Bishop Michael F. Burbidge published a list of 39 clergy appointments on May 13.
There are four new pastors on the list:
Father Michael J. Bazan, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Manassas, pastor of St. Clare of Assisi Church in Clifton.
Father Christopher P. Christensen, Parish Vicar of St. Leo the Great Church in Fairfax, becomes pastor of St. Rita Church in Alexandria.
Father Daniel N. Gee, pastor of St. Rita Church in Alexandria, pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Front Royal.
Father Stephen Holmes, Vicar of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Winchester, will pastor the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Manassas.
Two diocesan priests will retire:
Father Thomas J. Lehning, pastor of St. Clare of Assisi Church in Clifton; and Father Lee W. Gross, dean of the students at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., who will be staying at the St. Rose of Lima Priest Retirement Villa in Annandale.
The diocesan mission in the Dominican Republic will change as Father Jason Weber returns from the Bánica Mission in the Diocese of San Juan de la Maguana in the Dominican Republic to care for St. Gabriel’s Mission in Manassas in the Catholic Church of All Saints in Manassas Park. And Father Jeb S. Donelan, Vicar Parish of Good Shepherd Church in Alexandria, will travel to Bánica.
Father Edward R. Horkan is returning from his studies in Canon Law at the Catholic University of America in Washington and will be Vice-Chancellor and Defender of the Loan before the Diocesan Tribunal in August.
The newly ordained transition deacons and the soon to be ordained priests now have their duties, and several religious priests move in and out of the diocese.
By Leslie Miller
Father Michael J. Bazan, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Manassas since 2004, was appointed pastor of St. Clare of Assisi Church in Clifton, effective June 24th.
After 17 years at Sacred Heart, “they finally got used to me,” joked Father Bazan, 69. “This is the longest time I’ve lived in a house in my entire life.”
He was born in Utica, NY and is the second of six children. As a child he lived in Falls Church and Fairfax; In 1970 he graduated from Woodbridge High School.
After high school, he worked as a sous chef for two years before joining the US Air Force. He still loves to cook. “I’m very much into hospitality and welcoming people to church,” he said.
“I like social functions and enjoy being with people. My main gift is community building, not building, ”he added.
He served in the Air Force from 1972 to 1977 and was stationed in Texas, California, West Germany and New Jersey. He attended Brisson seminary, the college seminary for the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, and then attended St. Pius X seminary in Erlanger, Kentucky, and Mount St. Mary’s seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
He was ordained a priest on May 12, 1984 by Bishop John R. Keating, after serving as a diaconal minister in the Church of the Nativity in Burke.
Father Bazan was Parish Vicar of the Church of St. Catherine of Siena in Great Falls (1984-88). Most Holy Sacrament Church in Alexandria (1988-92); St. John the Evangelist Church, Warrenton (1992-94); and Good Shepherd Church in Alexandria (1994-96).
He was pastor of St. John the Evangelist (1996-2004) and was appointed pastor of the Sacred Heart Church in Manassas in 2004.
Father Bazan, cheerful and outgoing, said he loved golf and other sports and enjoyed participating in soccer and baseball games. He was a member of the Earthen Vessels diocesan basketball team for 30 years.
He said he tried to be kind and kind to the parishioners. “That’s important for a priest,” he said. “I greet everyone at mass on Sunday morning and don’t hide in my office.”
When asked if his new parishioners should know anything else about him, Father Bazan said, “Don’t be afraid to invite me to dinner. I will not eat anything but hot dogs. “
By Zoey Maraist
It is always difficult to leave a ward, said Father Christopher P. Christensen. But the Parish Vicar of St. Leo the Great Church in Fairfax is excited to pastor St. Rita Church in Alexandria. The current pastor, Father Daniel N. Gee, has been appointed pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Front Royal.
“I’m thrilled,” said Father Christensen. “St. Rita – it’s a beautiful church, a great church, and I am very honored that the bishop asked me to pastor there. “
37-year-old Father Christensen was born in Washington State and grew up as one of three children in a military family. They moved to Woodbridge in 1992 and Christensen attended St. Thomas Aquinas Regional School. In 2002 he graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria.
He studied Philosophy and Japanese at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and was part of the US Navy’s ROTC program. After graduating, he served two years in the Navy, including on the USS Blue Ridge.
