The Fairfax Hospital has a very interesting history.  Up to the mid-1950s, residents of Fairfax County (VA) had to go to Arlington, Alexandria, or Washington D.C. if they needed hospital care, so a few residents met around a kithen table and created a Fairfax County Hospital Commission.  This Commission eventually created the Fairfax Hospital Association (FHA) and assigned Franklin Iams as the administrator of FHA in 1958.  Mr. Iams oversaw the construction of the initial Fairfax Hospital, which ultimately opened in February 1961 with only 96 beds.  Although it started out small, the FHA began to expand the Hospital and developed other hospitals in the Northern Virginia area.  By 1991, they changed their name from FHA to Inova (abbreviation of the word Innovation).

Shortly after the Fairfax Hospital opened in 1961, a new parish (created from several other parishes) was established in 1966 as St. Ambrose Church.  Prior to 1974, all the Catholics and churches in Virginia area fell under the Diocese of Richmond, but on August 13, 1974, Pope Paul VI created a new Diocese of Arlington that covered the northern part of Virginia, including Fairfax County.  Since St. Ambrose was (and still is) the closest church in proximity to Fairfax Hospital, the priests at St. Ambrose were often called to visit sick Catholic patients at Fairfax Hospital. However, as the Fairfax Hospital expanded its buildings and services, the requests for a priest became more demanding, and in 1982, the Bishop appointed the first official full-time Catholic Chaplain for the Fairfax Hospital.

Fr. Paul G. Wynants, CICM (Chaplain 1982-2002)

In 1982, Bishop Thomas Welsh (1974-1983) of the Arlington Diocese appointed Missionhurst priest Father Paul G. Wynants, CICM as the full-time chaplain for Fairfax Hospital.  During his tenure as the full-time chaplain, Fr. Wynants initially lived at St. Ambrose but then moved in 1992 to a Missionhurst community (Mount Tabor) in Vienna, VA, while still being in the hospital 5 days a week and on call 7 nights a week.

While at the hospital, Fr. Wynants organized the various lay Catholic hospital volunteers (to include Eucharistic Ministers – EMHC), calling this group “The Cyreneans” with the motto of “What can I do for you?”  He wanted everyone to understand that the mission of this hospital ministry was not just to deliver the Holy Eucharist to patients, but rather to be a “Ministry of Presence.”  To emphasize this ministry, Father established regular Masses on First Fridays, Holy Days of Obligations and Saturday vigil Mass for the staff, patients and family members who were at the hospital.  He also distributed ashes on Ash Wednesday in which other faith groups participated and embraced this Catholic tradition, and organized the Cyreneans to give gifts to patients on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, which included distributing Advent and Lenten booklets.

He met with the Cyreneans every First Friday after the mass, and gave monthly talks on spirituality with regards to hospital ministry.  He also produced a monthly Newsletter called “Always in All Ways,” updating and uplifting the spirits of the Catholic volunteers, as well as the staff, patients, and their family at the hospital.  He also worked with the hospital’s Chaplaincy Office (now called the Spiritual Pastoral Care Service), to develop a spirit of community and family among all the volunteers and chaplains of all faith denominations, by having everyone pray together before everyone started their visits.  For the Catholic lay volunteers, Fr. Wynants created an organizational chart for these volunteers, which defined the ministry and outlined who the volunteers are and what they should do in accordance with the Rules and Policies of the Fairfax Hospital, in relation to the Catholic faith and beliefs.

Overall, Fr. Wynants’ presence and his work in the hospital over all those years highlighted the Catholic Hospital Ministry to the point where the Fairfax Hospital now views the Catholic Ministry as an invaluable and critical part of their Chaplaincy/Spiritual Pastoral Care department.  People would often comment that “When we see Fr. Paul walking down the corridor, we see Jesus walking.”

Whenever Fr. Wynants was on leave or unable to get to the hospital, the other priests at St. Ambrose would fill in for him.  In early 2001, Bishop Paul Loverde asked the Sisters of Our Lady of La Salette (whose convent is at St. Michael’s Church in Annandale) to help Fr. Wynants at the Diocesan Hospital Ministry.  Sister Maria Josephine S. Valenton, SNDS (better known as Sister Marijo) was named as the Catholic Assistant Chaplain and was sent to work at the hospital with Fr. Wynants. Sr. Marijo is originally from the Philippines and had three Units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE).

