Part 6: Ministry to VSDB, Post-Vatican II Liturgical Changes, and Closing of the School (1950-1974)*

Fathers Egan, Klemmer, and McConnell

In 1949 Father Stockert was succeeded by the young and likeable Reverend Thomas F. Egan. He was gifted with working with the deaf and had become interested in this work while a seminarian. He learned sign language from other priests and also by taking courses at the Brooklyn Center for the Deaf. He gave monthly religious instruction at the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind and at the West Virginia School for the Deaf in Romney, West Virginia.

A main player on the St. Francis basketball team, Father Egan strongly identified with the young people. Also, he helped organize the Youth Club, which sponsored social events such as dances. In response to the complaint of the women of the Sanctuary Society that they did not know enough of their duties, he worked closely with them on the care of the altar and the sanctuary.

In 1951 Father Gacquin was transferred. At his departure he was honored at a special farewell party at the school hall. Mayor William A. Grubert and Judge C. Franklin Williamson were present. The school children presented a musical pageant, and Michael E. Kivlighan, President of the Holy Name Society, presented him a gift and a scroll which praised him “for the most remarkable rejuvenation of faith and works in the history of the parish.” Father Gacquin died in 1962.

The Reverend Francis J. Klemmer succeeded Father Gacquin as pastor of St. Francis and Dean of the Valley. During Father Klemmer’s time a living rosary was enacted by girls and women of the church in connection with the Family Rosary Crusade. The Catholic Daughters of America made the cross and the Our Fathers. Father Klemmer consolidated all the parish women’s groups into a single unit called the Blessed Virgin Sodality. The unit was responsible for the whole range of activities supporting parish life, including school lunches and First Friday breakfasts. He was also known for his radio talks over WTON.

Father Klemmer served only two years, dying unexpectedly on June 10, 1953. Thirty-three priests attended his funeral at St. Francis; the Most Reverend Peter L. Ireton, Bishop of Richmond, presided.

Another incident of note in 1953 was the death of Samuel J. Collins, the architect of St. Francis and a number of other churches in the diocese. Widely acclaimed for his skill, he had taken first prize in a contest for the designing of a Virginia World War II memorial. Sixteen priests, including three monsignori, took part in the funeral Mass, which was held at St. Francis.

Also in 1953 Father Egan, Father Klemmer’s assistant, was replaced by the Reverend Francis Bowler. Father Egan was later appointed Director of the first Diocesan Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Father Klemmer was succeeded by the Reverend James H. McConnell, who served eleven years. He had been a first sergeant in World War I in the Argonne Campaign and had served as state chaplain of the American Legion. In 1932 he had opened Sleepy Creek Camp for boys in Morgan County, West Virginia. He had also been associate editor of the Catholic Virginian. Father McConnell came to Staunton from Monte Maria Monastery in Richmond, where he had been chaplain. Concurrent with the new priest’s arrival in Staunton, the parish experienced growth with the influx of Catholics from Brooklyn, New York, who came to work at the American Safety Razor and Westinghouse plants.

During Father McConnell’s eleven years in Staunton he said he constantly had to fight the three R’s —“rust, rot, and ‘rosion.” He had new water lines installed to the church, school, and convent. He acquired the house next to the rectory (now a parking lot) and remodelled it into two classrooms with lunchroom and kitchen for the young children. New plumbing was put in the rectory kitchen; the exterior of the school was cleaned; the termite damage in the convent and school was repaired; and the wall on the south side of the school, which had crumbled and fallen, was rebuilt. Also in 1956 the church bell was repaired and equipped so that it could be operated electrically. This was done as a memorial to the late Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Kivlighan by their five sons: Joseph, Paul, Dennis, Felix, and Michael. At the celebration of the refurbishing, three children of Dr. and Mrs. Samuel H. Carter and grandchildren of Joseph Kivlighan went up to the sanctuary. While Henley and Joseph watched, their little sister Beverly pushed the switch to ring the bell.

Father McConnell was known for his dry wit and humorous actions. Several times in his sermons Father McConnell remarked that he wished he could find four good ushers, each with only one arm, to take up collection. He also would not pay off the twelve-thousand-dollar debt incurred in the purchase of the addition to the school because it was a diocesan loan with no interest. He preferred to “owe it to them rather than cheat them out of it.” Some former students, like Ashton Trice, remember him as the priest who distinguished himself by referring to the nuns as “the bonnets” and in eating the same lunch every day: coffee, crackers, and limburger cheese.

