Parishioners remember, celebrate faith communities as Seek the City parishes prepare to unite

Kathy Wandishin’s whole life has been connected to St. Clare in Essex.

She was baptized at the East Baltimore County parish in 1957. The Irish Sisters of Mercy from Kells, Ireland, taught her in the parish’s elementary school.

Wandishin married her husband, Jim, at the church and sent her five children to her alma mater. The family was involved in all kinds of parish events – volunteering at carnivals, peeling potatoes for special parish meals, mopping the hall after festivals and serving those in need at a soup kitchen.

When Johnny, one of her children, was diagnosed with leukemia, Wandishin relied on the prayers and support of her fellow parishioners to get her through one of the most difficult periods of her life. And just as she had done for the funeral of her father, Wandishin walked behind her son’s casket into the basement church for Johnny’s funeral after he ultimately lost his multiyear battle with cancer.

For Wandishin, who also served 14 years as St. Clare’s office manager, attending her parish’s Nov. 24 Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance was a chance to honor the past while also looking forward to the future.

As part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Seek the City to Come pastoral planning initiative, St. Clare will unite with nearby Our Lady of Mount Carmel to form a new faith community seated at Mount Carmel.  

Under the Seek the City plan, 61 parishes will merge into 30 worship and ministry sites in Baltimore City and some parts of Baltimore County. Most of the new parishes will begin their ministries Dec. 1, the first Sunday of Advent and the start of a new liturgical year.

St. Clare, founded in 1956, was one of nearly 20 Seek the City parishes that offered Masses of thanksgiving and remembrance in recent weeks, with a handful of others planning to do the same in the weeks to come.

“The people of this parish are just salt-of-the-earth, hardworking, predominantly blue-collar workers,” Wandishin said. “There’s no pretense. There are no airs. They just want to take care of each other and others who are less fortunate. That’s what strikes me as at the heart of this church.”

At the end of a Mass that attracted more than 450 people, parishioners carried a statue of St. Clare, a parish registry of baptismal records, a chalice and a paten during the recessional. The objects will be delivered to their new home at Mount Carmel.

A choir, which included Wandishin, led the congregation in belting out the “Hymn to St. Clare” – a song composed by a former music director of the parish. It was the final music to grace the building during a regular Mass.

“We have to leave the family home, but that doesn’t mean that we’re still not family,” said Wandishin, who serves on the transition team working on the unification of St. Clare with Mount Carmel. “I am excited to meet new members of the family at Mount Carmel. We have to look at this as a new beginning.”

A separate Mass of thanksgiving was celebrated for members of the parish’s growing Spanish-speaking community.

At Transfiguration Catholic Community in Pig Town, more than 200 filled the pews of the Southwest Baltimore Church for an emotional farewell Nov. 24. Hugs, tears and tissues appeared frequently during the more than two-hour liturgy.

Pastor Father Ty Hullinger noted the “painful moment” in his opening remarks as he concelebrated Mass with Capuchin Franciscan Father John Harvey, assisted by Deacon Tony Roberts. Father Harvey was the pastor in 2004 when Transfiguration was formed from the merger of St. Jerome, St. Martin of Tours and St. Peter Apostle. Since the merger, the parish has been based at the former St. Jerome, where Deacon Roberts began his ministry.

Father Hullinger emphasized the need for the community to “find peace” and to continue to build up one another in “these uncertain times.”

He also emphasized the importance of church members continuing to serve the community with good works. Mass concluded with a procession around the church grounds, finishing with a prayer in the parking lot.

Members of United Workers, a Catholic Campaign for Human Development-sponsored group, were on hand to pass out literature to help facilitate the continuance of the parish’s food pantry.

“This is our last (regular) Mass here, but it won’t be the last Mass for most of us who will find new places and ways to worship,” Father Hullinger said.

Father Hullinger welcomed parishioners to share thoughts and memories.

Patricia Lewis, 78, said she has made the drive from her home in Carroll County to worship at Transfiguration because she felt so welcome in the region in which she was raised. She acknowledged being “upset” about the impending closure. She noted that it was the fourth Catholic church where she worshiped that met the same fate, following on the heels of St. Monica, St. Martin and St. Peter the Apostle.

Other parishioners told stories about the importance of family connections and faith in the community.

Tom and Donna Zentgraf were married at the church in 1971. The Morrell Park residents came to reminisce about a place where they attended Mass for decades and sent two children to school.

“We have a lot of good memories of this church,” Tom Zentgraf said. “It has meant a lot to our family.”

Nancy McCormick has been singing in the Transfiguration choir since 1992 and has been attending Masses in Southwest Baltimore since 1979. She isn’t sure where she will worship next, and said she didn’t think many in the community would make the commute to Our Lady of Victory in Arbutus, with which Transfiguration is merging.

“It’s very sad,” she said, noting that many of those who regularly attend Mass at Transfiguration walk to church. “It’s going to leave a void in this community.”

Parishioners plan to keep holding reunions and gatherings. The parish had an email signup sheet in the vestibule so that worshipers can be notified of future events.

