St. Benedict Catholic Church rises in the Museum District on the near West End of Richmond, Virginia, a short walk from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Founded in 1911 to minister to German-American Catholics migrating west from downtown, the parish today is best known for its cruciform Roman basilica, its reverent liturgy, the Pasi pipe organ that fills the nave, and an Oktoberfest that brings 40,000 people to the parish grounds each September. After nearly nine decades under Benedictine monks, Saint Benedict's is now a diocesan parish of the Diocese of Richmond while retaining the Benedictine motto that has guided its work for more than a century.
The Benedictines and a Century of Catholic Education
The parish began with an agreement between Bishop Augustine Van de Vyver, the sixth bishop of Richmond, and Bishop Leo Haid, O.S.B., the vicar apostolic and territorial abbot of North Carolina. Under that arrangement the Benedictine monks would open a high school for boys and run an attached parish in what is today the Museum District. After the parish and an all-boys high school called Benedictine College were established, an elementary school (Saint Benedict, 1919) and a high school for girls (Saint Gertrude, 1922) followed, and the Benedictine monks and sisters built a community that educated generations of Catholics and non-Catholics in Richmond.
The parish grew along with the West End through the middle of the twentieth century. Vatican Council II brought worship changes in the 1970s and 1980s that the parish worked through with both support and resistance. In 1989 the monks of Saint Benedict Priory formed an independent abbey, Mary, Mother of the Church, and most of the monks moved to a new monastery in Goochland County in 1994. Declining monastic vocations led the monks to cede care of the parish to the diocese in 1999, and Saint Benedict's emerged in a new era as a more traditional parish drawing members from across central Virginia. Today Saint Benedict School stands out for its Catholic identity and its classical curriculum, and the parish is led by Father John David Ramsey, Pastor, with Deacon Ed Owen, Jr. assisting.
The Church on North Sheppard Street
The front door of the church opens at 300 North Sheppard Street. Inside, the building has the classical shape of a Roman basilica: a nave (from the Latin navis, ship) leading to an apse, intersected by a transept so that the whole structure is cruciform. Bishop Andrew Brennan, the eighth bishop of Richmond, dedicated the building on August 28, 1929, two months before the stock market crash. It is one of the most beautiful churches in the diocese.
The façade carries a large rose window with Christ at the center and the Twelve Apostles radiating outward. Below it stands a statue of St. Benedict flanked by the missionary disciples St. Marus and St. Placidus, with the Benedictine order's motto inscribed beneath: ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus, “that in all things God may be glorified.” Inside, a marble bas-relief of the Last Supper forms the reredos behind the altar, with the tabernacle at its center. The ambo is carved with two scenes, Abraham offering hospitality to the angels and the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to highlight the unity of the Old and New Testaments. A sanctuary mural depicts the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, St. Benedict, and the Latin Doctors of the Church: St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great, St. Jerome, and St. Ambrose. Four side chapels are dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. Scholastica, and Christ the King. The baptistery sits near the entrance, with its own paschal candle, stained glass, and mural of the Holy Spirit, and transoms above the side doors depict scenes from the Sacrament of Penance.
Mass, Confession and Adoration
The weekly Mass schedule makes Saint Benedict a daily Mass parish. Vigil Mass is celebrated on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Sunday Masses are at 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Weekday Masses are at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with an 8:30 a.m. Mass on Friday and an additional 5:30 p.m. Mass on First Fridays. The Sacrament of Penance is offered four times each week, on Saturday from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m., Wednesday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., and Thursday from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., with communal celebrations of the sacrament each Advent and Lent.
Eucharistic Adoration follows the 5:30 p.m. Mass every Thursday from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., with confessions heard at the same time. On First Fridays the Blessed Sacrament is exposed at 6:00 p.m. and remains throughout the night, concluding with Benediction at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, a devotion tied to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The church is open for private prayer Tuesday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Monday and Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
A Program of Music and the Pasi Organ
Music is integral to the parish's reverent worship. Joel S. Kumro serves as Choirmaster and Organist and oversees the entire choral program. The Parish Choir, which sings primarily at the 11:00 a.m. Sunday Mass and at select feast days from October through June, rehearses on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings. The Youth Choir welcomes children in grades 2 through 8 and sings approximately once a month at parish Masses and on select feasts, with rehearsals most Tuesdays. The Festival Choir gathers for occasional feasts throughout the year with minimal commitment, and a cantor program leads the Responsorial Psalm and other chants at weekend Masses.
The parish's principal instrument, Opus 5 by Pasi Organ Builders, was built in 1996 and relocated to the church from the Pacific Northwest in 2013. A two-manual mechanical-action organ of 24 stops, Opus 5 is housed in a polychromed case modeled on famous Dutch organs of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with carved pipe shades covered in gold leaf. A Zimbelstern stop, added in 2017, rotates a gilded wooden star and rings five small bells cast by the B.A. Sunderlin Bellfoundry in Ruther Glen. The organ is used at Mass and at concerts sponsored by groups including the American Guild of Organists, and the Saint Benedict Music Series brings periodic concerts of sacred music to the church as a means of evangelization.
