Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

St. Dominic in Hamilton is one of the parishes that will be affected by the Seek the City to Come initiative, merging with St. Matthew in Northwood. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Changes at St. Dominic hit close to home


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Catholic Review Filed Under: Commentary, Seek the City to Come

As the Archdiocese of Baltimore gets ready to merge parishes and eventually shutter some sites throughout Baltimore City, one change hits close to home.

St. Dominic in the Hamilton neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore is one of the 31 churches in the city that will no longer function as its own entity as the archdiocese, for good reason, consolidates its worship and ministry sites in Baltimore.

St. Dominic served a large community of Catholics in Northeast Baltimore since 1906. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

The parish is merging, along with most of the parishes in Northeast Baltimore, with St. Matthew in Northwood. St. Dominic will remain open for Sunday Masses through November, but what happens with the site after that depends on the needs for space and worship sites at the new parish. It will still be available for baptisms, weddings and funerals upon request and at the discretion of the pastor.

St. Dominic was a place where I made my first holy Communion and first reconciliation; a place where I was confirmed and where my wife and I were married.

It was a place where I spent eight formative educational years – taught primarily by the more-than-patient Daughters of Charity.

It was a place where five of my eight siblings were baptized and all nine of the Jackson crew were confirmed. Three siblings also married their spouses there.

It was a place where I honed my early work ethic, rising to perform the duties of an altar server for 6:30 a.m. weekday Mass.

It was a place where I first met some of the people I still cherish as friends half a century later, a place where you truly learned to get along with everyone with more than 150 students in each of the eight grades.

It was a place where I played my first organized sports (soccer, baseball and basketball). I also attended my first dance – all through the Catholic Youth Organization.

It was a place where my family said the final goodbyes to our parents at their funerals. Our parents worshiped in its pews each week without pause for more than three decades.

Those funerals were the last time many of our large extended family attended a liturgy at the historic parish.

Most of the family – including 31 nieces and nephews – still live in the surrounding area, growing by the day as a wave of great-grandchildren arrives. Most of us are still faithful Catholics, living out the foundation that started at home and reinforced at St. Dominic. However, we choose to practice our Catholic faith in Overlea; Parkville, Baldwin; Ellicott City; Westminster: Hanover and Philadelphia, Pa.; and Santa Rosa, Fla.

St. Dominic gave us a tremendous footing in our faith, but we’ve moved on – like most of the Catholics raised in that neighborhood and other areas of the city. 

It’s sad to try to imagine what will happen to St. Dominic’s beautiful marble altar and accompaniments. It’s sad to try to imagine what will become of a once-thriving parish whose physical grounds included a massive church, a rectory, two school buildings and a convent.

However, it’s never sad to reflect on a second home that gave our family so much. 

Whether the building and accompaniments remain, St. Dominic will always be a part of so many families’ memories and legacies. The church truly lives on in the faith it has fostered since 1906.

Email Gerry Jackson at gjackson@CatholicReview.org

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