St. Philip Catholic Church News & Updates

Jubilee 2025: Pilgrims of Hope

Official Hymn of the Holy Year

Stations and Adoration

Each Friday in Lent, St. Philip offers bi-lingual Stations of the Cross and Adoration after the 7 pm Mass.

Happy Feast of St. Patrick

March 17

St. Patrick's Day is the feast day of the patron Saint of Ireland, credited with converting many to Catholic faith. He is believed to have died March 17, 461.

At the age of 16, he was captured and enslaved by Irish pagans. After a vision from God, he escaped to Britain, where he became a priest, then a bishop. After a second vision, he was called back to Ireland. Through his preaching and missionary work, he began to convert many and build churches across the country.

Below is his most famous prayer, known as Saint Patrick's Breastplate.

Holy Spirit Seminar: Every Thursday This Lent

This Lent join us for a series of talks and discussion over 5 weeks that will deepen your understanding of the Good News of Jesus Christ and his gift of the Spirit. These talks will be presented by members of the People of Praise Community. For more information and to register contact: John Mitchell @ 703-855-8976 or jhwmitchell@yahoo.com.

Lenten Scripture Challenge

Read along with daily Gospels passages as Lent progresses. The Diocese has provided booklets to provide daily chapters to read between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.

The booklets are available in English and Spanish, and can be downloaded as a PDF.

St. Philip Seniors

Wednesday March 19

1-3 pm in Room 2

Please join the St. Philip’s Seniors for an interesting talk and with questions afterwards by Karen Hannigan. 

Among the many topics covered will be

• Adult Protective Services
• Transportation
• Nutrition
• Home Based Care
• Disability Services 

St. Philiip Seniors is for those 55+. Those with parents or supporting others over the age of 55 may also attend this event.

St. Joseph Day with Father Luke Dundon

Wednesday March 19

After 7 pm Mass in Room 2

St. Philip is honored to welcome back for one night only, Fr. Luke Dundon.

We were Fr. Dundon's first assignment as a priest until he "shipped out" in 2014 to assume his role as a Military Chaplain.

Father will not only be discussing St. Joseph, but also some of the adventures he has been on since he left.

Join St. Philip for the Virginia March for Life

April 2, 2025

St. Philip is chartering a bus that will leave from the St. Philip parking lot on Wednesday, Apr. 2, at 8 am.  We will have a special Mass at 7:00 am before departing.

After participating in the march, we will depart and return to St. Philip around 4:30 pm.

Reserve your spot by using the button below and register on our Signup Genius site. Questions can be sent to Matthew Lang at matthew.r.lang95@gmail.com

Eat, Drink and Be Catholic

Sunday, March 30

6 pm in Church & Hayden Hall

Join us with the next installment of our monthly potluck series of Eat, Drink and Be Catholic.

Our speaker will be our own Mark Mitchell on D-Day.

The evening starts with Vesper in the church, followed by out potluck dinner and presentation at 6:30 in Hayden Hall.

As always, bring a dish to share (serving for about 6) and invite a friend.

For more information, contact Suzanne Webb.

Formed: Catholic Content Online

Formed has many great videos to help us this Lent. One of them is a discussion with Sister Miriam James Heidland on Healing in Lent. It is available on Youtube as an example of the content you can find on Formed.



Formed is the premier Catholic streaming service, bringing beautiful and faithful Catholic content to parishes, families, and individuals around the world.

Parishioners can join this service at no cost through St. Philip's parish account.

Signing up for Formed is quick and easy. Just follow the simple instructions below. 

1. Go to formed.org/signup

2. Search for your parish by Zip Code/ Postal Code. Click on your parish. 

3. Register with your first and last name, and email address

4. Your account will be created, and you will automatically be signed in.

Discover the power of Beauty and Truth at Christendom College's Summer Conference 2025

Explore art, literature, music, theology, and philosophy with renowned experts like poet James Matthew Wilson, composer Frank La Rocca, and Chesterton expert Dale Ahlquist. Enrich your mind, renew your spirit, and celebrate our Catholic faith. Join us on June 7th or enjoy extended access with the special 3-day VIP access ticket! Register and learn more at https://conference.christendom.edu/

Annual All Saints Car Raffle

All Saints Church (Manassas, VA) has invited our parishioners to participate in their Multi Car Raffle. Prizes include four 2025 vehicles from Ourisman Ford of Manassas (Ford Escape, Mustang, Maverick Truck (Hybrid) and Bronco Sport). One $5.00 ticket offers the purchaser a chance to win all four vehicles plus $40,000 (including one for $20,000) in cash prizes. You should have received your tickets at the end of January.