In 1960 classes in religious instruction at the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind (VSDB) came to a climax with two Baptisms, four first Communions, and eight Confirmations all within a single weekend. The voluntary teachers were two St. Francis mothers, Mrs. Donald B. Crider and Mrs. John Giovanelli. The god-father and co-sponsor was Dr. Robert Bruce of the VSDB faculty.

Changes in Rites; School Closes

After Father McConnell left St. Francis in 1964, the Reverend William McGonigle was appointed pastor. On May 2, the Reverend Robert Warren, a Staunton resident who had just been ordained in Richmond by Bishop Russell, celebrated his first solemn Mass at St. Francis.

These were the years of the historic Vatican II Council held in Rome; Richmond Bishop John J. Russell was among the Council Fathers. Many reforms, especially in liturgy, resulted from this Council. Beginning on September 14, 1964, baptism and other sacraments, except the Mass, were conducted in English. Then for six weeks during October and November sermons prepared people for the English liturgy of the Mass. On November 29, Bishop Russell celebrated Mass in English, facing the people, and so did all priests in his diocese.

On May 7, 1966, a special Mass conducted in sign language was held for the first Holy Communion of six students from VSDB. The Mass was celebrated by the Reverend Aldo Petrini, chaplain of Gallaudet College Newman Apostolate in Washington, D.C. The children had received instruction from Miss Ann Mills, a teacher at VSDB. Two University of Virginia students assisted Miss Mills as part of their Newman apostolate. Dr. Robert Bruce was the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) coordinator for VSDB.

The Reverend Paul T. Gaughn became pastor when Father McGonigle was transferred in 1966. At that time there were 260 total families, 152 Catholic and 108 mixed, for a total of 811 church members. Under the guidance of Father Gaughn work was started on the renovations of the church property, especially the repair of the stained glass windows. The average collection was seven hundred dollars and he was successful in raising it to one thousand dollars. In 1968 Father Gaughn was transferred to Sacred Heart Parish in Norfolk. He is now pastor at St. Jerome’s in Newport News.

The Reverend Roscoe Roy Cosby then arrived as pastor. Under Father Cosby collections were raised again and the renovations were completed. With the help of a loan of ten thousand dollars from the diocesan fund the church was painted and redecorated and many improvements were made to the parish buildings. Several newly ordained priests assisted Father Cosby. In 1969 approximately five hundred persons attended a special ecumenical Thanksgiving Mass. These included visitors from Covenant Presbyterian Church and the choir of Stuart Hall, accompanied by Dr. Ruth McNeil, professor of music at Mary Baldwin College. The Reverend John T. Chewning, rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, delivered the sermon. E. Harden of Mt. Zion Baptist Church was the soloist.

This period was marked by significant growth of the parish and by the introduction of the New Rite in accordance with the reforms initiated by Vatican II. In Virginia the New Rite was introduced in two stages: The Entrance and Liturgy of the Word on March 1, 1970, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist on March 8. In preparation workshops for priests and selected lay people were held in all the deaneries to explain the purpose of the New Rite. The worshippers were to become more and more active in the assembly. From earliest times Christians had assembled to give thanks to their Saviour Jesus Christ. However, as more and more Christians came into the fold, and the Church attempted to accommodate diverse cultures and traditions, the character of the Mass became more complex. Because wars and other disasters discouraged the people, God seemed remote from their lives. At the same time the language of worship was no longer understood by the people. As a result the liturgy became the action of the clergy, and the people became spectators of this mysterious drama (Fitzgerald, pp. 11-26).

The New Rite attempted to restore the original simplicity without destroying the liturgical heritage of the Church. It retained the unity of the worship, but made it possible for each member of Christ’s body to function. The duties of altar servers were reduced to permit the congregation to become responsible for saying and singing the responses and bringing to the altar the gifts of bread and wine. Members of the congregation were also expected to introduce the Mass, read the Scriptures before the Gospel, and lead the general intercessions.

At first, however, there was some reluctance to include women. Women were permitted to serve only “when no man suitable for the occasion can be found” (St. Francis Church Bulletin, April 12, 1970). However, on January 29, 1973, permission from the Vatican was granted to either sex to assist the clergy as readers, lectors, commentators, and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist (Documents on the Liturgy, p. 651).

