McLean Pastor to Celebrate 35 Years at Holy TransfigurationSpecial to the HERALD
(From the Issue of 11/30/06)
Parishioners and friends of Rt. Rev. Archimandrite Joseph Francavilla will mark the 35th anniversary of his arrival at Holy Transfiguration Melkite Greek-Catholic Church in McLean. The celebration will include the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, Dec. 10, at 10:30 a.m.
Father Joseph, as he is known to his parishioners, arrived at the parish on Dec. 11, 1971, to arrange for the funeral of his predecessor, Archpriest Armand J. Jacopin, who was just 39-years-old when he succumbed to a long illness. Father Joseph had been assigned to the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Roslindale, Mass., when then-Archbishop Joseph Tawil sent him to oversee funeral arrangements. Father recalls the sadness of the task of burying a brother priest and good friend. The recently organized Melkite Greek-Catholic parish was in the process of purchasing an old church in Vienna and needed a new pastor.
"I don't know why the archbishop selected me," Father Joseph recalls. "I was young, newly ordained, relatively inexperienced, and now, at 28, was the pastor of a fledgling, tiny parish."
Link to story in the Arlington Catholic Herald [
catholicherald.com]
Many years to Father Joseph!