The raffle continues to benefit our parish, especially our Youth Activities, and many other charitable causes throughout the diocese, as it has in the past. We hope that you will support our efforts by buying or selling your tickets.

Food Pantry Update

Don’t forget the Food Pantry when doing your grocery shopping. There is always “need.”

Currently, we especially need Jelly, Rice, Oil, Hearty Soups, and Drinks.

• Make sure you don’t donate expired food items.
• We cannot accept dogfood or any kind of petfood.

Making Ashes for Ash Wednesday

Thank you to everyone who returned their palms from last year. Sister Marie Benedict and some of our youth burned them to make the ashes we received this Ash Wednesday. Here is a photo from a recent Fellowship Friday.

Bringing Order to the Vestible

During Lent, we hear these words from the prophet Isaiah: "Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD" (Is. 1:18). Our Fellowship Fridays group put these words into action by organizing our Lost and Found section of the vestibule. Please join us in keeping the vestibule and church tidy, during Lent and always!.

Support the Bishop and Virginia's Catholic Conference in urging Gov. Youngkin to veto bills that threaten lives, violates religious liberty, and undercuts parental rights

This year, the Virginia General Assembly passed coercive legislation that would end lives and threaten to compel organizations to provide or pay for abortion-inducing drugs and devices, contraceptives, IVF, and embryo banking.

The bills in play are:

SB 780/HB 2371 would force employers – including religious organizations – to cover all drugs and devices the FDA deems to be contraceptives, including some that actually cause abortions.

SB 1105/HB 1716 attempts to create an extremely broad and unprecedented “right” to contraception and sterilization that would apply even to minors and would even subject faith-based healthcare providers to lawsuits.

HB 1609 would require a state commission to consider making procedures such as IVF and embryo banking “essential health benefits” – thereby putting these procedures on an inside track toward becoming mandated benefits that health insurance plans would be forced to cover.

You can use the link below to Send or add to a pre-written message by the Virginia Catholic Conference (VCC):

Statement of Bishop Michael F. Burbidge on President Trump’s In Vitro Fertilization Executive Order

On February 18, President Trump issued an Executive Order to expand access to IVF. In his statement, Bishop Burbidge shares with us why this is an unnecessary action.

Also, we reshare the Bishop's video from January on this topic, entitled "The Christian Family, In Vitro Fertilization, and Heroic Witness to True Love"

Contact Sister Marie Benedict Elliott, F.S.E. for more information on St. Philip Youth Ministry.

Ongoing Regular Activities

Fellowship Fridays - Every Friday 3:30-5:30 pm

Join students in grades 6-8 for prayer, activities, and refreshments to support one another in our journey of faith. Feel free to bring a friend!

Women of the Word - Every Wednesday 7:30-8:30 pm

Ladies in grades 9-12 are welcome for prayer and fellowship. Feel free to invite friends to join us.

Events

Saint Joseph Day, Saturday, March 15, 10:30 am-2:30 pm

As we prepare for the Solemnity of St. Joseph (March 19), we invite fathers and boys in grades 6-12 to our next St. Joseph Day to play, pray, and enjoy lunch together. 

Guadalupe Day, Saturday, March 22, 9 am-2 pm

As we prepare for the Solemnity of the Annunciation (March 25), we invite mothers,

daughters in grades 6-12, and adult women of all ages to our next Guadalupe Day on "Praying through Art: With Mary at the Annunciation."

Join us for breakfast, prayer with Marian art, lunch, and a special experience with Marian

flowers! Girls have the opportunity to create their own Marian art. Please register with the

parish office (703-573-3808) or Ana Margarita Martinez (571-245-5051;

amargarita06@hotmail.com).

