of heart disease, March 22, 1998. Hearing this sad news, people understood why he had to cook for himself. – RIP.

Most Reverend Paul S. Loverde. Picture taken from Liturgical Booklet of Solemn Mass / Golden Jubilee Celebration of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.

Installed as Third Bishop of Arlington March 25, 1999; retired October 4, 2016. Prior to his coming to Arlington, he was Bishop of Ogdensburg, New York. When he came to Arlington, he said he worked as a mailman for the Post Office. On the occasion of his inauguration, the Diocese newspaper published a picture of him wearing a postal uniform. Seeing his name, people called the chancery to find out how to pronounce his last name. As a seminarian studying at the major seminary of Rochester, New York, he was a roommate with another seminarian from Vietnam named ‘Dominic’ Mai Thanh Luong. It is rare that two seminarian roommates were ordained priests and appointed bishops later. Father ‘Dominic Mai Thanh Luong was appointed auxiliary Bishop of Orange, California.  The two bishops – once as seminarian roommates - retired in the same year. When Bishop Loverde celebrated mass and administered the sacrament of Confirmation in parishes, he liked to be photographed with families whose children received the Sacrament. Knowing that he likes his picture to be taken with children confirmed, parents liked to invite him to take pictures with their family as a souvenir.

Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge. Picture taken from Liturgical Booklet of Solemn Mass / Golden Jubilee Celebration of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.

Fourth and current Bishop of Arlington was ordained to the episcopate September 5, 2002. In the press conference on October 04, 2016 in Arlington, Bishop Loverde introduced the new Bishop. A journalist asked the new Bishop if there was any parallel between him and Bishop Welsh, the first bishop who was once also the rector of St Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia and if there was any connection between him and Bishop Welsh?  Bishop Burbidge said Bishop Welsh and he were Auxiliary Bishops of Philadelphia. He said Bishop Welsh was pious, faithful to the Church, and had a love for Our Lady.

According to Newsobserver.com “The New & Observer”, he was only informed by the Apostolic Nuncio two days ago, October 2, 2016 that he himself had not heard anything before. According to this online newspaper, the priests and staff of the Bishop of Raleigh only heard about his change at 6 a.m. on October 4, 2016. In the Diocese of Arlington, the priests only learned of this news via email early in the morning of October 4, 016. No priest had ever heard of it or guessed when there would be a new bishop and where he would come from. Thus, information about his coming to Arlington has been kept secret until the last minute.

Growth of the Diocese of Arlington

In 1974, the Diocese of Arlington had more than 136,000 Catholics, 60 diocesan priests, 33 religious priests, 49 parishes and 7 missions [1]. In 2021, there were 446,500 registered Catholics, 49 seminarians, 97 religious sisters and 6 religious brothers in the Diocese [2]. The 2016 Directory of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington shows there were 14 parishes among 70 parishes, with parishioners of each parish from 10,097 to 17,021 parishioners.

According to the 2023-2024 Directory of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, there are 70 parishes, 6 mission churches and 4 Eastern Catholic churches in the Diocese. There are 203 diocesan priests, 78 religious priests, 5 priests of Eastern churches and 69 permanent deacons in the Diocese. The Diocese of Arlington  staff and run two missionary parishes in the Dominican Republic [3].

Renovation of the Cathedral of St Thomas More for the Golden Jubilee

In order to prepare for the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Diocese, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge decided to renovate the Cathedral of St. Thomas More with a total cost of $15.3 million.  

After the renovation, according to permits filed with Arlington County, the Church has “new stained glass windows, two twin belfries at the south façade, a Tudor-style exterior, a new cupola, or small dome, new roofing, a renovated raised sanctuary platform with a ramp for greater accessibility, new liturgical furnishings, such as a cathedra or bishop’s seat, a renovated shrine, a refurbished choir loft. The project was designed by Arlington-based sacred architecture firm O’Brien and Keane Architecture” [4].

Triple years of preparation for the golden Jubilee of the Diocese of Arlington in 2024 [5]

Year 2021: Remember. “Do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19). Remembering the past with gratitude.

Year 2022: Rejoice. “My soul rejoices in the Lord” (Lk 1: 46). Rejoice in the current vitality of our Diocese.

Year 2023: Renew. “Behold I make all things new” (Rev 21:5). Renewing and strengthening our faith for the future.

