Catholic churches in NoVA (Arlington, Lynchburg: sales, DMV, to live in)

[jons_wifey]

Any catholic churches in NoVA with baby rooms? or are parents with young ones, forced to sit at the back of the church by the exit?

[skeddy]

pick up a phone and call them

[leighland]

Originally Posted by jons_wifey

Any catholic churches in NoVA with baby rooms? or are parents with young ones, forced to sit at the back of the church by the exit?

The Diocese of Arlington, one of the most conservative in the US, has many outreach programs for families. Usually, families will have their children and toddlers in the main church as we know childrens' mass attendance is as important as adults.There are cry rooms but I can't think of one Priest whodoes not encourage children in the main church

Here is the website for the diocese
[url]https://www.arlingtondiocese.org/[/url]

For over a decade, our Bishop serving us was the fabulous Bishop Emeritus Paul Loverde.

We have a new one, Bishop Michael Burbidge who has kept many of the standards introduced by his predecessor.

Please not that if you would like to register with a parish you MUST LIVE IN ITS Boundaries. In many cases if you move to a Parish and for whatever reason wish to join a parish outside your residential assignment, you will need to get a signed and dated letter from the pastor of the Parish whose boundaries you live in to join a diff one

There are few exceptions, such as [url=http://www.stpaulchung.org/]St. Paul Chung Korean Catholic Church - Home[/url] as they are catered to the Korean community.

Please call the Diocese with more questions.

[Ffxdata]

Originally Posted by leighland

The Diocese of Arlington, one of the most conservative in the US, has many outreach programs for families. Usually, families will have their children and toddlers in the main church as we know childrens' mass attendance is as important as adults.There are cry rooms but I can't think of one Priest whodoes not encourage children in the main church

Here is the website for the diocese
https://www.arlingtondiocese.org/

For over a decade, our Bishop serving us was the fabulous Bishop Emeritus Paul Loverde.

We have a new one, Bishop Michael Burbidge who has kept many of the standards introduced by his predecessor.

Please not that if you would like to register with a parish you MUST LIVE IN ITS Boundaries. In many cases if you move to a Parish and for whatever reason wish to join a parish outside your residential assignment, you will need to get a signed and dated letter from the pastor of the Parish whose boundaries you live in to join a diff one

There are few exceptions, such as St. Paul Chung Korean Catholic Church - Home as they are catered to the Korean community.

Please call the Diocese with more questions.

A great post.

Children are encouraged to be within the larger congregation. I've never gone to an area church with a cry room. I've also never had an issue with having kids within mass even if they aren't perfect(ly silent) babies or toddlers. I have heard two stories from friends 1) where the priest complained about loud snacks during liturgy, 2) a mother of five told by the priest not to come back with the kids. Personally, I haven't found this to be the case though.

I will second the bit about being within the boundaries of the parish. You have to have a really good reason to try for another parish. Is there a parish/area you were particularly interested in?

[cdmurphy]

St. John Neumann in Reston has a cry room. It is glass walled, open to the sanctuary. There is a door in the rear that leads to the nursery, which has a family-friendly large bathroom with changing table.

We did NOT have to get any kind of letter to register with St. John Neumann in Reston (we live in St. Theresa's boundaries; many people here go to SJN or elsewhere). SJN is staffed by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales instead of by Diocesan priests. The other parishes in the Diocese like this are: Christ the Redeemer in Sterling; St. Joseph in Herndon (Franciscan Friars); Our Lady of Good Counsel in Vienna (Oblates of St. Francis de Sales); Our Lady Queen of Peace in Arlington (Holy Ghost Fathers). There may be others but those are the ones I am familiar with. They tend to be more liberal than the parishes staffed by Diocesan priests.

St. Joseph's in Herndon used to have a cry room similar to SJN's, but I haven't been there in over 10 years so I don't know if they still do. I do not remember seeing one at Christ the Redeemer.

[LynchburgLover]

I never knew you had to live in geographic boundaries for Catholic Churches. Is that true all over the country or unique to DC area? Why do they require this?

[leighland]

Originally Posted by cdmurphy

St. Joseph's in Herndon used to have a cry room similar to SJN's, but I haven't been there in over 10 years so I don't know if they still do. I do not remember seeing one at Christ the Redeemer.

I am a parishioner at St Joes.

It is not diocesan but here at the invitation of the Bishop, and like any diocesan parish, I had to prove my residency to join the parish

Being from liberal nutty SoCal, I was quite shocked about many of the norms in Arlington. I love it here.

I suggest you call the diocese and let them explain it to you.


St John Neumann, otoh, falls into the category of the few not req'ing letters that I pointed out in my original post

As for the cry room,
At English masses the cry room at my parish is mostly elderly ladies. idk
we have many large families who regularly sit in the main church with crying toddlers/babies

This is normal here

[leighland]

Originally Posted by LynchburgLover

I never knew you had to live in geographic boundaries for Catholic Churches. Is that true all over the country or unique to DC area? Why do they require this?

As per Code of Canon Law (go look it up) the entire world, including Antarctica, is divided into Metropolitan and ecclesiastical provinces. It doesn't matter if you are in Arlington or Cote d'lvorie. The Catholic Church is like the Vatican spread out over the whole world with its own states and governances laying on top of political boundaries yet not always respectful of the boundaries. Thats how our diocese consists of diff. counties yet not the whole Commonwealth

[LynchburgLover]

Originally Posted by leighland

As per Code of Canon Law (go look it up) the entire world, including Antarctica, is divided into Metropolitan and ecclesiastical provinces. It doesn't matter if you are in Arlington or Cote d'lvorie. The Catholic Church is like the Vatican spread out over the whole world with its own states and governances laying on top of political boundaries yet not always respectful of the boundaries. Thats how our diocese consists of diff. counties yet not the whole Commonwealth

I'm not Catholic. Thanks for explaining.

[leighland]

Originally Posted by LynchburgLover

I'm not Catholic. Thanks for explaining.

A great source of Catholic info is Catholic Answers at catholic.com

I've seen people in their forums (same software as here) ask about Catholic family life here in the dmv