Letter From The Pastor

Pastor's Letter

Welcome to the website of Saint Thomas Aquinas University Parish in Charlottesville, VA! Saint Thomas Aquinas Church serves the needs of Catholics at the University of Virginia, whether students, faculty or staff, and we are located right on the edge of the beautiful Grounds of the University of Virginia, within easy walking distance of the dormitories (see map).

However, we are much more than just the “Catholic campus ministry” at UVA – as you browse this website, you will see that we are a full-service parish: with six Sunday Masses, two weekday Masses, a very active religious education program for all age groups, youth ministry, undergraduate ministry, young adult ministry, and all the various programs and services that one can expect in a parish this size.

St Thomas Aquinas University Parish has been under the pastoral care of the Dominican Friars of the Province of St Joseph since the parish’s foundation in 1963. The Dominicans arrived in Charlottesville four years earlier, in 1959, to minister to the needs of the growing Catholic population at the University. Bishop John Russell of Richmond established St Thomas Aquinas University Parish as a personal parish (non-territorial), unique in the Diocese, and in the intervening years, the parish has continued to grow and flourish, to the point that St Thomas Aquinas is now the largest parish, by far, in our region of the Diocese of Richmond.

The original church building on the property served the needs of the parish from the mid-sixties to 1995, when the current church was built. From 1995 until 2002, the original church served as the parish hall and meeting space. In the summer of 2002, the original building was torn down (see pictures) to make way for the beautiful new Parish Center, which was completed in the Spring of 2004, providing office space, classrooms for religious education, spacious kitchen facilities, an undergraduate student center, and a social hall for parish gatherings, along with a Chapel for small-group Masses and personal prayer.

As you browse our website, if there is some information you can’t find, please don’t hesitate to call us during regular business hours, M-F, 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM (Eastern), at 434-293-8081.