Walking along a tree-lined street strewn with autumn leaves, families and old friends made their way to Mass as children in purple-and-blue plaid uniforms darted about in an impromptu game of tag.
Nestled between the Arts and Crafts homes of the Lafayette-Winona neighborhood and Tidewater Drive, Christ the King, Norfolk, is a neighborhood church, parishioners say – a diverse and close-knit community that has become a family.
“It’s a friendly parish, above all,” said Joe Bousquet, who grew up in the parish.
Christ the King held a “family reunion” on Sunday, Nov. 24, observing its parish feast day and its 75th anniversary with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Barry C. Knestout and concelebrated by the pastor, Father Augustine Lukenge.
Former pastors Father Joseph Wamala, Father Matthias Lusembo, and Father Brian Rafferty were also in attendance.
The Mass was followed by dinner, with music from the church’s African community.
“We’re small, but very multicultural,” said Janet Ficca, youth minister and director of religious education. “It’s fun, because I know about 80% of the people here.”
She nodded at a group of altar servers who stood together, waiting for Mass to begin. “Three of them have made their first Communions and their confirmations here. I’ve gotten to see them grow up,” she said.
A beautiful church
The story of Christ the King begins in 1937, with a small, wooden chapel built as a mission church under the direction of Father Edward Brosnan, pastor of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Norfolk. The mission chapel was completed in 1938 and dedicated to Christ the King.
“I still remember it,” lifelong parishioner Ken Brink said. “It was a beautiful little church.”
By 1949, the congregation had grown to the point that Christ the King was made an independent parish, with Father Conrad Hoffner as its first resident pastor. Brink’s sister, Loretta Ann, was the first to be baptized at the new parish that July.
Father Hoffner began work on a school, worship space, and rectory in 1953. The school opened in 1954, led by the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore. A large auditorium, also dedicated in 1954, would serve as the church for the next 40 years.
“We call it the ‘temporary church,’ even though it wasn’t so temporary,” said Cindy Nettleton, administrative assistant at Christ the King.
Many couples at the reunion recalled being married at the “temporary church.”
Some of the windows were made of amber glass, casting the room in a sepia-toned light, so “that your wedding photos already looked old when they were new,” parishioner Tony Duncan said, laughing.
In 1994, a new brick church was built under the leadership of Father Joe Lehman. Many of the furnishings from both the original chapel and the temporary church were brought over, including the tabernacle and the sanctuary lamp.
Today, the former worship space serves as the school gym and auditorium – hosting science fairs and Christ the King Cougars basketball games.
A labor of love
Christ the King has 325 active registered families and 825 registered individuals.
“We have parishioners whose families have been here since the fifties, we have those who have come with the military, and we have many parishioners from Africa – mainly from Togo,” Nettleton said.
There are plenty of opportunities to contribute, as the parish is largely run on the work of volunteers, she said.
Last July, the parish held a ‘cleaning party,’ said Nettleton, in preparation for the parish’s anniversary celebration.
“We took everything out except for the pews, the organ, and the piano,” she said.
Volunteers repainted the church for the first time since it was completed in 1994 and cleaned every surface until it shone, she said.
The statue of Christ the King that stands at the front of the church had been vandalized and pieced back together over the years, so it, too, was taken down for restoration.
“We also built him a new protective cover,” Nettleton said. “We’re going to plant some vines around it in the spring, so that he has even more shelter from the elements.”
The parish also relies on volunteers for its ministries, which include parish council, peace and justice, cleaning teams, grounds and building maintenance, Legion of Mary, Knights of Columbus, and Children’s Liturgy of the Word.
Duncan, a parishioner since 1978, has volunteered as an usher for decades.
“I’ve seen people get baptized and get married,” he said. “It’s been a nice evolution.”
‘It’s a family’
During his homily, Bishop Knestout drew on the day’s reading from the Gospel of John, in which Jesus answers Pontius Pilate, “You say I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”
“In Jesus’ dialogue with Pontius Pilate, he’s already been betrayed,” Bishop Knestout said. “He doesn’t have the appearance of a king, but he’s talking about a kingdom.”
What, then, is this kingdom?
“It’s a kingdom that embraces and reflects and expresses the truth,” he said.
A parish community is, in its way, a metaphor for the kingdom of God, he said.
“This parish has been a community for 75 years,” Bishop Knestout said.
“It provides us with an immersion into his kingdom,” he said – an “eternal and interior kingdom” of the heart.
After the Mass, parishioners gathered in the school gym for dinner, music, and memories.
Cassandra Goodwyn, a parishioner of Christ the King since 1985, said that her three children went to Christ the King School, and that six of her grandchildren are attending now, in Pre-K through grade 6.
“It’s been a wonderful experience. We have been blessed as a family,” she said.
Her daughter, Leanna Courtenay, said she would not dream of sending her children anywhere else.
“It was a family. We were all so intertwined,” she said. “It was only right to bring them here, where my family is.”
She appreciates the solid foundation her children have received at the school. “You have to have your homework in,” she said, laughing. “But it comes from a place of love.”
All three of her older children have been Peacemakers, a tradition at Christ the King in which students are recognized each month for exhibiting virtues such as acceptance, generosity, kindness, and perseverance.
“I don’t know what I would do without it,” Courtenay said.
Parishioners Elizabeth and Eric Kukanich enjoyed dinner with their three grown children, all home for Thanksgiving.
“There are lots of stories that we laugh about. All the ‘remember-whens,’” Eric Kukanich said.
“There are a lot of memories,” their daughter, Erica Blackstone, agreed – helping with Easter egg hunts, shoveling snow from the church driveway, altar serving, and school days amongst them.
“I always say it’s a family,” she said. “The people are amazing here. It’s a community that stays with you. Everybody loves you, and they tell you that.”