Father Demek retires after nearly 50 years as a priest

For Father Martin H. Demek, celebrating the sacraments is the best part of being a priest. 

“I like celebrating the Eucharist and bringing the Body and Blood of Christ to people and breaking open the Word of God. Most weekends, I get complimented on my homilies. And that tells me I must be doing something right. But being able to give the Eucharist to the people is just a blessing.” 

And it’s not just celebrating Mass and consecrating the Eucharist, but all the sacraments. According to Deacon Andrew Lacovara, who served with Father Demek at Corpus Christi Parish in Baltimore, “He loves being a priest. He’s really down to earth, especially when you get him in sort of liturgical or sacramental settings; you get real joy out of him and you see that certainly at baptisms, and he does a lot of weddings. Even at funerals, he really settles in and is a comforting presence.”

Father Demek, 75, has served as pastor of Corpus Christi in Bolton Hill since 2010. He lives near the church – in an apartment the deacon’s wife, a real estate agent, helped him find. The Lacovaras live nearby too, so the priest has become close to the family, to the point of celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with them. 

“He’s more than happy to just be with the people,” Deacon Lacovara said.

Father Demek was inspired to become a priest by a seminarian from his home parish, Holy Cross in South Baltimore. “My father ran the altar servers when I was a kid back in the ’50s and so I was an altar server from second grade on.” He was an altar server at the seminarian’s first Mass after ordination.

“I think that seeing that person – whom I had known his family, they were part of our parish, I knew him – that’s what I wanted, so I pursued that path,” Father Demek said.

He attended seminary at St. Charles College in Baltimore and then in Rome at the Pontifical North American College and Gregorian University. He served a stint as a deacon at the cathedral in Liverpool, England, where a priest served as a mentor.

“He was an Anglican, became Catholic, and it was a wonderful experience,” Father Demek said, noting that Liverpool reminded him very much of Baltimore because it was a port city, had “lots of immigrants,” and poor and rich.  

“So, then I came home. And I’ve been blessed; every parish that I’ve been in, I enjoyed the people, I enjoyed the church, I enjoyed the area,” Father Demek said.

Because he finished his theology training in Rome, he was not ordained with the rest of those ordained in Baltimore the same year, instead being ordained by Archbishop William D. Borders by himself at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in August 1975.

He has served as associate pastor at three parishes and as administrator or pastor at four more. Often, he followed beloved priests “so it was always a little bit of an uphill challenge to get the people to accept you – and I love them all.”

That acceptance and adjustment goes both ways. Gretchen Perry, a parishioner of St. Mark in Catonsville, was a parishioner of St. William of York in Ten Hills before, during and after Father Demek’s tenure there. “We started out a little rocky, but after a while, was very open to embracing sort of a different culture,” she said. The parish was predominantly white while the school served mostly Black students.

Father Demek grew to “absolutely love that school and loved the kids in it,” Perry said, adding that Father Demek supported the annual school fundraiser with two special auction prizes each year: dinner with the pastor and a needlepoint he created, both of which were popular. “He’s a very talented needlepointer. … Many a parishioner proudly displays one on their wall because he did it for a number of years and various people were the winning bidders.”

Perry said Father Demek was always very generous and relatable. “He talks to you like regular people,” she said.

Beth Steinrock, the food program coordinator at Corpus Christi, said Father Demek has been supportive of new ideas she suggests. She started 10 years ago as a volunteer with the program, and when the person who was paid to run the program left, she stepped into the role. “I think one of the things that’s been very apparent is how much he cares about the folks we serve,” she said. “He shared that interest in doing whatever we can – and doing extra when we can.”

The food program partners with the St. Francis Neighborhood Center in Reservoir Hill and Father Demek was often invited to events at the center. “He’s always been happy to go, and I think that his presence is helpful,” Steinrock said. 

Father Demek retired Dec. 1, at the same time that Corpus Christi merged with the Baltimore Basilica as part of the archdiocese’s Seek the City to Come planning initiative. The basilica’s 5:30 p.m. Sunday Mass will move to Corpus Christi church beginning Jan. 5. The Mass will be open to all but particularly aimed at college students from nearby Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), University of Baltimore and University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Father Demek said he is not sure exactly what he’ll be doing in retirement, but he hopes to take a cruise with some family members in early 2025. 

Though he studied in Rome, he won’t go in 2025 because he knows jubilee years there are “crazy.” He may go to the eternal city in 2026 for a three-month program for priests at the North American College.

He may also try to spend some time living in Ocean City, Md. “I would probably help out down there because they have about 6 million Masses between the four churches in Ocean City,” he said with a chuckle.

Email Christopher Gunty at editor@CatholicReview.org

Also see

Cardinal O’Malley devotes decades to making ‘present the merciful face of God’

Father William Au, pastor of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, is set to retire

Father Gills retires after a ministry that took him around the world and around the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Father Foley, pastor to retired priests, set to retire himself

‘Unflappable’ pastor who shepherded major parish projects ready to retire

Approaching retirement, Monsignor Barker reflects on shepherding one of the largest parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore

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