Father Brian Rafferty, founding pastor of Ellicott City parish and advocate for social justice, dies at 84

Father Brian Rafferty, the founding pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Ellicott City who later shepherded Our Lady of the Chesapeake in Lake Shore for 25 years, died on Christmas Eve after an extended illness. He was 84.

A priest for nearly 60 years, Father Rafferty was known for his welcoming and outgoing spirit, his love of the priesthood, his commitment to social justice and his challenging homilies.

“You never forget meeting Raff,” said Father Josh Laws, pastor of the Catholic Community of South Baltimore, who will be the homilist at Father Rafferty’s Dec. 30 funeral Mass. “He was one of a kind. He had a huge personality.”

Forming community was one of the most important contributions he made to the newly-formed Resurrection parish, said Ruth Puls, director of mission and evangelization at the Catholic Community of St. Francis Xavier in Hunt Valley. Puls, who first met Father Rafferty when she was a teenager at Resurrection, later served as the parish’s pastoral associate.

His contributions to the parish and the church are manifold, she added. “He always challenged people to think.”

Tim Janiszewski, Our Lady of the Chesapeake’s longtime youth minister, remembered that Father Rafferty’s mantra was “think, think, think.”

“He wanted his congregation to be thinking Catholics,” he said. “He used to ask why you were doing something. It makes you own your faith.”

Brian Rafferty was born July 22, 1937, the son of Bernard and Jane Rafferty. He once said the priests of his childhood parish, St. Bernardine in West Baltimore, inspired his priestly vocation.

He attended St. Charles College High School in Baltimore and St. Mary’s College Seminary on Paca Street in Baltimore. He also studied at the North American College in Rome. He was ordained Dec. 19, 1962 in Rome.

His first assignment took him to Immaculate Conception in Towson and that was followed by ministry at Our Lady of Hope in Dundalk.

When Resurrection became an independent parish in 1974, Father Rafferty was named its first pastor. He moved to Our Lady of the Chesapeake in 1992 and remained there until his retirement in 2017.

But he didn’t retire. As he told the Catholic Review in 2017, “I am having too much fun.”

He continued to minister at Christ the King in Glen Burnie until the restrictions of COVID-19, according to Father Laws.

Father Laws noted that Father Rafferty looked forward to his move to Charlestown Retirement Community earlier this year.

“He said what he was looking forward to most at Charlestown was shopping for other people who couldn’t get out,” Father Laws said. “He looked at it as his new parish.”

Father Rafferty, who was often called “Father Raff,” was known for his concern for social justice. He joined the March on Washington, led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in 1963. Later he served as chairman of the archdiocesan Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

He was a proponent of lay leadership. At both Resurrection and Our Lady of the Chesapeake, he encouraged lay men and women to take responsibility for parish finances, social justice and charitable events.

“He wanted to empower the people to take ownership for their church,” said Janiszewski, recalling how Father Rafferty encouraged young people to join the regular choir, and serve as ushers and lectors.

“He was the church of ‘yes’ when it came to visiting people in hospitals or helping them navigate difficult circumstances ” Puls said. For instance, he helped families who wanted their children to go to Catholic school, and guided interfaith couples preparing for marriage. “He was willing to hear their story and he was willing to help them out.”

Puls remembered that her friend called the priesthood the greatest fraternity in the world. She said he wrote letters to transitional deacons before their ordination to the priesthood, as well as to priests choosing to leave their ministry. One recipient of these letters was Father Laws, who became a close friend after receiving his card.

“His humor, genuine goodness, and love for people told me I really wanted to know this guy,” Father Laws said.

Mary Sapeta Helfrich, a parishioner of St. Louis in Clarksville, and chief advancement officer for St. Vincent de Paul Baltimore, a charitable outreach agency, remembered Father Rafferty’s friendly spirit from her childhood at Our Lady of Hope. A student at the school there, Helfrich recalled how the priest would sit with the girls in the cafeteria, and played dodgeball in the parking lot.

“He was a fun priest,” she said, noting that she later worked with him as an adult on various archdiocesan committees.

“He was opinionated,” she said. “I respect him for that.”

Alice Appleby, Resurrection’s parish secretary, still remembers how Father Rafferty welcomed her family when they were new parishioners in 1975. He called them over to introduce himself, knowing he didn’t recognize them.

“Things like that stick with you,” she said. “He was so outgoing and welcoming that people wanted to come here.”

Father Rafferty asked her to be the parish secretary in 1986. “He was just an extraordinary person to work for,” said Appleby, whose four children and four grandchildren all attended the parish school.

At various points in his life, Father Rafferty struggled with alcoholism – a fact he openly shared with others. In a 2017 interview with the Catholic Review, the recovering alcoholic said there were three times he took leave from archdiocesan assignments to seek treatment.

“The archdiocese has been very good to me,” he told the Review. “Cardinal (William H.) Keeler let me come back here after the third time (in 1999).

“Young people in their 20s and 30s come in, they’re so down on themselves. I was in my early 60s when I had the guts to say, ‘I can’t handle this.’ I stop and thank the Lord, how Jesus entered my life and has been with me every step of the way.”

While at Our Lady of Chesapeake, Father Rafferty took advantage of its proximity to the Magothy River to go kayaking. The son of a man who was in the tugboat shipping business told the Review in a 2008 interview that he found peace on the water.

“I tell you, in a kayak, you see the world from a totally different angle,” Father Rafferty said. “You can go under piers. It’s almost like a religious experience because it gives you a great time to reflect. I just love it.”

Father Rafferty’s death, noted in a Facebook post at Our Lady of the Chesapeake, prompted more than 200 comments, full of gratitude and affection.

“Thank you for making church a welcoming and comfortable place for all,” wrote an early poster.

“You showed us that our challenges were manageable and we were good people. You were forgiving and accepting of all,” wrote another.

George Matysek Jr. contributed to this story.

Reception of Father Rafferty’s body, officiated by Bishop Denis Madden, is set for noon Dec. 30, at Our Lady of the Chesapeake Church, 8325 Ventnor Road, Pasadena. Father Rafferty will lie in repose at the church until 5 p.m. All visitors are asked to wear a face mask.

The Mass of Christian Burial, with Archbishop William E. Lori as celebrant, will begin at 7 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Our Lady of the Chesapeake.

Also see:

Reflecting on 55 years as a priest, Father Rafferty says God ‘works in crazy ways’

Kayaking helps keep priest afloat

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