No, PP, you must not have been at mass that weekend. This was not for the BLA, rather it took place 3 weeks ago, shortly after we all got appeals in the mail to sign up for FaithDirect, and he devoted the entire homily to having people "commit" to their weekly offerings. I am not the 21:33 poster, but I was at mass that weekend and I was surprised. It (the commitment making, the switch to FaithDirect, etc) is all a bit distasteful.

Pp you must not go to church often. That was for the bishops Lenten appeal which is an annual thing. I agree I don't like the ask for money but they have to run the operation somehow. I'm willing to give him a chance as well as some time to see how he does. Father Kleinmann was great but I'm not making any judgements about Hathaway just yet. It's too soon. I agree though that we don't need to be reading the bulletin during mass. Pick it up on your way out. It's right there on the back though if you really need to read it during.

Father Hathaway is a step-down from Father Kleinman. Father Kleinman was kind, welcoming and compassionate. This Hathaway guy seems mean spirited and constantly pushes parishioners for money. It seems all he cares about is money. Honestly, I have decided to give less money because of him. His constant pushing for more money, even stopping mass to ask you to fill out a "recommitment" to increase your giving, it was DISGUSTING! This is especially true since he stopped providing the information sheet/announcement sheet prior to mass…the reason provided was that he did not want to take away from the "holiness" of the mass. Well, he stopped mass to push for money and walked us through filling out each field of the form as if we were a bunch of children or sheep. It was disgusting!

I mean, Hathaway is the complete opposite of a warm person. He reminds me of a salesman that would say anything except without warmth or compassion. Also very judgmental. Honestly, I wish I could say something nice about him. His behavior and presence is what turns young people…or anyone away from the Catholic Church. Father Kleinmann is greatly missed!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am hoping that girls can be altar servers now.

I doubt that Fr Hathaway will put girls on the altar. He - and the parish - remain very conservative. St. Veronica, Fr Hathaway's previous parish, also did not have girls on the altar. Plus, there are over 150 boys serving - most don't get the masses they want because there are so many on the list. It is a gift to have that many boys so engaged. In most parishes where girls have begun serving, the boys have stopped.

This is the stupidest argument ever. We have friends who have boys who are alter servers at St. Mary's who report many times they end up serving mass more frequently than scheduled because they are last minute fill ins for no shows that were on the schedule. If it is such a coveted role, why not respect the role and at least find a sub since there are so many.

Has the new Pastor made any changes to the school/principal, etc? The Arlington Diocese has a curriculum for all of the schools, so his impact (if any) would be more admin/social/culturally versus academic.

(Trying to get back on track to the schools issue versus a Religious one involving servers...)

Anonymous wrote:I am hoping that girls can be altar servers now.

I doubt that Fr Hathaway will put girls on the altar. He - and the parish - remain very conservative. St. Veronica, Fr Hathaway's previous parish, also did not have girls on the altar. Plus, there are over 150 boys serving - most don't get the masses they want because there are so many on the list. It is a gift to have that many boys so engaged. In most parishes where girls have begun serving, the boys have stopped.

Goodness I am old! I used to be a Sunday mass lector at St. Mary's of Old Town many, many years ago as a young woman in the Parish.

Fr. Kleinmann arrived just before our family moved to McLean and on to another Catholic parish. At the time I thought Fr. Kleinmann was a younger priest, but I suppose that he is not anymore. After all, the toddler I had at then is now a young man in college.

I am hoping that girls can be altar servers now.

Best lead for school and parish as a whole was a humble, thoughtful, and articulate priest by the name of Fr. Krempa. Change will be good, and quite frankly well overdue.

OP, The change in priests is always sudden. Bishop announces it the first week of every June and all changes are effective 3 weeks later. Father Ruskamp of St Marys, also announced to leave at the beginning of the month by the bishop, is already gone. Bishop doesn't want long, drawn out goodbyes.

OP here. I wasn't insinuating any wrong doing, I was just sad to see Father reassigned. My husband, a non-Catholic and our DC really like him. Although I am a liberal Catholic, he has always been very welcoming and down to earth and I like how he ran the school and parish. I always worry about new leadership of a Catholic school as I have seen it cause rifts in the community. I don't know anything about the new priest from St. Veronica's, but I wish him well. My curiosity was about the change in leadership. It seemed very sudden and I do appreciate Father's humble nature. I just felt like maybe he was saying at mass that he felt his health condition had "failed" the school and parish, which made me sad that the Archdiocese would switch him to a smaller parish. It seems very unjust and unwarranted.

22:22 I'm following and I'm a catholic school parent. The reason why the topic is pertinent is because the pastor of the church is also the head of the school. It's reasonable for a parent to wonder why the head of a school for 15 years has been transferred. The reason why there's not much feedback is because there aren't that many of us at the school. Also, your definition of a private school is too narrow. My definition of private school is broader than yours, I include any school that is not public.

Anonymous wrote:PP, last I checked, Catholic schools do fall under "private schools."

I'm a non-Catholic, but know several families who send their kids to St. Mary's. I don't really see why there's an issue with a question about St. Mary's being posted here. I'm assuming that Fr. Kleinmann played a leadership role for the school.

Well, if I had a child at St Mary's , I wouldn't think to log onto the private school thread .

Private schools changed their classification to " independent schools" , as in NAIS 20 or so years ago. They are independent meaning they set their curriculum themselves, not on any diocese .

Parochial schools are very different in many ways . For example, the very topic of this thread. The re-assignment of a parish priest. Again, not sure what that has to do with private schools , but a head of school from GDS, Sidwell, STA , Maret isn't " reassigned " by some Bishop.

Again, these are unique issues that have to do with Catholic schools. You haven't had that many comments, so perhaps your community is missing the thread ? Maybe if there was a parochial school forum that would not happen ?

I agree with 22:09. A separate Catholic Forum will attract too many trolls and may not be productive.
I also hate to see the Catholic Church 'separated' from other religious based institutions...that just pigeon holes Catholics as "others" ...
God knows we don't need more separation from society as a whole.

PP, last I checked, Catholic schools do fall under "private schools."

I'm a non-Catholic, but know several families who send their kids to St. Mary's. I don't really see why there's an issue with a question about St. Mary's being posted here. I'm assuming that Fr. Kleinmann played a leadership role for the school.