The Welcome Message by Barbara Vaughan

Good evening...

I am sure that we will always remember this day, as we join together with one heart to thank God for his blessings upon our parish and families.

Wasn't it wonderful that we all experienced the presence of God as we entered our restored sanctuary and had Holy Week celebrations with three Baptisms, four First Holy Communions and three Confirmations?

Dear friends, God's plan to reveal his love and to test one's faith comes in various forms. In our parish life, it came in the month of August, when we faced the tragedy of the collapse of our sanctuary ceiling. I still remember that all of us, with one heart stood in faith to face this reality; and our next step was to see how best we could deal with this situation.

First of all, I would like to acknowledge the Building Renovation Committee members for all their valuable thoughts, suggestions and contributions. May I take this opportunity to once again introduce them today: Wendy Brown, Mildred Green, Frances Pope, Lucy Thompson, Mary Walker, Fr. Andrew, Mike Treadwell, Larry Williford, Clifton Wright and myself, Barbara Vaughan.

Secondly, I also want to acknowledge and thank all the members of the parish, wellwishers, benefactors and contributors. As a sign of our parish continued commitment to keep everyone in prayer, we have taken this day to offer this Thanksgiving Mass.

At this point, I would like to coin a special thanks to our beloved Bishop Francis DiLorenzo and the Diocese of Richmond, and the Parishes and Priests of Region 7, Mr. Ken Soitsman, Principal of All Saints School, Steve Neill, Editor of the Catholic Virginian, Michael Paul Williams, Reporter/Richmond Times Dispatch, Gene Lepley, Reporter/WWBT, NBC Channel 12 for their kindness and dedicated support to our parish during our time of need.

May I also take the opportunity to thank a few more supporters like Petke Construction Co., E. L. Hayes Painting Co., Vincent Gray, Roland Smith and Sam Walker for their expertise.

Finally, before we begin this Mass, a very very special thanks to all who have come here to join with us today to celebrate our joy.If I have missed, by mistake, anyone in listing the acknowledgements, I sincerely thank you; we sincerely thank you very much. God Bless St. Elizabeth Parish!

Photos by Valerie Smith

Special Mass of Thanksgiving ~ by Ronnie Archer

Once again, our St. Elizabeth Parish was blessed with a beautiful, spirit-filled and joyful celebration. We were honored to have Bishop Francis X. DeLorenzo as our presider, with Monsignor Walter Barrett concelebrating our Mass of Thanksgiving. There were many invited guests and benefactors, as well as many other visitors in attendance.

Barbara Vaughan began our celebration by reading a letter welcoming and thanking all who contributed in any way to make this celebration possible; especially our invited guests. The faith in God and commitment of our own members, and the help, love and generosity of others, made this celebration possible.

The Liturgy Committee and others who helped in the planning did a superb job of the entire Liturgy, beginning with the choir leading the procession to the song, "Every Day is a Day of Thanksgiving." The readings were proclaimed by Mary Ann Allen and Shelton Jones.

Bishop DiLorenzo began his homily with the phrase, "the roof caved in" ...sometimes literally, as with our church; and sometimes, metaphorically, in our lives, such as the Virginia Tech incident. Whatever the circumstances, we can get through it with faith; realizing that God is with us through it all.

Bishop DiLorenzo had very positive comments about our community, saying what a warm and welcoming place it is whenever he has come. He said that when our ceiling fell, there were probably some who felt that, "oh well, might as well close it down," but with faith in God, and the help of other communities and the commitment of our own people, we were blessed to be back in our sanctuary. Bishop DiLorenzo also told us that evangelization is very important. That is one thing we still can do, because there probably are some Catholics in the community who have left. Maybe all a person might need is someone to call and invite them.

After Communion, Barbara Vaughan recognized and gave a gift of appreciation to the renovation committee for all of their commitment and dedication to this project. Also those who had helped in other ways, like Roland Smith and Vincent Gray, who were recognized as well, and given a gift of appreciation.

The songs chosen could not have been more appropriate for the occasion. The Offertory Hymn was "Use Me;" the Communion Hymn was "Jesus is Here Right Now / God So Loved the World." The Hymn of Thanksgiving (Meditation) was my favorite, "Total Praise." Our St. Elizabeth Gospel Choir just CANNOT be surpassed! I've heard the SAME comment THREE times: "I counted 14 people in that choir and they sounded like there were at LEAST one hundred voices!"

The choir was outstanding on ALL of the hymns, but whenever they sing "Total Praise"... (by the way, BETTER than the original artists!)... I, personally, cannot help but be inspired to lift my hands in TOTAL PRAISE FOR HIM!

Thanks to the Women's Group and others who gave a lovely reception in the hall afterwards. As with the Holy Saturday reception, the food was outstanding, the fellowshipping was great. Many thanks go out to all of those ladies who worked diligently to make the celebration as wonderful and as special as it was.