About 125 parishioners and friends of St. Gregory the Great in West Baltimore celebrated a joyous Mass of thanksgiving Nov. 18 featuring a contemporary musical group complete with drums, piano and an electric guitar. Once one of the largest Catholic congregations in the city (there were more than 5,000 families at the end of World War I), the parish registry has declined dramatically over the decades. Last year, fewer than 50 people attended weekly Mass at the church.

Yet parishioners noted that despite their small numbers, they have been mighty in spirit and good works. Over the years, the parish has provided food and clothing to those in need and it was also home to a gun-buyback program that sought to take the deadly weapons off the streets.

St. Gregory will become part of a new faith community made up of St. Bernardine, St. Gregory the Great, St. Peter Claver and St. Pius V, with the largely African-American parish seated at St. Bernardine. St. Peter Claver will serve as an additional worship site.

Monsignor Richard Bozzelli, pastor of St. Bernardine in West Baltimore, acknowledged the emotions of the day and invited everyone to become part of the newly formed community. He reminded Mass attendees that their faith is not about a building. It’s about following Jesus and all he represents.

Some parishioners of St. Bernardine attended the Mass at St. Gregory to show their support to their soon-to-be fellow parishioners. They included Christopher Williams, a convert from the Baptist tradition who is now active in the Knights of Columbus.

“We’re just letting them know that that we’re your brothers and sisters in Christ and even though your church is changing geographically,” Williams said, “the love of Christ hasn’t changed and I just want them to be open to coming to St. Bernardine’s and just seeing what loving people we are.”

At the end of the Mass, St. Gregory’s pastor, Spiritan Father Uju Patrick Okeahialam locked the sanctuary doors and presented the keys to Monsignor Bozzelli.

After a Mass of Thanksgiving for the Spanish-speaking community at St. Rose of Lima in Brooklyn Nov. 24, about 200 parishioners carried an the image Our Lady of Guadalupe in a caravan-style pilgrimage from St. Rose to St. Athanasius in Curtis Bay, where a newly formed parish uniting the two communities will be seated. The new parish will include a growing Spanish-speaking community that had made its home at St. Rose in recent years.

Parishioners followed the procession in their cars, watching the image being blessed before it was removed at St. Rose and then again when it reached its new home in Curtis Bay. They celebrated their new beginnings at St. Athanasius with pupusas, tamales, burritos, sandwiches, chocolate caliente, multiple desserts and mugs with “St. Rose of Lima” printed on them.

“St. Rose of Lima was an open door for the Hispanic community,” said Estafania Ramirez Torres, a parishioner, who noted that many Hispanics do not have transportation and rely on walking to Mass.

“St. Rose of Lima has been a gateway for them,” she said. “I’ve always felt welcomed here at St. Rose.”

Estafania said she will make St. Athanasius her new parish home.

More than 360 people filled the pews or stood in back for a Mass of thanksgiving at St. Mary, Star of the Sea in Federal Hill Nov. 22.  

“I had to get here today,” John DiBlasi said as he gazed down the aisle at the large stained-glass window at St. Mary, Star of the Sea’s altar. “My great, great grandmother, grandmother, mother, they all looked at that window and prayed when they had struggles and it got them through.”

Founded in 1868 by mostly Irish immigrants who worked in the shipbuilding industry, the church features a spire with a light that served as a beacon to ship traffic in the Inner Harbor. The stained-glass window from Munich was purchased in the 1890s and the Cassavant organ in the 1920s.

“We are not called to hold on to this physical space,” said Father Kevin B. Ewing, pastor of the Catholic Community of South Baltimore. “We are challenged today to move toward new opportunities.”

A procession was held after the Mass to transport the Eucharist to the tabernacle at Holy Cross, where the new parish will be seated. An additional worship site will be located at Our Lady of Good Counsel.

With an escort provided by the city of Baltimore Police Department, parishioners filed out of St. Mary into the street, singing a eucharistic hymn while people watched from their doors and windows.

“St. Mary’s has been my parish for 88 years. My whole life has been here,” said Mary McCann, noting that not only had she been baptized and gone to school there, so had her children, who also were altar boys there and got married there. Two grandchildren were also baptized there.

She is not a stranger to Holy Cross, however.

“Holy Cross was my mother’s parish. My mother and father married there,” McCann said. “Back then, there were parish boundaries, and when they bought their home, it was within St. Mary’s, Star of the Sea.”

While Mann is not happy about the move to Holy Cross, like her mother’s move to St. Mary, she will do it, “of course,” she said.

“Always have hope,” Father Ewing said, who was assisted by Monsignor Richard Tillman during the Mass. “Star of the Sea, guide us to a full and everlasting life.”

George Matysek Jr., Gerry Jackson, Katie V. Jones, Kevin J. Parks and Mitzy Deras contributed to this story.

To view more photos, visit catholicreview.smugmug.com/Seek-the-City-Masses-of-Thanksgiving-Weekend or click through the slideshow below:

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