By Joe Staniunas / The Catholic Virginian
CROZET, Va. (OSV News) — From folding chairs to polished pews, a wood gym floor to carpet and tile, and from a plain, high ceiling to one stenciled with gold stars.
The Catholic community in Crozet that once gathered for Mass in a private school has now finished the renovation of the former branch bank it bought almost three years ago to become their church.
About 200 people filled Our Lady of the Rosary for a blessing of the building April 19 with Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Richmond leading the ceremonies. Msgr. Timothy Keeney, pastor, and Father William Apprey, parochial vicar, concelebrated the Mass, assisted by Deacon Mark De Rosch.
Our Lady of Guadalupe vestment
The bishop chose a chasuble edged with roses and an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the front and back. “I thought it was appropriate to wear this vestment on this day,” he said at the start of his homily, “as we bless this beautiful church that has been so capably designed and the details so well attended, to make it a worthy space for worship and prayer and praise for the celebration of the sacraments and especially the Eucharist.”
The redesign of the interior and addition of Catholic details began soon after the community bought the defunct branch bank for $1.7 million in 2023.
As the bishop moved around the church during the sprinkling rite, he passed work done by contractors, such as a teller window area converted to a side entrance, the bank’s vault converted to an office for Msgr. Keeney, a reconciliation room, and new lighting, heating and ventilation.
Blessing work of faithful volunteers
But the bishop was also blessing work done by faithful volunteers, including the ceiling stencils and the altar in the sanctuary that holds the tabernacle. The main altar came from St. Francis, Staunton, where it had been consecrated for a 1987 renovation.
The last several months have been devoted to the final touches of the $457,000 remodeling, including the tile and carpet, a predella for the altar, and the addition of six metal sconces created by August County blacksmith Dave McKinnon.
The pews, bought from a church that closed in Pittsburgh, were hauled out in January for refurbishment — a gift from a parishioner at Church of the Incarnation in Charlottesville. So for a few months it was back to folding chairs at Mass for the Catholics in Crozet. The pews were reinstalled just before Palm Sunday.
Piece of old floor from St. Peter’s Basilica
One of the other small details of this renovated space comes from St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. A 3-inch-by-3-inch remnant of an old floor at the basilica, acquired by Msgr. Keeney, is embedded in the step to the sanctuary.
Among the people at the blessing were those who have been part of the effort to create a Catholic community in Crozet for over a decade, such as Mary Ann and Bob Marinchick. A lector, extraordinary minister of holy Communion and co-chair of social ministry, Mary Ann said Our Lady of the Rosary is a small community, but one with a lot of spirit.
A few months ago, she was recovering from shoulder surgery. “For five weeks, people brought us meals to our home,” she said. “Every other day, we were getting food that we didn’t have to worry about cooking. And that’s the kind of thing that this community does.”
And the community is getting bigger all the time. A second Mass on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. was recently added.
Parish a mixture of young and old
“What we like about the parish is that it’s a mixture of people like ourselves who are older and empty nesters … and young families, with a lot of children, which is wonderful,” Mary Ann told The Catholic Virginian, the news outlet of the Diocese of Richmond.
Andrew and Isabelle Giordano and their three children, two boys and a girl, make up one of those young families, though Andrew has been in Crozet long enough to remember Mass at the old school.
“Now that we actually have a building to come to, everybody’s back together again,” he said. “I think everybody’s just really close here at the parish. It’s really great.”
One of the more recent members of Our Lady of the Rosary is Tom Trollinger. He moved to the area about a year ago and started looking for a Catholic church to join.
‘Seems like home now’
“You have to have that community feeling when you walk into a place and spend some time there,” he said, saying Our Lady of the Rosary “seems like home now.”
In his homily, Bishop Knestout recalled celebrating Mass not long after the purchase of the building, on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary in October 2023, to “bring the Church’s arms around the community and then launch you as a community here in Crozet.”
The completion of this remodeling means the community can consider possible long-term goals, such as improving parking areas, adding an outside pavilion for meetings and training sessions, and establishing a rectory in or close to Crozet, which is about 95 miles northwest of Richmond, near the Blue Ridge Mountains.
In the meantime, the bishop said, “this space will be the setting for the teaching of the faith, for the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and the offering of grace to us.”
“We express that grace through our charity for one another,” Bishop Knestout said. “The grace that God gives to us … bears fruit in our lives and in our relationships.”
Joe Staniunas writes for The Catholic Virginian, the news outlet of the Diocese of Richmond. This story was originally published by The Catholic Virginian and distributed through a partnership with OSV News.