Unfortunately, in 2002, Fr. Wynants had a stroke but was able to continue his ministry in the hospital on a part-time basis until 2005. While he was recovering, Sr. Marijo assumed the responsibility to keep the Catholic Lay Volunteers running smoothly, looking for priests to help in the sacramental needs of the ministry, and kept the ministry going until the Diocese sent another priest to help Fr. Wynants.  Due to her hard work and dedicated service, the Catholic ministry in the hospital was not interrupted and everybody in the Catholic community (the Cyreneans) became stronger and more committed to keep the Catholic “Ministry of Presence” going.  Sr. Marijo served in the hospital ministry of the Diocese full time from 2001-2015.

By 2005, Fr. Wynants left the hospital at 80 years old, and became the spiritual director at the Mount Tabor Community until his death in 2015.

Fr. Daniel S. Spychala (Chaplain 2002-2006)

Following Fr. Wynants’ stroke, Bishop Paul Loverde (1999-2016) moved Father Daniel S. Spychala in 2002 from St. Philip’s Church in Falls Church to St. Ambrose in Annandale to help Fr. Wynants as an Assistant Catholic Chaplain at the Fairfax Hospital.  During his tenure at the hospital (2002-2006), Fr. Spychala worked with Sr. Marijo to help cover for those times when Fr. Wynants couldn’t be at the hospital.  After Fr. Wynants left the Hospital Ministry, Fr. Spychala was re-assigned in 2006 to St. Lawrence Parish as parochial vicar, and then in 2021, he worked full-time at the Diocesan Tribunal.  In 2024, Fr. Spychala retired from active priestly duties and lives in a private residence within the Diocese.

Fr. Charles Merkle III (Chaplain 2006-2015)

In 2006, Bishop Paul Loverde appointed Father Charles Merkle III as the next Chaplain for Fairfax Hospital, and he resided at St. Ambrose during his tenure (2006-2015), where other priests at St. Ambrose filled in for him at the hospital whenever he was unavailable for various reasons.  He worked closely with Sr. Marijo and the other lay Catholic volunteers (Cyreneans) to continue all the programs that Fr. Paul Wynants had created, which included taking care of the spiritual needs of the Cyreneans.  Later, with the help of Sr. Marijo and two volunteers (Mary Lee Payton and Jack Finnerty Sr.), Fr. Merkle updated the Catholic organizational chart and policies, which was approved by the Fairfax Hospital Chaplaincy Director (Phil Brooks).

After 9 years of dedicated service at the hospital, Fr. Merkle was re-assigned in 2015 to the Church of Corpus Christi in South Riding.  Recently, in 2023, he was appointed to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Lake Ridge, where he currently serves as a parochial vicar.

Sr. Marijo was also reassigned by her order to serve the Sisters of Our Lady of La Salette Congregation full-time in their General Council (2010-2016) and in their Ministry of Peace and Reconciliation in the Diocese of Coutances-Avranches in Normandy, France (2016 – 2019).  Upon her return to Arlington, she now serves in the Pastoral Outreach Program of the Cathedral of St. Thomas More.  Therefore, in 2015, another member of her congregation – Sister Leonida (Nida) E. Eguilos, SNDS – was elected to take over as the assistant chaplain in the Catholic Hospital Ministry.  Sr. Nida, also from the Philippines, had completed one unit of the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and as of 2024, is still working at Fairfax Hospital from Monday-Friday.

Fr. Stefan P. Starzynski (Chaplain 2015-2023)

By the time that Father Stefan Starzynski was appointed as Chaplain to Inova Fairfax Hospital (2015-2023), the hospital had become the largest hospital in the Commonwealth of Virginia, which required the full-time Catholic chaplain to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  This increased demand made it very difficult for the priests at St. Ambrose to “fill in” for the Chaplain when he was unavailable, so the Diocese appointed a second priest to be the Assistant Chaplain (part-time) who would be at the hospital whenever the primary (full-time) Chaplain was on leave or was sick and could not enter the hospital.  From 2015-2016, Fr. Michael Duesterhaus was this part-time Assistant Chaplain, but was shortly succeeded by Fr. Justin Puthussery, who served as Assistant Chaplain from 2016-2019.  In 2019, Fr. Sunny Joseph was appointed as Assistant Chaplain and as of 2024, he still serves at the hospital on Monday/Tuesday (and other days as needed), while spending the rest of his week as a parochial vicar at St. Timothy’s Church in Chantilly, VA.

