Best Catholic Area in the US?

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CatholicFireman said:
Oh I agree about Woodbridge. Dumfries is doing a big facelift but I personally think it’s lipstick on a pig. :rolleyes: St. Francis is a beautiful church, though. As far as Fairfax and Loudoun…whip out the wallet. Haymarket and Gainesville are OK but to afford to live around there, look to Nokesville/Bristow area. I love the area around Vint Hill Road. It’s still “the country”.
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Well, huh. I eat my words. I just looked on Zillow and Sterling seems to be substantially cheaper than Purcellville and Lovettsville, even though it’s closer to DC. Go figure.
 
CatholicFireman said:
Oh yeah, Montclair. 😛 Not good. Almost bought a dump of a house there once. Now as far as Nokesville and Vint Hill. You’ve heard of the “Green Crescent” (or something like that) haven’t you?
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Green Crescent? No…

And the Montclair I’m thinking of isn’t bad - it’s got some really nice neighborhoods, easy access to 95 and 234 and shopping…way better than Dale City!!!
 
ishnianqueen said:
Well, huh. I eat my words. I just looked on Zillow and Sterling seems to be substantially cheaper than Purcellville and Lovettsville, even though it’s closer to DC. Go figure.
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No worries. The Rural Crescent is what it’s called: pwconserve.org/maps/ruralcrescent.gif

All the pink areas you have to buy 10 acres to build your home on to keep the rural feel of the area. It’s to prevent urban sprawl. 👍

pwconserve.org/issues/landuseplanning/rural_crescent/index.htm
 
ishnianqueen said:
Green Crescent? No…

And the Montclair I’m thinking of isn’t bad - it’s got some really nice neighborhoods, easy access to 95 and 234 and shopping…way better than Dale City!!!
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*Anyplace *is better than Dale City!. LOL
 
ishnianqueen said:
Although, I have to say, Fairfax and Arlington win when it comes to diversity of languages. I can name a Korean and a Vietnamese parish off the top of my head and at least 5 parishes (more if I think about it) that have regular Spanish Masses.
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St. Paul Chung and Holy Martyrs of Vietnam? 😉

There’s much more, too. St. Anthony in Falls Church, in addition to having many English and Spanish Masses, is home parish to the Ghana Catholic Community of the Washington Metro area.

And, of course, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception up in DC has oodles of liturgies, both Latin and Eastern, in a wide variety of languages.

Speaking of Eastern liturgies, let’s not forget those. There are many great Eastern Catholic Churches in the same region. Epiphany of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church is Ruthenian, Holy Transfiguration Greek Catholic Church is Melkite, the Ukrainian National Shrine of the Holy Family and Kidane-Mehret Ge’ez Catholic Church are in nearby DC.
KellyPalmer said:
I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t even know what Fat Tuesday even means.
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Also known as: Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, Mardi Gras, etc. It’s the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. 🙂
 
aspirant said:
Speaking of Eastern liturgies, let’s not forget those. There are many great Eastern Catholic Churches in the same region. Epiphany of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church is Ruthenian, Holy Transfiguration Greek Catholic Church is Melkite, the Ukrainian National Shrine of the Holy Family and Kidane-Mehret Ge’ez Catholic Church are in nearby DC.
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Do we have another Northern Virginian here?! 🙂 w00t. And trust me, I know about the Byzantine churches (St. Mary’s in Manassas is where my aunt goes. Shame the father is how the rite passes or else I’d be Byzantine, too). One of my friends is a Franciscan friar who has a knack for languages and is taking some liturgy classes. He posted recently about an assignment to go to an Eastern liturgy and said, “I’ve already been to a Maronite Liturgy, Chaldean Liturgy, Ruthenian Liturgy, Ukrainian Liturgy, Melkite Liturgy and Syro-Malabar Liturgy so I hope I find something else good in DC metro area. Any suggestions?” Hahahaha. 🙂

Though let’s also not forget that in DC you can hit Masses in Spanish, Vietnamese, and Korean too, as well as Chinese, Italian, French, Lithuanian, Tagalog, Haitian, even ASL at two different ones. Oh, and you can get the gospel choirs because of the larger black population in some of the parishes. I really want to go to one of those, but I am a little bound by naptimes at the moment. 😉
 
KellyPalmer said:
We have XM in the new van but I haven’t been able to find EWTN. Can you tell me what station?
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I have SiriusXM, so hopefully it’s the same, but EWTN radio is Channel 130 and The Catholic Channel is 129. I love them both and switch between stations frequently.

