Catholic Church rec near Dunn Loring? (Arlington, McLean: home, good schools, live in)

[Alltheusernamesaretaken]

We will be moving to Dunn Loring soon and I am trying to decide on a church. OLGC is in Vienna and it looks from the map like St. James in Falls Church is the same distance from us as OLGC is.

Does anyone have any experience with either and can you help steer me in the right direction? We have elem-age children, if that helps. Thanks.

[FrannyBear]

I have been to both many many times -- they both have VERY good schools -- K through 8th grade. OLGC is a bigger and newer parish -- has a lot of activites and lots of nice people. St. James has a more traditional feel -- veyr nice and warm -- and the Church building itself is beautiful. The priests at St. James give much better homilies. You can't go wrong with either, in my opinion. If you live in Dunn Loring, you are probably in the OLGC parish limits.

[Alltheusernamesaretaken]

Thank you for your info! I want to add to my original post that our kids will attend FCPS, not the Catholic school, so I am actually asking about the parishes themselves but not about their schools.

Do you need to attend the church you are "zoned" for or can you pick one?

Any other info anyone has about these 2 churches is welcome; thanks.

[mlv311]

Originally Posted by Alltheusernamesaretaken

Do you need to attend the church you are "zoned" for or can you pick one?

You can usually pick. We attend a Catholic church outside our "area." To become parishioners, we filled out the "new members" form and wrote a letter to the priest explaining why we wanted to attend his parish.

[ted08721]

I would recommend this church Our Lady Queen of Peace | Home Page
It's worth the drive.
You do not have to attend any particular church, many travel from all over Northern Virginia to OLQP I recommend the 11:15 Mass.
Unlike most other Catholic churches in the Diocese of Arlington which is one of the most conservative diocese in the country, they do not have diocene priest, they have Spiritan Fathers.
You will find it to be a very warm and friendly parish that is all inclusive, everyone is welcome.

[restoner]

This question is covered under the "Parish Boundaries" FAQ on the Catholic Diocese of Arlington website-

FAQs : About Us | Diocese of Arlington

Might ask the Pastor about a dispensation, though (if necessary).

[acvpt]

We are members of OLGC and we LOVE it. We have met many nice people there, and both my husband and I volunteer for a lot of different activities. Our children are too young for school, but we anticipate sending them to the Catholic School there. We are technically zoned for St. Mark's on Vale, but a brief telephone call indicating why we wanted to join OLGC vs. St. Mark's was all it took.

[cdmurphy]

You can register for a parish outside the boundaries - it's up to the pastor. When we lived in Falls Church, we were in St. James' boundaries, but chose to register with St. Ann in Arlington. In that particular case, we were voluntarily taking ourselves out of a more popular parish and into an underpopulated one, so they were happy to have us.

[Alltheusernamesaretaken]

Thanks for all the replies! We have been at OLGC since we moved. I do like it, although the pastor, Fr Metzger, is horrendous!!

I am so embarrassed when he does the consecration; no reverence whatsoever. It is another day at the office. Awful. How is he allowed to continue like this? And there was one week where there were donation envelopes on the pews, and his entire "sermon" was, I kid not, step-by-step how to fill out this envelope. Nothing about the gospel! and I am not 5 years old, I don't need you to tell me how to fill out an envelope. (Needless to say, we put NADA in the envelope.)

I so wish they could get a new pastor!

[FrannyBear]

Originally Posted by Alltheusernamesaretaken

Thanks for all the replies! We have been at OLGC since we moved. I do like it, although the pastor, Fr Metzger, is horrendous!!

I am so embarrassed when he does the consecration; no reverence whatsoever. It is another day at the office. Awful. How is he allowed to continue like this? And there was one week where there were donation envelopes on the pews, and his entire "sermon" was, I kid not, step-by-step how to fill out this envelope. Nothing about the gospel! and I am not 5 years old, I don't need you to tell me how to fill out an envelope. (Needless to say, we put NADA in the envelope.)

I so wish they could get a new pastor!

Hmmm. Father Metzger is a kind and good priest -- I would advise against criticizing him so personally on a public message board.. The priests at OLGC are not great on homilies -- but I have never noticed a lack of "reverence" during consecration. Ever. And every homily I have ever heard there has been about the Gospel readings -- save the dates there is a "special" talk -- like Church finances. I have attended the parish for 25 years -- my experience is not anecdotal.

Contributing to the parish is a moral obligation as a Catholic. I find it tedious to go through those step by step lectures also -- but I also find it absolutely shocking that some people do not contribute to the parish. OLGC is a large and wealthy parish -- yet only about 20% of the parishioners give over $5 per week. That does not support the parish -- nor does it support any of the worthy charitable missions of The Church.

You might prefer St. James in Falls Church or St. John the Beloved in McLean -- they do tend to be much more traditional at Mass -- and I often go to both those churches. No matter what parish you choose -- you will be expected to contribute financially, even if you don't like the homily.