Community Corner

Father Tom Returns to Mount Vernon

A longtime parishioner serves as Good Shepherd's new priest.

For more than 30 years, Father Thomas “Tom” Ferguson has been embedded in the Good Shepherd Catholic Church Community. On Saturday evening, the Church will welcome his leadership in its Rite of Installation.

“I just like coming home,” he said. “That’s the best way to put it. I like coming back to the parish where I grew up, and I like reuniting with old friends that I’ve known for 30 years.”

Born in Woodside, Queens, Ferguson and his family moved to Mount Vernon in 1978. He graduated from Bishop Ireton High School in 1984 and went on to Allentown College in Pennsylvania. He then studied government at UVA for grad school before deciding to attend seminary. He attended seminary at Mount Saint Mary’s College in Maryland and was ordained as a priest in 1994.

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Father Tom served as the priest at St. Bernadette’s in Springfield, St. Luke’s in McLean, and St. Thomas a Becket Church in Reston. He worked in the Bishop’s office at the Diocese of Arlington before starting at Good Shepherd in May. 

Good Shepherd has changed over the last few decades. “First of all, it’s much bigger. When family moved to Good Shepherd in 1978, there were about 500 families, and today there are over 3,000,“ he said.

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Another change is the diversity of the congregation.

“We didn’t even have a mass in Spanish,” he said. “Now we have two Masses a weekend in Spanish.”

There have been many things that have remained the same in more than three decades.

Remarked Father. Tom, “Through all the years it remains a hospitable parish, a vibrant parish, a parish that’s very much oriented towards serving others in the Mount Vernon community.”

He does want to continue to encourage the values of the parish: hospitality, service, and generosity, especially when it comes to welcoming new parishioners and giving them individualized attention in the midst of such a large parish.

“We want to make people feel they are at home even in the midst of the parish community,” said Father Tom. “The challenge would be to make people feel welcome individually and with their family, and I think the parish is aware of that.”

Father Tom is a big sports fan and likes to watch Redskins and Nationals games. He enjoys playing golf in his spare time. 


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