St. Vincent de Paul parishioner Mike Jacko is leaning on an approach from St. Ignatius Loyola as two historic East-Central Baltimore parishes work to unite.
“We have to be open to the spirit and see where God is leading us,” said Jacko, one of the co-facilitators of a Jan. 26 gathering of parishioners from St. Vincent de Paul and St. Leo the Great.
The parishioners met for nearly three hours for Mass, fellowship and discussion at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park as the parishes work toward a merger as part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Seek the City to Come initiative.
Many of the 52 churches involved in the two-year initiative already moved forward in the fall with mergers. However, given their many unique ministries, St. Leo and St. Vincent de Paul were afforded extra time to work on the process.
Teams from both parishes began discussions last summer and a committee of 10 was formed from both parishes that first met in August to work on the combined parish’s logistics. The original Seek the City plan called for St. Leo in Little Italy to be the seated parish, but the merger was put on hold to give the parishioners time to prayerfully explore what their future together might look like.
“We’ve been told all possibilities are on the table,” said Jacko, an administrative law judge who has been a parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul since 2011. “We’re going to work together and be open to find a solution that best preserves the charisms and ministries of each parish.”
At the Jan. 26 discussions, modeled on a synodal style encouraged by Pope Francis, nearly 200 parishioners engaged with one another to share input.
“What I saw was people actively listening to one another,” said Jacko, who led the facilitation of the event with Salliann Alborn, a parishioner at St. Leo.
Pallottine Father Bernard Carman, pastor of St. Leo, said he was a little apprehensive before attending the Jan. 26 event, but came away with a sense of enthusiasm for the future of his parish.
He called the gathering a “great, great opportunity” for people to have a say in the future of their church.
“I felt an openness and a curiosity from those who attended,” Father Carman said. “It was a wonderful opportunity for the communities to work together and plan.”
Jacko said feedback was solicited from attendees and a committee will collate the information to share with parishioners.
“It was very positive,” Jacko said of the gathering. “You could tell people were really listening to each other and giving one another space to express their views.”
He said the main goal is to “see what elements we need to keep from each parish” and to find a solution that works for both parishes.
Father Carman said the parishes have special identities. He said St. Leo owes much of its spirit to its location in Little Italy, serving as a community hub and a place where people often return for weddings, baptism and funerals even when they move away from the neighborhood.
“I get the sense that St. Vincent de Paul is more of an intentional community, where people come there for the style of the services and its ministries,” he said.
Father Carman said most of his parishioners have fallen into three groups within a process that could last until next December. He said there are those who are apprehensive about changes and actively participating in the process; those who don’t see the reason for it; and those who did not feel a need to do anything once they heard St. Leo would not close.
“At first I feared (the Jan. 26 meeting) would be a disaster with a lot of disagreement,” he said. “But it’s allowed me to feel a lot more positive.”
Father Raymond Chase, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul, had a similar reaction, saying he got a sense there was a level of fear and anxiety from his parishioners, but that hope overrode much of those reactions.
“We want to continue the good work and uniqueness of both parishes,” Father Chase said. “We recognize that there is a significant difference between the two communities and that’s why the archdiocese is giving us this opportunity.”
“On multiple levels, it’s a complicated process,” he said. “Both parishes offer things that East-Central Baltimore can’t lose. How do we become united but maintain what are important aspects of the community? This is our challenge and this our goal: How do we maintain an awareness of spirit and be responsive to the spirit of God?”
Noting this complicated process, there was a sentiment by some attendees from both parishes that a merge was not the best option. Some are still hoping the merger will not take place and that the two parishes can remain separate.
Father Chase said it’s important to listen to God during the process. He said St. Vincent de Paul uses the intercessory prayers in each Mass to pray for the future of the parishes.
“We are to believe God’s word is truer than our own,” Father Chase said in his Jan. 26 homily. “We will make lots of arguments, bring lots of perspectives to explore, will create lots of ideas and yet all of them, if we are to trust our Scriptures, must have at their root our having listened deeply and well enough to God’s Word that we can discern what is true. It will change us. What we will be will be different in some ways from what we are now. We will be those things we are willing to dream of together.
“Today we are calling a day of discovery, but maybe it is more deeply a day for the beginning of our dreaming, not simply as individuals, but as a community of those who believe and are humble before the very Spirit of God.”
Jacko is encouraged about the future.
“It’s exciting to see that the archdiocese is listening to us,” Jacko said. “It’s important that people know that we (St. Vincent de Paul) are still open and our ministries are still active and strong. We’d love for people to come and join us and be active participants in those ministries.”
Email Gerry Jackson at gjackson@CatholicReview.org
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