Also, to help the priest manage the affairs of the parish and make it a worshipping community, a committee structure was instituted. These committees such as finance, justice and peace, outreach and evangelization, stewardship, worship and parish community life are coordinated by parish pastoral councils. At St. Francis members of the congregation volunteer for the committees. But members of the pastoral council are elected by the congregation. Baptized members eighteen years and older are eligible. Through these many opportunities for stewardship, the members of the Body of Christ actively engage in worship so that they indeed can “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”

In July 1970 a summer mission program was held. The priests and the sisters visited the outlying communities—Weyers Cave, Mt. Sidney, Churchville, Craigsville, Greenville, and Middlebrook—to instruct the children and to offer family Mass in each community. They gave special instruction through movies, filmstrips, and dramatizations.

Also at this time liturgical furnishings began to leave the church. The altar rail and sanctuary lamp were removed, the statues were transferred to the school, and the hymnals disappeared.

In September 1970 Father Cosby was appointed founding pastor of a new parish in Dale City. He now serves as pastor of St. James Church in Falls Church, Virginia. The Reverend John J. Munley, a classmate of Father Cosby, was appointed by Bishop Russell to be the new pastor of St. Francis. He had been the pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Covington. Father Munley stayed only one year. He served at St. Mary’s in Fredericksburg and died in May 1995.

Following Father Munley was the Reverend Anthony Justs, a Latvian-born priest who has now returned to his native land to teach. He spent his childhood until 1945 in Latvia. Once he jumped through a church window to escape capture for having attended a service. He studied for the priesthood at the University of Louvain in Belgium and at the University of Innsbruck in Austria.

In Staunton he was treasurer of the Ministerial Association and Dean of the Valley. During his tenure the stained glass windows in the church and the tower were repaired. The church was repainted, and the baptistry and confessional exchanged places. The donors were memorialized in the glass that replaced the art glass transom.

The parish and the community in general were saddened when, in 1971 after almost 100 years of continuous operation, St. Francis School closed as a result of declining numbers of religious sisters and rising costs. Sister Virginia Ann became the principal of St. John’s School in Waynesboro and also directed religious education in Staunton. Sister Editha remained in the parish as a home visitor. She was assisted by Sister Cornelia, a registered nurse, and Sister Grace, a social worker. Together they began a social outreach program which was funded by a Human Development Fund grant. This program still exists in the form of the Staunton Area Churches Relief Association (SACRA), an ecumenical food and assistance agency for the poor, and Meals on Wheels. Sister Grace also started a Catholic pre-school known as the Mustard Seed Nursery. The pre-school was housed in the building on New Street where the first and second grades had been taught.

Under the direction of Paul F. and Doris Gage the choir was revived. It was known as the St. Francis Folk Group. Both young people and adults participated. The music focused on the new Catholic folk hymnody and American folk hymns.

Father Justs was beginning to revive the spirit that had been broken by the closing of the school when he was transferred in 1973 after only two years of service at St. Francis. He was assigned to Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria, a parish of two thousand families. The Reverend Thomas Summers succeeded him at St. Francis.

Of Lebanese extraction, Father Summers was a native of Richmond. He was a deeply spiritual person who was always available to people when they needed him. He started the practice of lay ministers taking Communion to the shut-ins. He also had a unique ability to bring the spiritual into every aspect of life, including light-hearted conversations. He reopened the rectory to all and enjoyed serving meals he had prepared. As he would say, “Come and have some victuals and bubblies with me.”

Father Summers had a sincere concern that people understand the meaning behind the various forms of worship. For example, he related that he had refused to baptize a baby whose mother was no longer a practicing Catholic. She attended a Baptist church but wanted the baby baptized by the priest since the Baptist Church did not baptize infants.

Father Summers had the boiler in the church replaced and initiated the renovation of the exterior of the Sisters’ Convent and the former school building. He is remembered for his outspoken manner and his somewhat radical ideas.

Father Summers was not a team player as seen in his inability to work gracefully with an assistant or the nuns who were carrying out very successful religious education and social development programs. In fact, by 1974 there were enrolled in the Sunday School one hundred and fifty-one pupils in K through five, sixty-five pupils in six through eight, fifty-six in nine through twelve, and two hundred and twenty-eight adults. After two years Father Summers was transferred to Suffolk. He later went to Our Lady of Nazareth in Roanoke for a few years before he retired. He died in March 1992.

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*This history of Staunton’s Catholic parish is taken from A History of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Staunton, Virginia: Celebrating 150 Years, 1845-1995 by Hampton H. Hairfield, Jr., Elizabeth M. Hairfield, and Jane E. Smith (published in 1995) and used with permission.

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