The oldest Catholic parish in Baltimore County is celebrating two centuries of faith.
St. John the Evangelist parish in Hydes traces its roots to its first Mass, celebrated May 19, 1822 by Sulpician Father Jean Marie Tessier, superior of St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. The priest presided over the consecration of a little wooden church on the west side of Long Green Valley.
Earlier, Jesuit priests of Deer Creek missionary farm visited the Catholic families of Long Green Valley a few times a year to provide for religious needs and celebrate Mass at private homes.
Today, the parish remains a vibrant faith community.
“People (from St. John) are very proud, very giving and a very welcoming community,” said Edward Dalton, a longtime parishioner.
Dalton, 70, along with three generations before and two after him, has been a loyal parishioner of St. John his entire life. He served as an altar boy and attended St. John the Evangelist Catholic School in Hydes. His three children and granddaughter have also attended the school.
He noted that Father Pete D. Literal, pastor, is the first to greet parishioners at the beginning and end of Mass.
“When Father Pete became the pastor, he came to our house to introduce himself and chatted with us to get to know us better,” Dalton noted. “He seems to go above and beyond.”
Similarly, when Dalton’s mother and sister died a few years ago, Dalton said Father Literal was available and the staff members were helpful in getting funeral arrangements ready.
Doug Byerly arrived at the parish 27 years ago, when he was hired as choir director. He found a community of love and acceptance in the parish, which inspired him to become Catholic.
“The pastors at the parish, who believed and saw something in me, led me to conversion,” he said.
His father was a Presbyterian minister and he was raised in the music ministry from a young age.
“St. John continues to be a vibrant parish rooted in missionary discipleship, and part of that is liturgy with great music,” Byerly said. “Parishioners long to participate in liturgy and to be active in liturgy.”
The music ministry at St. John blends contemporary and traditional music. It features brass, strings, organ, piano and percussion instruments with the choir. Choir members range from 30 to 85 years old.
Byerly said some members joined the choir 50 years ago, when they were children. Christian Brother Maurice Albright, now Father Robert “Bob” Albright, was music director at St. John Hydes then, while teaching at Calvert Hall College High School in Towson.
“Parishioners love a wonderful liturgy rooted in the Roman Missal, but with vital and vibrant music that fits the season,” the director of music ministry added.
According to Father Literal, pastor since 2018, the parishioners’ love for the church is what makes the parish unique. “When there is a need,” he said, “they respond quickly.”
“St. John is a hidden parish, a very quiet community but driven,” Father Literal said about the parish of 1,044 registered families. “I sense something big will be coming out from St. John.”
He introduced a new pastoral plan, mission and vision, centered in a vibrant Catholic community of missionary disciples.
Father Literal said the parish had three main goals for its bicentennial celebration: “to honor our past,” “to celebrate our present” and to “to secure our future.”
The parish put together a history book and exhibit of St. John’s two centuries of ministry. It also kicked off bicentennial celebrations in April 2021 with a year of events, including a Family Fun Run/Walk, the North Baltimore County Wine Festival, a Christmas cash raffle, a Valentine’s Mass and dinner-dance, a special speaker series and a bicentennial prayer.
The bicentennial celebration will culminate with a bicentennial gala May 20 and a bicentennial Mass celebrated by Archbishop William E. Lori May 22, followed by a time capsule planting and an outdoor reception.
Looking to the future, St. John launched a capital campaign to address the building and facility needs of the parish. The parish surpassed its goal of $1.5 million with $1.9 million raised.
Some of those projects include repairing the chapel, installing a new security system for the church, improving the audio and video inside the church and accommodating the church space for those with physical disabilities, especially with proper parking.
In its early years, St. John was a Jesuit mission of St. Ignatius in Hickory. In 1855, a fire destroyed the wooden frame church and the parish built a new church, which serves as the current chapel, gaining independence from the Jesuit parish.
In addition to St. Ignatius, the parish has been associated with three other parishes: St. Stephen in Bradshaw (1866), St. Philip Neri in Dulaney Valley (1866) and St. Mark in Fallston (1887).
The parish opened its first school in 1858, which closed and reopened twice. The School Sisters began directing the school in 1947. Today, St. John Catholic School is recognized for its excellence and was named a 2017 National Blue Ribbon School.
St. John prospered during the 20th century when a general migration from the city to the suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s increased the parish population significantly. Cardinal Lawrence J. Shehan dedicated a new church in 1969.
Email Priscila González de Doran at pdoran@CatholicReview.org
Editor’s note: This story was updated May 19 at 9:40 a.m. to correct an inaccurate date.
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