Fifty years to the day St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church was founded Sept. 27, 1976, the parish marked its golden jubilee with a special Mass celebrated by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, followed by a reception on the parish grounds in Lake Ridge.
During his homily, Father Brian Bashista, pastor, posed a question to those in attendance: Who was at the very first Mass at Rockledge Elementary School? “Raise your hands,” he said. “You’re one of the 200.”
For many longtime parishioners, the anniversary of that Mass felt like a homecoming. Ralph Tucillo, an original parishioner who’s been part of the community since 1976, still remembers what those first Masses were like at Rockledge Elementary School, where Father Philip Majka — the parish’s founding pastor — offered Mass for around 200 people.
“I will never forget the chairs,” Tucillo said. “Trying to sit in a 6-year old’s chair, I guess we suffered a little, and we couldn’t kneel because there was nowhere to kneel.”
That humble beginning has since grown into a parish of nearly 8,000 people, one of the largest in the diocese.
“We just stand on the shoulders of those who’ve been here before us,” said Father Bashista. “To see the tremendous growth of this parish, from very humble beginnings of about 200 parishioners to close to 8,000 — we wouldn’t be who we are today if there weren’t incremental steps of the faithful who persevered.”
The move from an elementary school to the current church building took almost 20 years. Bishop Thomas J. Welsh appointed Father Majka as founding pastor Sept. 27, 1976, while the young parish met wherever it could. An interim church and activity center opened in 1981 and the parish kept growing throughout the ’80s.
March 21, 1993, marks the day of the groundbreaking ceremony with members of the Sisters of Charity of Emmitsburg, Md., — the order St. Elizabeth Ann Seton founded — bringing soil from Emmitsburg to mix into the ground at Lake Ridge, tying the parish back to its patroness. While digging out the basement, large quantities of rock and shale were found, which parishioners took as a fitting nod to the biblical passage: “Upon this rock I will build my church.” The new church was dedicated by Bishop John R. Keating Aug. 28, 1994 — St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s birthday.
Father Bashista reflected on that in his homily, reminding parishioners that the church is built on more than simply brick and glass. “Christ is the cornerstone, and he is building his church with us,” he said. “Each one of us is a living stone, and the Lord has been building many stones here in Lake Ridge.”
Ask Father Bashista what makes the parish different, and he won’t point at the building itself, but at what happens after people walk out the doors.
“When you leave, you’ll see above the doors it says, ‘You’re about to enter mission territory,’ ” he said. “Mission territory is off the property, but this is where we come to get fed, to get nourished, to get encouraged, healed — to go be equipped to do the work of the church here in the world.”
He carried that message into his homily, urging parishioners to “bring the living God that we receive in the Eucharist beyond our church parking lot into our mission territory.”
That mindset shows up in what the parish built recently, such as its “family faith formation” approach, putting parents — not only catechists — in the driver’s seat of their child’s faith. It also shows up in the numbers of the parish’s Order of Christian Initiation of Adult’s, formerly RCIA, program, which welcomes new Catholics into the church, nearly tripling this past year from 27 candidates to 82.
“There’s something very beautiful going on,” Father Bashista said. “The word is getting out.”
The parish runs a long list of ministries — She Shall Be Called Woman, That Man is You, a special needs ministry — but Father Bashista says they all trace back to the same core idea: making disciples who go out and make more disciples.
“We’re disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, picking up the mantle to go make disciples of others,” he said. “It’s a big difference knowing about Jesus (and) knowing Jesus.”
The parish history lives in the building, but its heart lives in stories like those of the Pevarniks. Joe and Judy Pevarnik, longtime parishioners, met and got married at St. Elizabeth.
“That was very memorable,” Judy said. “Going into the old church, which was small and very crowded, but it just felt very friendly and very much a strong community.”
Over the years, the Pevarniks watched the parish personality shift along with its size. “It was a very strong faith community and you felt very welcomed, but it was almost more social-focused,” Judy said. “Now it seems like a combination of social and spiritual development, and that’s stretched a lot of people in their faith.”
Ralph Tucillo and his family came and went over the years due to his military career, but always found their way back to Lake Ridge.
“We started with nothing and we built it into a wonderful church,” Ralph said. “It’s been a wonderful journey, not only from a personal perspective, but watching the church grow in so many ways.”
As the parish celebrates 50 years, Father Bashista’s hopes for the next 50 come from the same mission that carried the community from an elementary school to a church that seats hundreds.
“We only have to worry about 60,000 souls,” he said jokingly, pointing toward the total population inside the parish’s boundaries. “We have about 8,000 now. So, we need to reach the other 52,000.”
That same spirit defined the parish’s inspiration, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, who started the first free Catholic school in America and founded the Sisters of Charity from the same humble beginnings. She once said: “The gate of heaven is very low, only the humble can enter it.” Fifty years after about 200 people gathered in an elementary school, the parish that carries her name is still growing — one humble step at a time.
Ubillus is a recent graduate of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
