Dear St. Rita Families,

So many of you have come to St. Rita because you have found something spectacular here – certainly the palpable presence of Our Lord, evidenced by a very active, joyful community of faith that is unwavering in our commitment to Christ and His Church. This is in no small part due to the character of the Diocese of Arlington. I myself owe my acceptance of the Catholic Faith in part to the priests of this Diocese and to the faithful people they placed in leadership roles in the parish where I grew up. Some of you already know that one of those priests was Fr. Gee your previous pastor, for whom I served many Masses and Holy Hours when I was in high school.

This Tuesday, August 13, the Diocese of Arlington celebrates the 50th Anniversary of our establishment. Before then, all of Virginia was a part of the Diocese of Richmond, and the familiar names of Bishop Peter Ireton and Bishop Dennis O’Connell are such because they were prelates of that diocese. In 1924 while Northern Virginia was still a part of the Richmond Diocese, St. Rita Parish was founded here in Del Ray, and in 1952 the parish opened St. Rita School, staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph from Philadelphia. Those two anniversaries are also approaching fast – September 15 for St. Rita School, and September 21 (100 years!) for the Parish. 

These anniversaries of the Diocese, the School, and the Parish are a little more than a month apart, and so during this last month of preparation, I want to invite you all into a more intentional period of prayer. We have so much to be grateful to God for – the gift of Our Lord and faith in Him, regular access to the Sacraments, a thriving, vibrant, and very Catholic school, and an intentionally faithful community of believers who want to live their faith to the fullest and to hand it on to their children. I would like this time of prayer to be in gratitude to God for these gifts in our Diocese, Parish, and School, and to ask that these great qualities would be preserved and strengthened in us and in all who come to St. Rita.

To that end, I am offering an invitation to prayer: A parishioner has graciously obtained for us 100 copies of “33 Days to Morning Glory” in pamphlet form. Written and compiled by Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC, this is a form of preparation for a personal Consecration to Mary. Consecration of oneself to Our Lady is not meant to be an extra thing you have to do in your life, but rather a means of entrusting yourself, your family and vocation, your future – your whole life – to Her who was given as our Mother at the Cross. She desires to bring you to Jesus who is our Salvation, and She, being so close to Our Lord, readily receives from Jesus whatever She asks.

The preparation for the Consecration is 33 days long as you might have guessed, and if you begin on Tuesday, August 13 the anniversary of the founding of the Diocese, you finish the preparation period on Saturday, September 14. The Consecration itself takes place on the 34th day, which is Sunday, September 15, the anniversary of the opening of St. Rita School (and normally the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows)! I will lead the parish in the Marian Consecration prayer after the 9:15 AM and 11:00 AM Masses on September 15. I hope you will join me!

The pamphlets will be placed in the entrances to the Church this weekend for you to take. Alternatively, you may already have the book, or, if you have the Hallow app on your phone, this Consecration is available to you there as well.

As we approach these anniversaries, please know of my prayers for all of you and how grateful I am to God for bringing me to St. Rita!

In Christ,

Fr. Christensen