In 2008 he entered the seminary at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. He was ordained on June 7, 2014 by Bishop Paul S. Loverde at St. Thomas More Cathedral in Arlington. He was parish vicar of the Johannes-Apostel-Kirche in Leesburg (2014-15); St. Thomas More Cathedral in Arlington (2015-20); and St. Leo the Great in Fairfax (2020-21).
Since hearing the news that he was going to pastor St. Rita, he has prayed daily for the parishioners, he said. “I can’t wait to get to know them and love and serve the Lord with them.”
By Leslie Miller
Father Daniel N. Gee, pastor of St. Rita Church in Alexandria since 2010, will pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Front Royal effective June 24th.
“It’s hard to go after 11 years but sad what it’s like to go here, it’s wonderful to go to a place where you know some people,” said Father Gee, 53, who was two years old Chaplain at Christendom College in Front served Royal before being called to St. Rita. He once described the church as “a hidden gem” in Alexandria, filled with “happy people who love their faith”. It celebrated its 20th anniversary last year.
But as a runner and avid cyclist, he said he looks forward to riding his bike in the Shenandoah Mountains on Skyline Drive.
Fluent in Spanish, he noted that he began the Spanish-language mass at St. John the Baptist when he served at Christian Dome College more than a decade ago after returning from five years serving in the Diocesan Mission in Bánica, Dominican Republic.
Father Gee at St. John the Baptist will be the current Deputy Chaplain of Christendom, Father Thomas K. Shepanzyk, who has been appointed Parish Vicar.
“We will do everything we can to serve the people out there,” said Father Gee. “I’m looking forward to getting started right away.”
Father Gee was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, to one of four children in a military family. He attended WT Woodson High School in Fairfax (1982-85) and then moved to Coronado, California, where he graduated from Coronado High School in 1986. He attended the University of Oregon (1986-89) and then moved to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa.
Father Gee was ordained a priest on May 20, 1995. He was Parish Vicar of All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas (1995-99) and the Church of Our Lady of the Angels in Woodbridge (1999-2003).
He was transferred to Bánica in 2003. After five years in the Dominican Republic, he returned to Virginia to serve as chaplain of Christianity before going to St. Rita.
By Leslie Miller
Father Stephen Holmes, parish vicar of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Winchester since 2018, will pastor the Church of the Sacred Heart in Manassas with effect from June 24th.
“The older you get, the harder it is for the priests to leave, but you are grateful for what you have been given,” said Father Holmes, 57. He has spoken of his great devotion to the Sacred Heart and after three years with a Sacred Heart, he agreed that it was a coincidence that his first assignment as pastor would be in the only other parish in the diocese named after the Sacred Heart.
“My theme song will be” Getting to Know You “by Julie Andrews,” he joked, adding that his new congregation will soon discover: “I like to sing – loudly. But no one will ever accuse me of being Pavarotti.”
In a friendly and sociable manner, he said he also likes to talk, “which is part of my charm and also my fault.” He loves to preach and said he was trying to keep his sermons from getting too long.
He believes “I have a reputation for being approachable and gentle, especially when I hear confessions. You don’t want to make it harder for them, you want them to feel loved and forgiven. ”
Father Holmes was born in Richmond Hill, NY and has six brothers and two sisters. He grew up in Long Island, NY, and Florida, where he graduated from Northeast High School in Fort Lauderdale in 1982. He served five years in the Navy (1985-90), was stationed in Norfolk and served aboard a nuclear power submarine.
After the Navy, he attended Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, and graduated in 1995.
He attended Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., And served as an interim deacon in Holy Spirit Church in Annandale. He was ordained a priest on June 10, 2000 by Bishop Paul S. Loverde.
He served as parish vicar in St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax (2000-03); All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas (2003-07); St. Veronica Church in Chantilly (2007-10); Church of St. Ambrose in Annandale (2010-13), Church of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Fredericksburg (2013-18) and Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Winchester (2018-21).
Father Holmes looks forward to meeting his new parishioners and asks them to “pray for me to be a good servant and a good shepherd”.
He noted that it will never be difficult for them to find him because it is hard to miss his big yellow jeep. “When the yellow jeep is here, I’m generally around,” he said.