Shortly after Fr. Stefan was appointed as Chaplain, he had a volunteer who helped him organize the Ministry’s budget and bring it into compliance with the Diocesan policies and procedures.  They also began to gather inspirational and educational documents or prayer booklets that Fr. Stefan would hand out to patients at the hospital.  However, this “job” started to become time-consuming for the volunteer, so after several years, the Diocese agreed to hire a part-time assistant and bookkeeper for the Hospital Ministry (Clare Haislmaier Frasca) in 2019.

Even before Fr. Stefan was ordained in 1996, he had a love for the sick and suffering.  In fact, the very first sacrament that he administered as a priest was Anointing of the Sick.  On the day of his ordination, a friend asked him to visit a patient at Fairfax Hospital who was very sick, and following Fr. Stefan’s visit, this person was healed.  Fr. Stefan viewed the hospital as his “parish” and his “parishioners” included the patients, their families and friends, healthcare workers (doctors, nurses, etc.), and other staff members.  His vision was to help all the sick – those who suffer in and out of the hospital – see themselves as vital and essential members of the Body of Christ.  In addition to administering the sacraments, Fr. Stefan was there to give hope to patients, counsel health-care workers, educate people about the Faith, and manage the other Catholic chaplains and volunteers who helped at the hospital.

At the hospital, the Catholic chaplains are considered “volunteers” but during the Covid pandemic in 2020-2021, Fr. Stefan and Fr. Sunny were treated as essential staff members and they continued to be there for patients and staff who felt isolated.  Throughout that difficult time, Fr. Stefan did not get sick and was able to still visit patients, even with the new restrictions – in many cases, he was the only visitor they could receive and for those who were actively dying, Father would include the family via Facetime on his phone.

Initially, with the help of volunteers and mostly free materials, he created a prayer packet (or folder) that he would give to many patients that he visited.  Even after Fr. Stefan left the hospital after 8 years, people continue to tell him that they still have those folders.  Over the years that he served as Chaplain, this prayer folder evolved and become more focused, and Fr. Stefan greatest desire is to see these folders used at all hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and even home care throughout the Arlington Diocese and even beyond.

He saw these prayer folders as a way to extend his visit even after he has left the room, and he hoped that it can serve as a source of comfort, strength and inspiration.  He has seen many patients return to the faith in the hospital, and he wanted them to have material to take home which would keep the faith alive. Others are suffering but have never learned of its redemptive value, and he saw this folder as a way for them to understand and experience this. Still others feel abandoned and lost; some have attempted suicide; others have just lost a child or other loved family member; many are terminally ill; and there are those who have just received a new lease on life. All of these patients need grace-filled readings and prayers, and these prayer folders are a wonderful opportunity to bring the love, comfort and the beauty of the faith to those in need of hope.

He knew that when we learn to help the sick offer up their suffering for the good of the Church, we will see many graces and blessing flowing down on the Church from Jesus.  In many ways, God’s suffering children are the Church’s most powerful army, and their suffering is precious and needed for the Church.  Venerable Fulton Sheen once said, “Think of how much suffering there is in hospitals, among the poor and the bereaved. Think also of how much of that suffering goes to waste.”  It’s true that hospitals – and other locations that take care of the sick and suffering – are gold mines of untapped grace.

As Pope Francis said: “The thing the Church needs most today in the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful. I see the Church as a field hospital after battle. … You have to heal the wounds, and you have to start from the ground up.”  By starting in Inova Fairfax Hospital but hopefully expanding to other institutions, we can begin to heal those wounds through our “Ministry of Presence” and prayer folders/booklets.  We pray that these materials may enrich the existing faith in some, develop a newly-found relationship with God in others, and give a purpose of suffering to all.