Visiting Blacksburg, 4.30.2018 ~ Received from Karen Yesolitis

Visiting Blacksburg

You've seen some of the photos and heard some of the comments.  Our journey to Blacksburg on April 30 included 23 travelers from St. Elizabeth and 27 from St. Michael parishes.  What a wonderful trip to see beautiful St. Mary's, the church that Fr. Jim built from purchasing the land through final dedication ten years ago.  Several St. Mary's parishioners were waiting to greet their former pastor and his group.

We began our tour in the social hall named after him, where Fr. Jim provided some history of St. Mary's Catholic Church which began as a mission parish in the early 20th century.  It now has about 900 families and many Catholic students from VA Tech attend Sunday Mass.  The church sits on 35 acres of rolling hills and mountain backdrops.

The sanctuary is surrounded by stained glass windows acquired from Corpus Christi Parish near Philadelphia, each representing the twelve apostles and the seven sacraments.  The History window depicts the three church buildings as St. Mary's grew through the years.  A Rose window, high above, was designed by Fr. Jim and two members of the building committee.  Three statues of the Blessed Mother, St. Theresa and St. Anthony were acquired from St. Theresa's Church in New York City.  A unique iron chandelier, hand-crafted by a local artisan, hangs inside the front entrance of the building.  Fr. Jim's "signature" appears throughout in the form of shamrocks and fleur-de-lis denoting his Irish-French ancestry.  Fr. Jim celebrated Mass and homily with a spirit of joy and nostalgia.

Our journey continued to the campus of Virginia Tech and the memorial which honors the 32 victims who were tragically killed there in 2007.  Ten of the victims were Catholic, and Fr. Jim was a member of the Notification Team who met with families of the victims the afternoon of the shooting.

Our final stop was at the Hotel Roanoke for a sumptuous buffet lunch in the Regency Room, a perfect ending to a beautiful day.

~ Photo by Karen Yesolitis