Sorry I’m late to answering your question. I haven’t been online in a few days.
 
Saber_Mom said:
I have SiriusXM, so hopefully it’s the same, but EWTN radio is Channel 130 and The Catholic Channel is 129. I love them both and switch between stations frequently.

Sorry I’m late to answering your question. I haven’t been online in a few days.
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Any more tips? 😃
 
I would not discourage from any of the areas mentioned. There are pockets of strong Catholocism all over the US. I’ve lived in several areas in my life-time and my best experiences have been in Central Ohio. I love the Bishop (Columbus)…our parish…and have great admiration for the other parishes in the area. Catholic Elementary schools have reasonable tuition—>High Schools are rather expensive (similar to most areas in the country). Central Ohio provides easy access to East Coast and deeper Mid-west regions. Know that its parishoners like you and your growing family that make parishes strong—>wherever you decide.
 
Megan7 said:
Any more tips? 😃
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Do you mean like certain programs? If so, that will be hard. I’d love to listen to both stations at the same time, but that would be too confusing. So I pick and choose. My favorites are Dr. Ray Guerendi on EWTN and A Conversation With Timothy Cardinal Dolan on the Catholic Channel. I also love Busted Halo on The Catholic Channel.
 
Saber_Mom said:
I have SiriusXM, so hopefully it’s the same, but EWTN radio is Channel 130 and The Catholic Channel is 129. I love them both and switch between stations frequently.

Sorry I’m late to answering your question. I haven’t been online in a few days.
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Thank you for the reply! I did a little more searching and apparently XM programming is different from Sirius XM and EWTN is not currently being broadcast on XM radio. Booo! I do enjoy the Catholic Channel but the problem I encounter is that it’s a rerun about 75% of the time that I’m listening. It’s not unusual for me to hear the same exact episode 2 or 3 times. Would have loved to have EWTN as another option.
 
viennetto said:
I would say that people who “take fat tuesday very seriously” almost by definition do not take the Catholic faith very seriously.
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Sorry, but I do not buy this. On the contrary, those who do take “Fat Tuesday” seriously realize that the 40 days which will follow will, for many people, being a spiritually (and possibly temporally) trying season. So, it is good to strengthen themselves, give them food for the journey, as well as give them the opportunity to appreciate all the more the good things the Lord has made, before they take their leave of them, or at least the abundance of them, during the Lenten Fast.
 
Another mention of Rome of the West (St. Louis)!

We’ve got 2 basilicas, eastern rites, and the premiere Traditional Latin Mass parish, St. Francis De Sales Oratory!

 
The Diocese of Phoenix is a wonderful place for Catholics. We have a few parishes that offer the TLM. There is also many Eastern Catholics in the area: Ruthenians, Ukrainians,Chaldeans, Maronites,Melkites, and Syro Malabars. We also have the blessing of having a small community of Poor Clares who have a beautiful monastery in the middle of the desert. If you don’t mind the 120 degree summer this is the best place to raise a Catholic family.
 
3 Places that seem to have a good deal going on for Catholics:
  • Tulsa, OK
  • Lincoln, NE
  • Lafayette, LA
All three are also good options on the cost of living front.
 
I’ll tell you where NOT to go - Denver, Colorado.

A beautiful basilica downtown. But many of the parishes might as well be evangelical churches. I mean, guitar masses, priests that act like rock stars or game show hosts. One of the parishes (nearest to me) doesn’t even have pews. They have garden mats - no, I’m not kidding - garden mats that you pick up on your way in (probably from The Home Depot or something) that they use for kneelers in front of metal folding chairs.

It’s Roman Catholic and all. So I always cross myself when I pass by it, which is often. But I also cringe just a tad.

Needless to say, I travel several miles out to a more traditional parish.
 
KellyPalmer said:
Thank you for the reply! I did a little more searching and apparently XM programming is different from Sirius XM and EWTN is not currently being broadcast on XM radio. Booo! I do enjoy the Catholic Channel but the problem I encounter is that it’s a rerun about 75% of the time that I’m listening. It’s not unusual for me to hear the same exact episode 2 or 3 times. Would have loved to have EWTN as another option.
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Hi Kelly, It’s possible that you may have a local EWTN radio affiliate (“regular” radio on the FM/AM bands, not XM/Sirius).

Since you don’t have your location listed, I’ll just post the link to the station list and you can check to see if any are within range for you. They’re in alphabetical order by state:

ewtn.com/radio/amfm.asp

Hope this helps 🙂
 
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