Catholic church pastor to leave county
By Alexander Sharp VIII/Special to the Rappahannock News
As if by some sign of divine providence, Father Robert J. DeMartino will move out of St. Peter's Catholic Church on Wednesday, June 25 exactly five years after he moved in on Wednesday, June 25, 2003. He will say goodbye to the place he has come to love.
During his Sunday homily, DeMartino announced that he will be taking a position as pastor at St. William of York in Stafford, Va., a much larger parish near the Quantico Marine Corps Base.
The priest was given his orders of transfer in a meeting June 9 with Bishop Paul Loverde of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.
“It was a big surprise to me,” DeMartino said. “I love it here.”
DeMartino, born and raised in New York City, fondly recalls his first visit to rural Rappahannock.
“I got into Little Washington expecting the church to be right in town,” he said. “A pick-up truck came along and I waved it down and asked the man where the Catholic Church was. He pointed and said, 'It's just down 211 across from the gun shop.' I fell in love then and there.”
Much of the congregation at St. Peter's - the church has about 100 parishioners - are sad to see DeMartino go.
“He's been a fine pastor,” said Bill Ryan, a member of St. Peter's for over 20 years.
“He's done a lot for the church both physically and spiritually,” Ryan said, citing the new cemetery and a number of study groups DeMartino has led over the years. “He is a man of action.”
Two years after taking over St. Peter's, the small mission under the sponsorship of Precious Blood Catholic Church in Culpeper was promoted to the status of independent parish.
In Renata Chapman's 25 years at St. Peter's, she has seen six priests come and go.
“Every time a priest leaves it's a little sad because you get to know him so well, and he gets to know you and your family,” Chapman said. “But things move forward. You just can't let yourself get too attached. The Bishop knows best.”
Father Paul Dudzinski of St. Michael's in Annandale, Va., will take over as priest at St. Peter's. According to the Catholic Herald, the 48-year-old pastor, one of eight children, hails from Wisconsin. Dudzinski moved east to Emmitsburg, Md., in 1982, where he attended Mt. St. Mary's Seminary and was ordained into the priesthood in 1986. He will move into the rectory at St. Peter's on June 25.
Father DeMartino expressed confidence in Dudzinski's abilities as a priest during his sermon on Sunday, assuring the awestruck congregation that the priest will do great things in Rappahannock. Both men attended Mt. St. Mary's Seminary and received a masters in Divinity.
After five years of service to the small Catholic community here, DeMartino cannot help but feel a sense of attachment to Rappahannock and its residents.
“Coming here was a dream come true. The solitude, the cows, the fields. I love where I am,” he said. “I was ready to live here for the rest of my life. If I could choose, I would stay here. But I prefer God to choose. It is God's will.”
To illustrate how he feels about leaving Rappahannock County, DeMartino quotes a popular song from the 1960s:
“You are the apple of my eye.
You are the apple of my heart.
But now the time has come to part.”