Saint Luke Catholic Church Celebrates 50 Years of History

Saint Luke Parish on Georgetown Pike celebrates it's 50th birthday Sunday.

In 1961, approximately 200 families in McLean and Great Falls broke away from the growing Saint John’s Catholic Parish on Linway Terrace to form a new church – Saint Luke. With no formal meeting place, the parishioners gathered at Franklin Sherman Elementary School in downtown McLean for mass, and the original pastor, Monsignor Louis Flaherty, moved into the new rectory – a split level house with a small chapel in the basement.

 “When we started, we didn’t have a church. We went to Franklin Sherman School with a portable altar, recalled longtime member Mary Connery. "They were supposed to leave the door open. One Sunday, the door was locked. The Father said, ‘If we just had a screwdriver.’ Connie Atkinson said, ‘I do,’ and she took one out of her purse, and we got in. It seemed impossible, and we did it.”

Saint Luke grew as McLean transformed from farms to suburb to elegant address. It's one of several McLean churches that will celebrate a Golden Jubilee this year and next.

The coming of the CIA to Langley in the  early 60's brought developers who turned farmland in subdivisions. The laying of the cornerstone for CIA headquarters occurred November 1959.

As new homeowners  filled the subdivisions, churches and schools followed. Then came the Beltway and Tysons Corner and the rest is history.

Saint Luke school opened in September 1962  financed through donations from the parish. The banner waving above the front door to Saint Luke Catholic School says it all - A Catholic Tradition. This school teaches the Catholic faith along with the academics.  The first teachers were Felician Sisters and parents. A convent was established for the Sisters. 

They taught grades 1 to 4. Over the years the school grew to include kindergarten to eighth grade students. The Sisters departed. Lay men and women fill the teaching posts. Modernizations have included a computer lab, up-to-date classroom technology and a science lab. Each day begins and ends with prayer.

Over the next two decades,  a larger rectory was purchased. But there was still no church building so mass was held in the gymnasium of the school.

Then in 1979, the growing church split. Saint Catherine of Siena in Great Falls became the new home for many parishioners, and plans for a Saint Luke church building were underway.

For ten years, Saint Luke was under construction to become the very modern church that now stands on Georgetown Pike. ‘It is what a church should be – a community of believers inspired by Jesus Christ…[The church] has an arena design and altar placed where everyone can see it. We’re all united,” said Jim McCulla, the coordinator of Eucharist ministries and an adult Faith Formation teacher. The architectural design of the church reflects principles of Vatican II. McCulla said,

 The church houses a chapel with a bell tower crowning its narthex, a large hall to provide space for gatherings, and in 1998, a Steiner-Reck Opus 104 pipe organ, the largest in Northern Virginia, was purchased for the chapel.

McCulla,  a member since 1974, became a very  active a volunteer after his retirement from NASA in 1995. Many of the parishioners volunteer on one or more of the numerous committees at Saint Luke. McCulla said, “If there are 600 people in the church, you can count on at least 100 of them being involved in parish programs to aid the poor, or to educate children and adults, or to conduct liturgical activities or to be active in numerous other charitable, religious and social programs…It [The church] is the focal point of my life…my faith, activities and people.”

Over the years, many noted McLean residents have made Saint Luke their church home: Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and his family,  Terry McAuliffe, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee; Paul Begala, former advisor to President Clinton; Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security advisor to President Carter; Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House; and Pat Buchanan, senior advisor to Presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan. Other members include: Jim Nicholson, former GOP National Chairman; Frank Keating, former governor of Oklahoma.

Saint Luke has one member who has been involved since the church’s inception – Jeanne Mahoney. In 1955, she moved to McLean and joined St. John’s. During the past 55 years she has been a member of the Sacristy Committee (taking care of the altar and preparing for events in the church), until the group was dissolved about five years ago. She also was a member of the committee which created the constitution for St. Luke, when the church was founded.

“The church means a great deal to me," Mahoney said.  "I go to the 6:45 group – the 'coffee klatch.' We have coffee and cake at the church – for thirty years. I have a great deal of fun doing it. I try to get to the senior group too. I used to be in charge of it.”

Mahoney is overwhelmed by all the beneficence of the church and its members. For twenty years, the church has held a fundraiser for the St. Patrick’s Foundation in Jamaica. Led by Father Richard Albert, the foundation offers financial assistance and life skills training to the local poor of his country. St. Luke also has an Outreach Committee. Mahoney said, “Every month they meet and decide who to give it [money] to. A good part of the money goes to help those in need.”

“A large part of my social activities revolve around the church,” said Mahoney. For thirty years there has been a group of people who meet to bring social activities and meals for seniors...Rides are even provided as needed. These are social as well as religious events. They meet the first and third Wednesday of the month…it brings together people.”

Mary Connery and Mahoney are friends. She also belongs to the 6:45  group. "We share all the joys and sadness…I have the support of the clergy and members...Jean Mahoney was the first person I met when I moved to Congress Lane…There’s about ten of us that have traveled together over the years…Italy, France, Eastern Europe, Alaska and other places in the United States,” she said.

Connery said,  “I belonged to it since 1961. I used to live two doors down…and do a lot of volunteer work. I still volunteer there in the office, doing lists by hand and catechism.  At one point I was even a bookkeeper…I was involved with the drive to build the new church and now with a lot of things.”  Her volunteer efforts with the church are considerable. She explained, “I always figure what I give is given back to me.”

“Jeanne and I have been through every pastor. We’ve always been close to the church and its members. It’s been a wonderful support for us all these years,” she said.

If your church celebrates a 50th birthday in 2011 or 2012, please let us know so we can share with the neighbors. E-mail: bobbi.bowman@patch.com.