The Catholic Church of

St. Mary the Virgin

The Sacrament of Baptism is the first of the Seven Sacraments in the Catholic Church and is steeped in the rich history, traditions, and rituals of the Faith.  It is intended to cleanse away original sin and symbolizes a rebirth in Christ, recalling His baptism by John the Baptist. The ceremony initiates a child (or adult) into the Catholic Religion and confers membership into the Holy Roman Church. The Catholic Church has been baptizing babies ever since Christ commanded His Apostles to baptize all people in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (see Mt 28:18-20). This has also been the practice of the Orthodox churches and, increasingly, of many Protestant denominations as well. Parents and Godparents bring these babies to the waters of Baptism by professing a belief in Christ on behalf of the child, and promising to raise him or her in the faith. For adults who are to be baptized, the Church also requires them to profess their faith in Christ.         Because Baptism confers saving grace, the earlier a person comes to baptism, the better. Our parish has been blessed with an abundance of Baptisms since I was installed as your Pastor one year ago. 22 in all.  As it is not the practice at the Catholic Church of St. Mary the Virgin to list each Candidate in the weekly Bulletin (for reasons of space) I would like to list, and welcome, all our newly Baptized from July 2020 through July 2021 whom we baptized during my first year here with you. May we continue to be blessed with many more opportunities to welcome new souls into Christ's Church, during this, my 2nd year with you, and beyond.
Faithfully, Your Friend and Pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook
Infants:
Cecelia Rose Galbraith, August 2, 2020
Eleanor Josephine Brennan, August 8, 2020
Edward Moses Smith, September 5, 2020
Gabriel Joseph Harkins, September 26, 2020
Josephine Anne Gilliland, October 10, 2020
William Joseph Horan, November 28, 2020
Eloise Rose McWilliams, January 23, 2021
Eloise Antonia Claire Dhooghe, January 16, 2021
Antonio Isaac Estrada, January 17, 2021
Thomas Patrick Carroll, January 30, 2021
Margot Annabel Alfeche, February 6, 2021
Jack Wladimir Shaver, April 3, 2021
Marie Josephine Burda, June 12, 2021
Adam Joseph Klassen, July 3, 2021
Emilia Skertchly, July 17, 2021
Michael Juan Diego Gutierrez, July 24, 2021
Olivia Marie Hanys, July 31, 2021
Adults:
Beverly Baker Brumble, 11/6/2020
William Ralph Low, January 30, 2021
Justin Michael Bailey, April 3, 2021
Azharia Nicole Taylor, April 3, 2021
Jon Mark Hager, April 3, 2021

   One hundred and one children, plus 30 of their best friends and big siblings, and 10 of the most awesome moms and parishioners around, passed to and fro under the working arms of the painter on the parish hall this week. I think he said it best when he shook his head at me and said, “It is so cool to see all these kids doing something like this.”
     And it’s true. How many kids get to dress up as a nun or a bride, a priest or husband or a brother, or watch big kids act the part of friars and sisters, or interview St. Isidore and St. Maria to find out what the vocation of marriage is like? Not many kids spend their summers drawing the Sacred Heart on cards to send to the nuns at the Carmelite monastery, or know all the dance moves to songs choreographed to St. Catherine of Siena’s admonition to follow your call and “set the world on fire!”
   Our parish youth spent the last week having a blast at our “Vocation Bible School,” spending a day learning about each vocation in the Church—marriage, priesthood, and religious life—exploring what life can be like for those called to each. They danced to songs about listening for God’s call; they ate snacks symbolizing the Last Supper while they talked about the institution of the priesthood; they raced through the “marriage obstacle course,” rushing to change baby dolls and drive their “kids” to church and pray. They shared stories of religious brothers and sisters they know in real life, and maybe, just maybe, tucked away a little seed in their hearts a seed that may grow into a whole life of love in the Church. Probably my favorite moment was when Father Stainbrook talked with them all about his own experience of the vocation to priesthood, and as he walked through the crowd of kids on the floor, bending to hear their small voices, they all followed his black robes with wide eyes, eager to all share with him that their favorite food was ice cream, too! You could see things come alive to them that had maybe been abstract or distant before, and new possibilities open up in their minds.
   All of this was only possible because of the amazing work and dedication of our parish family and staff. Marion and Mary Nesvadba sang their way into the hearts of all the kids, giving so much of their time and energy to our community, as they always do. So many moms and parishioners gave a whole week to nurturing the faith of not only their own kids and students, but a whole parish—full of children, teaching them art projects and games and praying with them in the church. And our teens, with their usual (culturally unusual) humility and charity, carrying little ones and painting with siblings and strangers and dancing their socks off alongside them. As one of the moms said, walking in to see them all singing together, “This brings tears to my eyes.”
   I’ve seen two things this week, running Vacation Bible School for the first time this summer. One, the Church is alive and thriving; and two, she has a beautiful, loud, joyful, and vibrant future. There are few things more amazing in life than calling out “God is Good!” and having 131 young voices shout back at you with all their might, “All the time!!” I pray that these amazing kids will carry this fervor, and the joy of sharing it with their friends, all through their lives.
In His Peace,
Amy Horan
Director of Religious Education
The Catholic Church of St. Mary the Virgin