Family Faith Formation and Youth Ministry
Faith formation begins with Family Faith Formation, a twice-monthly program for families with children ages 2 through 9, whether their children are enrolled in public school, Catholic school, or home school. Children meet with a catechist while parents gather in small groups to discuss a theological topic tied to what their children are learning. Children under three and a half who are not potty trained are accompanied by a parent to their session. Ben Fleser, Director of Evangelization and Catechesis, coordinates the program along with Trevor Hamilton, Associate Director of Evangelization and Catechesis.
Older students follow a separate track. First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion are received in the second grade, after a child is at least seven years old, and require attendance at either religious education classes or a Catholic school along with parent sessions in the fall and spring. Confirmation preparation is open to those at least fifteen years old and in the tenth grade, with the parish hosting a series of preparation meetings and a diocesan Confirmation retreat each fall. For older youth, Middle School Youth Group (grades 5 to 8) meets on alternating Tuesdays, and High School Youth Group (grades 9 to 12) gathers on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8:15 p.m. in St. Anselm Hall, with the shared aim of forming young people as disciples through prayer, community, and service.
Men's and Women's Groups, Young Adults
A network of small groups sustains adult formation at Saint Benedict. The Knights of Columbus at the parish belong to the Father William J. Nolte Council and meet on the third Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in the Parish Center. Cor, a men's small group rooted in the Paradisus Dei program, gathers on the fourth Thursday of the month at 7:30 p.m. for prayer, formation, and fraternity. That Man is You, an early-morning men's program using talks from Catholic presenters and directed discussion, meets on Saturdays at 7:00 a.m. in the school basement.
Endow, a women's study group, meets on the second Monday of each month from September through the spring in the parish library. The Lilies of the Holy Trinity Women's Society invites women of the parish eighteen and older to meet on the second Sunday of each month for food, fellowship, and discussion of parish activities. The Moms Group brings Catholic mothers together on Wednesday mornings and other days for playground play dates and outings hosted by Saint Benedict School. Two young adult groups, one for women meeting on the third Tuesday and one for men meeting on the third Monday, both gather in the Parish Center.
Service to Others
Outreach flows through several long-standing ministries. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul conference at Saint Benedict's, known locally as SVDP RVA, offers compassionate human services to neighbors in need. The Works of Mercy Committee, established by Father John David, organizes initiatives including the Annual Blessing Bag event for the homeless, charitable donation drives, mission trips, and volunteer opportunities with groups such as St. Francis - Manchester. The Baptismal Blanket Ministry relies on volunteer knitters and crocheters who produce baby blankets given as gifts to the children baptized in the parish. The Hospitality Committee plans parish events throughout the year as a way to welcome new parishioners.
Children, youth, and adults alike are encouraged to take part, and the parish points interested members of the community to the appropriate staff and ministry leaders for each effort. Financial support of the parish is possible through weekly envelopes, online E-Giving, gifts of appreciated securities, and planned giving. The Saint Benedict parish subscription to FORMED, a Catholic streaming platform, gives parishioners free access to Bible studies, children's faith programs, and family-friendly films through a sign-up page that uses the parish zip code 23221.
Oktoberfest: A Parish Tradition
Each September the parish hosts a three-day Oktoberfest patterned on the original in Munich that honors the German heritage at the roots of the parish and raises tens of thousands of dollars for Catholic education. Drawing around 40,000 visitors, the festival includes a Christkindlmarkt and is organized through volunteer and sponsorship committees that begin meeting well before the weekend. The fundraiser supports tuition assistance at Saint Benedict School and other parish education programs, and it remains one of the most visible expressions of Saint Benedict's identity in the city of Richmond.
The Sacraments and Becoming Catholic
The parish prepares members for all seven sacraments of the Catholic Church: Baptism (offered about once a month, with Father John David or Deacon Ed presiding), First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion (in second grade), Confirmation (in tenth grade), the Anointing of the Sick (available to any seriously ill parishioner, with arrangements also possible for home visits), and Marriage (which requires about six months of preparation before a wedding date can be set). Catholics who wish to learn more about entering the Church are invited into OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, with the three sacraments of initiation normally celebrated at Easter.
Staffing and volunteer contacts are organized through the Parish Center, the three-story building attached to the church, and through the school office. The parish office can be reached at (804) 254-8810, with an emergency line at (804) 254-0887 outside of regular hours. Those wishing to register as parishioners can download a form and return it to the office; updates to existing registrations are handled the same way, and a Flocknote email list keeps parishioners informed of Mass times, events, and parish news throughout the year.