Father Hathaway’s Column — June 29, 2025
This weekend, our new parochial vicar, Father John Meyerhofer, will celebrate his first Sunday Mass at the Basilica. Please keep him in your prayers as he begins his priestly ministry with us. I’ll let him introduce himself.
I am one of the 12 men who were blessed to be ordained priests by Bishop Burbidge on June 7. It has already been amazing to be a priest, and I’m looking forward to serving the people of the Basilica of Saint Mary.
As an introduction to the parish, here is a little bit about myself: I was born and raised in Leesburg, where my parents still live. I am the third of four children, so I have two sisters and a brother, whom I look up to very much.
I learned a lot about the Catholic faith my whole life, but it wasn’t until after college that I really began to have a personal relationship with Jesus. I graduated from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in 2016, with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.
I then began graduate studies in plastics at the University of Akron, Ohio. It was there that I found a really excellent Newman Center that helped me grow in the faith. The people there were on fire for Christ, and I wanted what they had. From them, I learned how to better turn to Jesus in prayer and began to go to adoration and daily Mass. That was when the desire to be a priest, which had been a recurring question in my mind, resurfaced. My newfound love for Jesus gave me the courage to finally accept the desire that God had put on my heart.
Looking back on the past six years of seminary studies, I can truly say that God has been good to me the whole time. I was blessed with some very good professors and the example of holy priests who demonstrated, by their example, what priestly fatherhood and service can look like. I feel very blessed to have become part of the priestly fraternity of this great Diocese of Arlington. And, I’m excited to become a part of this basilica parish!
Father Meyerhofer