2013 marks a number of tremendous milestones in the life of the St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish. On the feast of St. Joseph, we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its establishment in 1963 as a parish, serving the Catholic faculty, staff, and students at the University of Virginia! It is a long way from the original Newman Club in a little house on Jefferson Park Avenue when the first Dominicans arrived in 1959. There has been incredible growth in the fifty years that the Dominican Friars have been here, and there is a palpable joy, vibrancy, and excitement in the ministry of the friars.

On Holy Thursday, to mark the Parish’s Jubilee, a parishioner came forward and issued a One Million Dollar Matching Gift Challenge for the project! If this goal is met, the new priory will nearly be paid off! Between April 2 and December 31, 2013 each new dollar and each new pledge will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to one million dollars.

We are grateful to all of our parishioners and friends who have so faithfully – and so generously – helped us to pay for our new home. We ask you once again to help us to rise to this Jubilee Challenge and we assure you that you are always in our prayers.

We were also happily joined by a number of visiting friars from through the province, several of the Novices from Cincinnati, and Marianne Jablonski, President of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic in the Province.

The Dedication of the new Priory also marks the beginning of the St. Thomas Aquinas Parish Jubilee year. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve the University community in Charlottesville and in the surrounding region. The Priory demonstrates clearly and uniquely the vibrancy of the Catholic Faith in the region. We are continually thankful for this opportunity to serve such a wonderful flock!

With parishioners in place to assist in guiding them through the Priory, and booklets in hand, our many visitors were able to tour the entire house. We will enter Cloister in the first week of March, after which visitors in the living quarters of the friars will be extremely limited.

We hope to move from the old rectory at 308 Alderman Road into the new building in the first week of March. It will be quite a change of pace for us and we are looking forward to the quiet that the building inspires.

Thank you to our many generous parishioners and friends who have helped make this dream a reality!

We hope to have our open house tour loaded onto the website soon. Look for updates here so you may have the opportunity to re-visit our beautiful home, and guide your friends and family through as well!

Steam arises as the black top is laid on the new driveway of the Priory. November 2, 2012

Looking from the East side entrance of St. Thomas Church, the Priory Chapel commands attention. October 17, 2012