From The Pastor

As most of you know by now, there are now two priests serving our community at St. Michael’s. That is, myself and Fr. Francois Babulu! He will be serving us for the next four months or so until sometime in June when a priest is assigned to us on a more permanent basis. Fr. Francois has already been a great help and you will be seeing him in many places and in many ways over the months ahead. I thought you should know a little bit more about him.

He was born February 23, 1958 in Bumba, Province of Equateur in what was then the Belgian Congo (later Zaire and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). It is the largest country in Africa and, with a population of 68 million, the largest country in the world with French as its official language. He is one of three brothers and four sisters. His higher education was in Kinshasa, Congo, Ibadan, Nigeria and back in Kinshasa. He was ordained in 1990. He also obtained a law degree in 1998 (now you have two lawyers serving you as priests!!). An ongoing war sent him first to Lagos, Nigeria and eventually here to the U.S., where he was granted asylum as the war dragged on in the Congo. He lived briefly in Chicago and in 2001 began 7 years of service as a priest in the diocese of Wheeling/Charleston. In November of 2008, he was invited to come to the diocese of Richmond and has served at St. John in Highland Springs, where he still resides, and Annunciation parish in Ladysmith. As of February 13 the bishop named him Parochial Vicar at St. Michael. In addition to English, he speaks French, Spanish, Lingala and two other African languages, as well as a little Italian and German.

He is extremely grateful to our nation for granting him asylum and has already told me how much he has appreciated the warm welcome he has received here at St. Mike’s. Let us enjoy him and continue to make him welcome here in our community.

Peace & Love,
Fr. Dan
frdan@saint-mikes.org

Town Hall Meeting with Bishop DiLorenzo

When: Saturday, May 1. Bishop DiLorenzo will preside at the 5:30 Liturgy and hold the meeting afterwards.

Where: the Worship Space

The conversation will center upon the strengths and needs of our parish gathered through the We Walk by Faith process. Review the results of that survey and the parish self-assessment report listed below in preparation for the conversation. We hope you can join this conversation!

We Walk by Faith Survey Results
Parish Self-Assessment Report

Need Directions to St. Michael?

Joining The Parish

New parishioners are asked to attend an Orientation to receive information and registration forms. Upcoming meetings: Tuesday, March 9, at 7pm and Sunday, March 28, after the 11:30am mass. For more information, call the office, 527-1037.

Tour St. Michael now!