Triple days of Diocesan Golden Jubilee Events

On May 25, 2023, Bishop Burbidge emailed to all priests of the Diocese about three major events of the Golden Jubilee in 2024, asking that no parish events be scheduled on these days and that all the faithful be encouraged to attend:

“The first event is the ‘Diocesan Family Festival’ which is scheduled for Saturday, June 8, 2024. This event, held at Warren County Fairgrounds, will be an opportunity for a greater number of the faithful from throughout the diocese to be present to celebrate and commemorate the Jubilee.

The second event is the formal ‘Solemn Golden Jubilee Mass’ which will be held at the Cathedral of Saint Thomas More on Thursday, September 5, 2024, at 2:00 pm. Attendees will include Bishops of the Province, priests, deacons, consecrated religious, and representatives of the faithful of the diocese.

We will close celebration with the ‘Diocesan Golden Jubilee Pilgrimage’ to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Saturday, October 5, 2024.”

The Solemn Golden Jubilee Concelebrated Mass & Dedication of the new altar

To attend the Solemn Golden Jubilee Concelebrated Mass, VIPs including priests in the Diocese received a Golden Jubilee Event VIP Parking Pass to park in the Cathedral parking lot. Each of the 76 parishes received 4 tickets to be distributed to representative parishioners to attend the Mass. Representative parishioners attending the Mass were instructed to park in the St. Anthony Catholic Church parking lot and then to be transported by bus to the Cathedral. Before the Mass, lunch was served  in the Cafeteria of the Saint Thomas More Cathedral School at 11:30 am. At 1:40 pm, the Mass procession began.

The statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was erected at the entrance of the left wing of the Cathedral. The statue of the Blessed Mother and the statue of St Joseph were erected at the end of the right wing.  Our Lady of Guadaluppe image was attached to the inner front wall of the Cathedral. The statue of Saint Thomas More was attached in front of the entrance loft facing the altar. Around the Cathedral wall, windows were cut out where stained glass windows were installed and statues of various saints were erected. Newly canonized saints whose statues erected around the Cathedral wall were added to the Litany of Supplication of Dedication and the anointings of the new Altar

Present in the sanctuary were Christophe Cardinal Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio  to the United States; Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington; Wilton Cardinal Gregory, Archbishop of Washington;  Most Reverend William E. Lori, Metropolitan Archbishop of Baltimore; Most Reverend Paul S. Loverde, Third Bishop of Arlington, 1999-2016;

Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of Arlington, Principal Celebrant & Homilist.

Present in the right wing of the Cathedral were 30 bishops according to one Sister of Adorers of the Holy Cross who, attending the  Golden Jubilee Mass, said she counted.  There were over 200 Diocesan Priests, Religious and Extern Priests assigned to/residing in the Diocese and visiting Priests present in the right wing and left wing of the Cathedral. Present in the left wing of the Cathedral were permanent Deacons, Seminarians and Parishioners. Invited Sisters and 76 representative Parishioners were in the nave of the Cathedral. It is said that the Superiors general of men and women religious, serving in the Diocese of Arlington, were also invited to attend the Golden Anniversary celebration. The Choir was in the choir loft behind the sanctuary. More parishioners were seen in the Cathedral entrance loft.

The Jubilee Mass was ended at 4:00 Pm, followed by a reception in Burke Hall for parishioners attending the Mass.

To see pictures of the Golden Jubilee Mass and the renovated Cathedral, click the following link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doclap/albums/72177720320220049/

September 5, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia was a beautiful, sunny day to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia in a blue sky, adorned with snow-white clouds, floating up and down in the sky. Present in the big parking lot of the Cathedral that day around 4:00 Pm, people could feel a little bit warm breeze, blowing gently in his/her ears.

Time belongs to God. One can neither go ahead of time, nor prolong time. Time of life is precious. Thanks be to God for the Golden Jubilee of the Diocese of Arlington.

After the Golden Jubilee celebration, each priest of the Diocese will receive a jacket according to his size by the Bishop as his Jubilee gift.

John Tran Binh Trong

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References:

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

[2]. 2021 Catholic Diocese of Arlington Statistics. https://www.arlingtondiocese.org/about-us/the-  

      diocese/statistics/

[3]. Catholic Diocese of Arlington: 2023-2024 Directory, p. 37-38, p. 128-136, p. 150-153, p. 154, p. 155-

      159, p.167.

[4]. Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Buckingham to undergo $15M renovation project.

      https://www.arlnow.com/2023/06/22/cathedral-of-st-thomas-more-in-buckingham-to-undergo-15m-

      renovation-project/

[5]. Golden Jubilee Celebration (arlingtondiocese.org)

https://www.arlingtondiocese.org/goldenjubileecelebration/#:~:text=Our%20Diocese%20is%20about%20to,the%20celebratory%20golden%20jubilee%20year.