   The 20th century singer, Nat King Cole may have written about the “Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer” but he never worked for the Catholic Church!
   We have had a very full early summer, (thank you, Knights of Columbus for a fabulous 4th of July fun fest!), and our two  summertime youth programs - Vacation (“Vocation”) Bible School and the Youth Choir Camp which will take place in the next two weeks.
   A busy parish like ours does require a large number of volunteers to ensure that we can continue to offer the fullest possible variety of ministries and apostolates. Often, I’ve found, people (especially new parishioners) would like to help, but they are unaware of whom to contact.  To that end, I am including the list of Guilds and Groups here at the Catholic Church of St. Mary the Virgin with the contact info for the head or chair of each. Don’t be shy - our growing church needs YOU!
· Altar Servers (both boys and men) contact Brandon Gunnip, Head Acolyte at aboriginee@gmail.com for training dates.
· Ushers at the 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Masses.  Contact Bella in the parish office at
· stmaryarl@sbcglobal.net to add your name to the list.
· SMV has both an adult and a youth choir.  Interested in joining? Contact Marion Nesvadba, Choir Director at mnes64@gmail.com to let him know!
· Our Altar Guild welcomes both men and women.  Contact Toni Pouttu, Directress at
      toni.pouttu@live.com for more information on        joining a team.
· The SMV Hospitality Committee (men and women)  prepares the parish hall for celebrations and special dinners. Contact Jacqui Payne at jacquip744@att.net to sign up.
· Want to volunteer for Religious Ed in the Fall or maybe a youth event? Contact our Religious Ed director, Amy Horan smv.dre@gmail.com or the parish office to sign up.
· SMV collects canned and boxed food, as well as requested items throughout the year for Catholic Charities.  If you can help with delivering these donated items to the Catholic Charities Arlington office, please contact Ben Oliver at
jamesbenoliver@gmail.com  or the parish office at        stmaryarl@sbcglobal.net to help.
· Have a free Friday afternoon?  Stop by the parish office to help with various projects that go on in the parish office throughout the year.  Contact the office at stmaryarl@sbcglobal.net.
· Calling all men ages 18 and over!  Join the Knights of Columbus and help raise money to help the families of SMV and enhance our parish overall.  Contact Craig Southard at
southardca@sbcglobal.net for more information.
Your friend and pastor,
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook

   For one thing, it is not a camp in the traditional sense of tents, camp fires, hiking, swimming in a lake, etc. But it is a concentrated music experience with a lot of fun so the participants do not realize that they are learning important music concepts. Yes, there will be a lot of singing which include fun songs as well as sacred music to be sung at Mass and other liturgical events. There will be games with a musical twist. As a matter of fact, we will play “Music Twister.” And there will be prizes and snacks.
   We are doing a two track system: beginners and more advanced. By advanced, I mean children who know fundamental note values, scales and sight singing. The beginners will be able to do all of that by the end of the camp.
   Everyone will learn the notation of plainsong or chant. I assure you that it is easy. Everyone will learn correct sung English and Latin. Everyone will learn the necessary Mass parts: Ordinary and Minor Propers.
I know that sounds dry but it will not because, for example, we sing “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” in Latin along with other recognizable songs.
   The Catholic Church is a singing church. The Ordinariate, especially with its historic Patrimony, is really a singing church. And there are centuries of sacred music just waiting to be sung by congregations and trained singers. Did I mention that each participant will also have private voice lessons with Miss Raquel, our university scholarship singer, who, by the way, will graduate this year!
   Our Youth Choir program is absolutely necessary to our parish’s liturgical life. We really do have a "graying” adult choir. As a destination parish, we have to grow our own choir. We are very fortunate to have an experienced Adult Choir, but we need to strengthen the numbers. At this time, if one of our Sopranos is ill, we have lost 1/3 of that singing section. The same is true of the rest of the choir. The “Choir Camp” exposes the children to the wonderful world of sacred music and they learn what an important, but joyful, commitment that is.
   The Choir Camp will be held Thursday, July 29, through Saturday, July 31. The “camp” will begin at 8:30, like VBS, since we are in that frame of mind. We will go to 12:00. We encourage the children to go to Mass with us on Thursday and Friday. Besides worship, these two times will illustrate profoundly the various parts of the Mass. Saturday’s Mass schedule will not work with our camp schedule. But, on Sunday, the camp children will sing the 10:30 High Mass.
To register, please contact the parish office with your child’s name and age.
Marion Nesvadba
Choir Director, St. Mary the Virgin Catholic Church

The hackers are at it again! We just had another instance of a parishioner receiving a text from a person purporting to be Fr. Stainbrook requesting he purchase 3 $100 iTunes gift cards.
REMEMBER - NEITHER FR. STAINBROOK NOR FR. KENNEDY WILL NEVER REQUEST ANYTHING LIKE THAT FROM A PARISHIONER.
Should you get a text or email asking for something, PLEASE IGNORE IT!  

It’s important for people to know that the SMV system is NOT being hacked.
These people who are impersonating Fr. Stainbrook are phishing (phishing the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable people or companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.)  They are not using his email address or telephone number, just one that looks legitimate but is not.