[Magdalen] Update (was Prayer request)

[Grace Cangialosi]

Oh, that's the same church! I read the historical marker the day I saw the church, but it didn't appear that the church was being used anymore. That would have been more than ten years ago...
I'd forgotten you were in that area.

> On Jan 7, 2015, at 4:55 AM, Kristin Rollins <kristin at verumsolum.com> wrote:
> 
> This is in Virginia Beach, on Witchduck Road, just east of Independence
> Blvd. The origin of the name appears to be pretty simple. The land for
> the church was donated...and eventually it was an old church (the first
> use of the phrase, according to a history linked from their web site was
> from the 1820s). Old Donation was the first church in Virginia Beach,
> and in 2012 celebrated their 375th anniversary with a visit from the
> Presiding Bishop.
> 
> One of the links to that past is the baptismal font, which is a very
> heavy thing that was from the original 17th-century church building. It
> was apparently recovered in the early 20th century from the bottom of
> the Lynnhaven River. To quote a parish history linked from their web
> site: "Broken places remain from the time it served as a boat anchor in
> the river. There is great symbolism in a baptismal font going under the
> waters and raised to provide new life!"
> 
> Nowadays, it is a very active parish, with four services each Sunday
> morning, three in the historic church and one in the parish hall  (8:00,
> 9:15, and two simultaneous services at 10:30). And they are busy through
> the week as well. It is the largest parish I have ever attended. I
> visited there several times when I was down to see Heather, and we
> continued to attend until after I took the job in Portsmouth. In fact,
> the last time I was at the Sunday 10:30 service in the historic church
> would have been for the blessing of our marriage...it was only a week or
> two after I started playing for St John's, because I remember needing to
> arrange that Sunday off when I began to work there.
> 
> -- 
>  Kristin Rollins
>  kristin at verumsolum.com
>  Portsmouth, VA
> 
>> On Tue, Jan 6, 2015, at 11:57 PM, Grace Cangialosi wrote:
>> "Old Donation"??  I passed a church with that name once a few years ago
>> somewhere in Virginia, I think. Strangest church name I've ever heard!
>> Only in VA, I thought, where there is also the Robert E. Lee Memorial
>> Chapel, also known to the locals as "St. Bobby's"
>> Where is your Old Donation Church, Kristin?
>