God has truly blessed us. We are a grateful, thriving, spirit-filled community in Highland Park. We have to give HIM total praise always.

Photos by Valerie Smith

Our Beautiful Easter Triduum ~ by Ronnie Archer

The 2007 celebration of the Triduum at St. Elizabeth’s was, in my opinion…magnificent. Gwen Woodruff and I talked on Friday morning about how beautiful and moving the celebration of the Lord’s Last Supper on Holy Thursday was; and as she put it, “it brought back so many beautiful memories from our past”.

The “12 apostles” who were chosen previously, were seated on the altar for the footwashing service and that just seemed so appropriate …just to have the twelve take part in that. It was a powerful symbol of what Jesus did to give us an example of what we are to do; that is, to serve one another. During the footwashing, the choir sang “CHANGE” which in my opinion, was perfect to sing during that time.

Fr. Andrew explained each part of the service in a very clear and concise manner. He said that we all need a “model” to follow Jesus and that was our model…showing us to give service to each other. After the repose of the Eucharist, Fr. Andrew invited the congregation to “visit” awhile, in silence, with Jesus…referring to the scripture in Matthew ..”The Agony in the Garden”..when Jesus became sorrowful and distressed and asked the disciples to stay with Him, and they fell asleep. Most of the congregation responded to the invitation.


On Good Friday John’s version of the Passion was very well read by Frances and Shelton, with Fr. Andrew, as Jesus, and the choir as the “crowd”. As Fr. Andrew began the homily he asked if anybody was “carrying a cross”..all responded affirmatively, then he asked rhetorically…”what kind of cross are you carrying?” …..I was eager, as I suppose others were, to hear just what he was “getting at”!! He explained that there were three crosses: one is the “cross of rebellion”; one, the “cross of repentance”, and third, the “cross of redemption”..asking us again to think about it.; which, at times I feel I carry all three.

When the time came for Veneration of the Cross, Fr. Andrew explained that we should genuflect three times….remembering the three crosses. He told us to take a few steps and genuflect the first time, taking a few more steps, then genuflect the second time, then take a few more steps, genuflecting the third time. While venerating the cross, I noticed that most people seemed to genuflect the first time at the fourth or fifth pew of the church; which I found, since many of us are senior citizens, the pews gave us much needed support to hold to, as we genuflected.

Fr. Andrew explained also that it is called GOOD FRIDAY because it IS good; even though Jesus was crucified and died that there was the RESURRECTION! I left both services with a feeling of having participated in a VERY memorable and inspirational Holy Thursday and Good Friday.


Then came our VIGIL…which began with the congregation processing outside to the parking lot behind the church for the blessing of the new fire. We were all given a candle to share in the light of Christ to dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds. Each of us was given a twig to throw into the fire which symbolized the “burning of our sins”. We processed back inside, had our candles lit from the Paschal Candle, and were seated. Diane sang the Exultet beautifully. The seven readings were well proclaimed, along with a prayer by Fr. Andrew and a response between each reading that was also sung by Diane.

Those candidates for Baptism were invited to come forward. Baptism was administered to Katrinia, her baby Isaiah, and Angela (Hall) Cotman’s 3 yr old son, Vincent. Afterwards, the candidates for Confirmation, Stacy Wright and Katrinia Murray received that Sacrament. During the Lord’s Prayer, the 4 children, Israel, Precious, Carleen and Nichelle, who were to receive their First Eucharist were invited to come forward, as well as Stacy and Katrinia to gather around the altar for the consecration. The Sacrament of the Eucharist was given to all of them first, then our congregation received.

At the conclusion of Mass, Fr. Andrew told us that we would receive a small bottle of holy water to take home; and if and when anyone would like for him to come to bless their home, to call and let him know, he would be happy to do so. The Women's Group coordinated a very nice reception in the hall after Mass. There was plenty of good food, as well as a beautiful cake with all of the newly baptized, confirmed, and First Eucharist recipients' names on it.

There were so many people in attendance that not all of our members received holy water, but Frances said they would order more. We had Great attendance on ALL THREE NIGHTS, which was wonderful. Fr. Andrew again thanked everybody who had any input in making the TRIDUUM a beautiful experience; but gave a special THANK YOU to Frances Pope, who truly deserves all of our THANKS.

Palm Sunday 2007 ~ A Homecoming!!!

Our Palm Sunday procession was doubly joyful that morning! As our palm branches swayed in the breeze, we marched around the church and up the steps and into our newly renovated and painted sanctuary! This was our first celebration there since our ceiling fell last August!

The choir was finally able to sit in our normal places under the new ceiling; happy not to have to worry about the cracks that had snaked above them for so long, so many months ago. The rest of the congregation could rejoice also; offering prayers of thanksgiving for everything our God had done for us. For our benefactors... for our friends... for our own people...

How appropriate was one of the songs we sang that day:

"Take me back.
Take me back, oh Lord.
To the place where I first received you.
Take me back,
Take me back, dear Lord.
Where I first believed."