Come Visit Us!
Just Down the Road from the Airport
Down the road from Reagan National Aiport (DCA), Our Lady of Lourdes is peacefully nestled in the historic Aurora Highlands neighborhood. Enjoy our grounds. Having a picnic. Toss a ball in your free time. We're an easy walk from great restaurants and shops around 23rd Street, Crystal City, Pentatgon Row, and Potomac Yards, and area known as National Landing. Check it our here: https://nationallanding.org/. We're walking distance from great restaurants and shops, including places along Glebe Road and the Four Mile Run trail.
Join us for Mass. Stop in to pray. Dind peace in our outdoor and indoor Mary Grottos.
Enjoy our Peace!
A Brief Parish History
Our Lady of Lourdes started in 1927 as a mission of St. Rita’s in Alexandria. Fr. Leonard Koster, pastor of St. Rita, celebrated the mission’s Masses in a parishioner’s home. Eventually, Masses were celebrated at the Fire Station on the corner of 23rd and Eads Streets and later in the Mt. Vernon Theater. The original church was dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes in 1939. It is now the lower level of Parish Hall.
Our Lady of Lourdes was established as a parish by Bishop Peter Ireton, of the Diocese of Richmond, on June 9, 1946, with Fr. Robert Beattie as first Pastor. Most of the block was purchased to build a new church. Fr. Charles Comaskey, the second pastor, started plans in 1954 for a new church and rectory. The current church was built in 1963, and its first Mass was celebrated there on Christmas Eve. It was dedicated on March 7, 1964. In 1970, the rectory was built, and the Lourdes Center was completed as the Parish Hall. The stained-glass windows were added by Msgr. Richard Burke in 1987. In 1999, the Pro-Life Memorial Garden with Stations of the Cross was dedicated by Bishop Paul Loverde.
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 1939
Parish Boundaries