Ordinariate Evensong Evangelizes Shenandoah Valley's Staunton this Sunday in Advent

Lay Catholics continue to take up the mandate of missionary discipleship, and the Ordinariate’s Anglican patrimony is helping them evangelize. And on this fourth Sunday in Advent, look no further than the Evensong organized in the college town of Staunton, Virginia, located in Virginia's scenic Shenandoah Valley.

Karen and Jeffrey Adams are both former Anglicans, now Catholics, who have organized a 5:30 p.m. Evensong on December 19, the Fourth Sunday of Advent, at St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Staunton, Virginia. A reception will be held afterward.

Staunton is right off the I-81 interstate highway, and home to Mary Baldwin University, Bridgewater College, and the Blue Ridge Community College. Sharing the Gospel in a mission field, including to university students, is nothing new for the Adamses.

Both Adamses came into full communion with the Catholic Church back in 2007, in Mukono, Uganda, while serving as missionaries at Uganda Christian University from 2004-2008. Jeffrey Adams, was formerly an Anglican priest who had served as a university chaplain. The husband and wife settled in Staunton after their return to the U.S.

In this email interview with the ACS, both Jeffrey and Karen Adams discuss the upcoming Evensong, their own evangelization efforts, and the great potential of the Ordinariate’s liturgy to help Anglicans, Evangelicals, and other Protestants fully embrace the Catholic faith.


So what is planned for the Evensong you're putting together in Staunton, Virginia?
We will be singing Second Evensong for the 4th Sunday of Advent from the Ordinariate’s Divine Worship: Daily Office. It will be held at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, which is our parish church here in Staunton, Virginia and led by our schola, several members of which are former Anglicans themselves. Our pastor, Father Matthias Lusembo, has graciously allowed this lay-led initiative.

How did this idea for having an Evensong at your parish church come about?
We have always tried to be sensitive to opportunities to introduce Anglicans to the Church and, in particular, the Divine Worship liturgies. In the past couple of years, we have crossed paths with a large number of Anglicans who are very open to the claims of the Church. As former Anglicans ourselves, we know how powerful the draw of the Anglican liturgy is and saw this Evensong service as an opportunity to introduce our friends, both Catholic and Protestant, to the liturgical riches that the Church rightfully has repossessed. 

Do you see a lot of potential for the Ordinariate to evangelize people, and bring Protestants into full communion with the Catholic Church, in your part of Virginia? 
We do. There are very many Protestants, both Evangelical and Anglican, who are yearning for Catholic truth, whether they know it or not, and for beautiful liturgy. For some, Anglicanism has been a starting point on a journey to Catholicism, God-willing. For others who started elsewhere, Anglicanism may be a way station. Unfortunately, the closest Ordinariate parish is St. Luke’s in Ft. Washington, MD (where, incidentally, our daughter and son-in-law attend). Accordingly, we believe that efforts like ours are needed to fill that void. And for those who are outside of Christianity entirely, the worship of the Lord in the beauty of holiness is inherently attractive to anyone who is aware of his or her spiritual hunger.  

What do you hope comes out of this event? What would be your next steps depending on how it goes?
We don’t have any fixed or specific expectations. It will be enough to hear the Collect for the 4th Sunday of Advent and the Magnificat sung by the Vesper light. However, if there is enough interest, we would certainly be open to continuing to say the Office or even forming some sort of community within the Ordinariate. We also may be able to ask an Ordinariate priest to come and say Mass from the Divine Worship missal at some point. Ultimately, when thinking about evangelism, the best thing we can do is to emulate St. Andrew and, quite literally, bring people to Jesus.

The Sunday Evensong for the Fourth Sunday of Advent is December 19, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. in St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 118 N. New Street, Staunton, Virginia. The reception will be held in Assisi Hall.

Peter Jesserer Smith is the vice president for the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society.