Stations of the Cross at Brightview, Saturday, April 12, 10 am-12 pm

Meet St. Philip parishioners in Room 4 at 10am to prepare Stations of the Cross at Brightview Senior Living. We will carpool to the event and return to St. Philip by noon. Youth without a parent present need a permission form to participate.

FIAT Day with Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, Saturday, April 12, 9 am-3 pm

Girls in grades 9-12 are welcome to enjoy Mass, prayer, working in God's creation, lunch, and discussion. Register with the Office of Vocations by March 31.

Read the Bulletin Online Every Friday

Get a jump on the week's news and read the St. Philip Parish Bulletin online every Friday here.

Are You Registered at St. Philip?

It is important that you are registered with the Parish of Saint Philip so we may adequately respond to your spiritual needs. Please note that you must be registered to receive a Sponsor letter or enroll your child in any of sacramental programs. If you are over the age of 21, you are asked to register independently of your parents. Registration forms are available in the Parish Office or online here.

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Second Sunday of Lent is always fascinating to me. Each year on this Sunday, we hear the account of the Transfiguration from all the different Gospels in which it is recorded. This year, we hear from Luke’s Gospel of this great moment of Jesus’s ministry, and how it left a lasting impact on the lives of the apostles even after the Resurrection and Pentecost (see 2 Peter 1:17-18). We see in this great moment the glory that Jesus possesses because of his divinity, which he uses to prepare his disciples for his upcoming passion and death on the cross.

In this week’s letter as we make our way though the Seven Vices, I invite us to focus our attention on the vice of envy. Envy is the vice that causes us to feel sorrow at someone else’s good. This good that another person possesses can be a physical good like their home, their car, or their spouse, or it can be a spiritual good, such as their friendships, their piety and devotion, or the love they show towards others. In both instances, we can often become saddened at the good things that another person has, which causes us to compare ourselves between what the other person has and what we do not have.

St. Thomas Aquinas, the great Dominican theologian of the 13th century, gives us great insight into how envy affects our everyday lives. He points out that we often envy those who are close to us and not those who are distant from. For example, it is not very easy to be saddened at the of the goods and talents of a movie star in Hollywood since we do not normally interact with him or her on a regular basis. However, it can be very easy for us to be saddened when we see a coworker get promoted and we are overlooked, or when we see another family have time to take a family vacation, or when our friend shows us the latest gadget that they have bought. It can be very easy for us to become saddened at what others have, especially when those people are close to us.

Additionally, St. Thomas points out to us that envy can affect us by causing us to be sorrowful about a good we possessed in the past, but we have lost. For example, if we constantly look back on past relationships, and we are sorrowed at others having those relationships, this causes envy to build up inside of us because we are saddened at what these new people have. In another example, St. Thomas quotes the philosopher, Aristotle, by showing that the old often envy the young because they remember the youth they used to possess, and similarly, those who acquire goods through much effort are envious of those who have acquired goods through little effort. In all these cases, what causes envy is a sadness at a good thing that another possesses that we don’t possess.

Finally, St. Thomas points out that one of the converse virtues of envy is the virtue of pity. Pity is the virtue of charity that allows us to feel sorrow, not at the good that a person possess, but at an evil that they are experiencing. Through pity, we are able to be saddened for the right reason that seeks to place ourselves alongside the person who is sorrowing at evil. By doing this, and by growing in the grace of gratitude at the goods that we have already received from God, we can counteract the effects of envy in our lives.

May Christ’s peace be with you!

Fr. Briggs

Mar 15: St. Joseph Day for Dads and their sons in grades 6-12

Mar 19: Solemnity of St. Joseph and Fr. Dundon talk

Mar 22: Guadalupe Day for adult women, moms, and daughters in grades 6-12

Mar 25: Solemnity of the Annunciation

Apr 02: Virginia March for Life

Apr 17: Holy Thursday

Apr 18: Good Friday

Apr 20: Easter Sunday

May 03: St. Philip Day