Bishop of Richmond Barry Knestout said Mass in Crozet February 2, the Feast of the Presentation, and announced that he has chosen the name Our Lady of the Rosary for the five-year-old Crozet Mission. The name will become official in a ceremony to be scheduled later.
It was Knestout’s first meeting with the congregation, which now numbers 215 registered households and 596 people. Knestout had called on mission leaders in the first week of his term two years ago when he made a whirlwind tour of his vast diocese, which includes all the territory of Virginia below the Rappahannock River (to the north is the Diocese of Arlington). The Crozet Mission, lay-driven, is the first mission community to form in the diocese in this century. Only about 5 percent of the population in the Diocese’s territory is Catholic.
The Feast of the Presentation, which celebrates Christ’s presentation in the Temple 40 days after his birth and his official induction to Judaism, is the traditional occasion for blessing candles that will be used in the church during the year and was commonly known as Candlemas.
Mass is said in Crozet at 10 a.m. on Sundays at The Field School.
