St. Matthew was sitting at his tax collector’s post in Capernaum when he glanced up to see Jesus looking down upon him. At once, he leapt to his feet and followed the Lord.
St. Matthew, Virginia Beach, has been following in its patron saint’s footsteps for one hundred years.
The parish observed its centenary anniversary Sunday, Sept. 22, with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Barry C. Knestout and concelebrated by Father Peter Naah, pastor of St. Matthew.
“Not only does St. Matthew follow the Lord,” Bishop Knestout said during his homily, but he immediately gathers all those he knows to his house and invites Jesus there amongst them.
“He encounters Christ as a friend, and he wants to bring that friendship to others,” the bishop said.
It is friendship and sense of community that make St. Matthew such a special place, parishioner Shirley Maleski said.
“It’s the sort of place where everyone looks after one another,” she said. “If you need anything at all, you just need to ask.”
A luncheon at the Chesapeake Conference Center followed the Mass, affording parishioners a chance to reflect on their journey of service, fellowship, and faith.
First steps
St. Matthew began as a mission of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Norfolk, in 1907, when a small chapel was built on Hardy Avenue in the Berkley section of Norfolk.
The original chapel served 45 families.
Father Michael J. Harrington became the first resident pastor in 1924, establishing St. Matthew as a parish. By 1958, the parish had grown to the point that Father Thomas Healy decided to purchase thirteen and a half acres in nearby Sherry Park in Virginia Beach.
His work was continued by Father Harris Findlay, who oversaw the building of the church, St. Mathew School, and the rectory.
A new church was dedicated in May 1991. Longtime parishioners will see the footprints of the old church, still, in the surrounding buildings.
“In the assembly hall, where we have the kitchen now – that’s where the confessionals used to be,” parishioner Mary Ann Morrill said, laughing. “Every time I pass by, I think about that.”
‘Full of faith’
Norma Legaspi and her husband had been living in Navy housing for a year when they found the perfect neighborhood: one that offered an easy commute to work and with a Catholic church nearby.
“We attended St. Matthew one time, and we really liked it,” she said. They moved into their new home in 1974. St. Matthew has been a center of her family’s life ever since.
She’s seen her three sons and then her grandsons serve as altar servers there. She’s served as wedding coordinator at the old church. Currently, she is active with the Co-fraternity of San Lorenzo Ruiz De Manila, organizing trips and fundraisers for the group.
Even after 50 years of service, Legaspi has found new adventures ahead. This summer, she organized the parish’s first International Festival.
“We had every ethnic group at the church participate,” she said. “It was a wonderful afternoon.”
The day included traditional dances from Hawaii, Samoa, and the Philippines.
“We also had a lot of food, of course. We even had a roast pig,” she said.
“It’s a friendly, welcoming parish,” she said. “And it’s full of faith. We always have something happening. We have Book Club on Monday, Legion of Mary on Wednesday, Bible study on Thursday. It’s just full of faith.”
“You really feel love there,” she said. “You feel love.”
‘This is my church’
Maleski, 92, has been a parishioner at St. Matthew since 1967. She has seen a lot of change in Virginia Beach, but St. Matthew is a constant.
“I always say, ‘This is my church.’ It’s so open,” said Maleski. “Everyone is so loving and caring. I can’t imagine going anywhere else.”
Over the years, she has been active with the Women’s Club and Meals on Wheels. Her husband, Sylvester “Dusty” Maleski, enjoyed offering his woodworking talents to the parish, she said. He built the church sign and the Stations of the Cross affixed to the outer walls of the church.
Once, he built a large storage cabinet for the parish.
“I thought they would never get it out of the garage,” she said.
In the 1970s, Maleski recalled, St. Matthew was known for its dances, bazaars, and popular Bingo nights.
“We had spring dances and Christmas dances. It didn’t matter if you were Catholic or not, everybody in the neighborhood came,” she said.
Today, St. Matthew is returning to that tradition, “which has delighted everybody,” she said. The parish has begun holding socials after Mass, where people take the time to chat.
“I look forward to going every Sunday. It’s the sort of church where, if anyone is sick or missing, they’ll check on you. We have so many people there willing to help you, if you need it,” she said.
A place to serve
Morrill, who was baptized at St. Matthew in 1961, remembered the St. Matthew of her childhood as a fun and vibrant place to grow up. She recalled Father Joseph Facura riding a donkey through the parking lot on Palm Sunday, an elaborate creche at Christmas, and the church’s yearly bazaar, with a children’s midway and ice cream.
“There was also a very popular booth run by Shirley Maleski. If your ticket matched a prize, you would win a stuffed animal,” she said.
Morrill became a member of the first youth ministry in 1975. The group completed service projects and held fundraising car washes. They also had a folk choir, she said.
“We would perform at sunrise service on Easter in the field behind the old church. You would have your good Easter shoes on, trodding over the dew-laden grass,” she recalled.
She and her husband, Glenn, married there in the old church, on Sept. 7, 1985. Grateful for her memories at St. Matthew, she began to look for ways to give back.
In fact, her wish to serve brought her full circle.
“When I was in first grade at St. Matthew, my mother and another parishioner volunteered as teacher’s aides, to help Sister Rosemary with the reading groups,” she said. When she became an adult, the same women who helped her learn to read were there to help her with the readings, 40 years later.
“When I became a lector, I would always look out at my mom and at Margie Curtis, because they would tell me, ‘Ok, now you need to remember to speak into the microphone. You need to enunciate,’” she said.
Today, Morrill volunteers as a lector and extraordinary minister of Holy Communion. She is a member of the liturgy committee and the school advisory board. Her latest goal is to recruit younger people to get more involved with the liturgy.
“It’s the younger generation who will carry us into the future,” she said.
A love that keeps blooming
“We love this place. We have so many memories here,” said James Filek, a parishioner of 45 years.
Many of those memories center around his time spent with the Knights of Columbus. Filek founded the chapter at St. Matthew in 1991.
“I just stopped by the church office one day to ask about starting a chapter, and everyone was so enthusiastic,” he said. “‘Yeah, yeah, you’ve got to do this,’ they said.”
His wife, Bonnie, and the rest of the Ladies Auxiliary, supported them in all that they did “one-hundred percent,” he said, helping to organize fundraisers, crab feasts, and dances.
“Before you knew it, we had 300 members. The chapter is still going strong,” he said.
Filek is also responsible for another legacy that continues to flourish at St. Matthew. When his grandsons were small, he took them to the church to plant three dogwood trees in a small grouping, in honor of the Holy Trinity.
“I found the trees in my yard; they were only about one-foot high,” he said. “The boys dug the holes, and they planted them, and now they are twelve feet high. And one of my grandsons is in college, and the other is in the Marines.”
“Every year, when they bloom, everyone tells me, ‘Hey, Jim, your trees are doing ok,’” he said.
“We love everyone here,” he said. “It’s super to see how much it’s grown.”