Pastors reach out to communities as they implement Seek the City to Come pastoral plan

Not long after Father Louis Bianco learned that five area parishes would merge to form a new faith community seated at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland, he knew he wanted to be with the people of all the affected parishes.

Over the last several months, the cathedral rector, who has also served as administrator of St. Thomas Aquinas in Hampden for more than a year, has been celebrating Masses at St. Pius X in Rodgers Forge, the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Mount Washington, St. Thomas Aquinas in Hampden and St. Mary of the Assumption in Govans as the parishes prepare to unite at the cathedral Dec. 1.

“There is certainly a lot of emotion,” Father Bianco said, “but I have found that as I visit the communities and listen to what the parishioners have to say and we have good conversation, that it is helpful to them. Several parishioners at the merging parishes have told me that they felt more at peace after our conversations.”

Pastors throughout the city and several nearby communities in Baltimore County have been working on the difficult task of creating new parish communities as part of the Seek the City to Come pastoral plan announced May 22 that reduces the number of parishes in those areas from 61 to 23 and reduces the number of worship sites from 59 to 30.

Like the parishes uniting at the cathedral, most of the new parishes throughout the region will take shape Dec. 1.

It is, as one priest commented, a gargantuan task, as each of the existing parishes has its own personality, its own way of doing things, its own groups with leaders and its own outside organizations that meet in its facilities.

Transition teams consisting of members of both the seated parish – the primary location for the new merged parish – and those merging with it, have been meeting with parishioners to learn ways to include and respect each parish’s customs.

Father Patrick Carrion, pastor of St. Matthew in Northwood and Blessed Sacrament in Baltimore, said it will be a “clean slate” when seven area parishes – St. Matthew, St. Dominic, Shrine of the Little Flower, St. Anthony of Padua, Most Precious Blood, St. Francis of Assisi and Blessed Sacrament – merge into a new entity seated at St. Matthew, with an additional worship site at St. Francis of Assisi.

To emphasize the point that the establishment of the new parish at St. Matthew is a new beginning for all affected communities, St. Matthew will suspend Masses for a month after its last Oct. 27 Mass and reopen Dec. 1. Parishioners are to attend St. Dominic during that time.

“It is the end of an era for all of these parishes,” Father Carrion said. “We’re all going into something else.”

Volunteers at St. Matthew are learning to be members of a new parish, Father Carrion said. They will share their duties, whether being extraordinary ministers of holy Communion or ushers, and can’t assume things will stay the same. 

“It’s hard for people to grasp and it’s understandable,” said Father Carrion, who previously served as pastor of the Pastorate of St. Anthony of Padua, Most Precious Blood, St. Dominic, Shrine of the Little Flower and St. Francis of Assisi. “It’s an adjustment.”

Monsignor Richard J. Bozzelli of St. Bernardine in West Baltimore, the seated parish for merging parishes St. Edward, St. Gregory the Great, St. Peter Claver and St. Pius V, said his transition teams first met with parishioners one-on-one and then met with each parish’s ministry groups, from Sunday school programs and youth groups to music leaders, faith formation leaders and outreach programs. Monsignor Bozzelli has also celebrated Mass at all the parishes and has been available to answer questions afterward. The seated parish will have an additional worship site at St. Peter Claver.

“We’re taking a very positive attitude and trying to maximize the best parts of merging,” Monsignor Bozzelli said. “We’re working together to make it happen. The transition team is a very positive team looking for ways to make this work.”

Ray Kelly, chairman of the pastoral council and executive committee at St. Peter Claver, said parish leaders are trying to be as inclusive in every aspect of ministry or outreach they can.

“We’re in this space where we’re figuring it out just like you are,” he said. “Right now, we’re open to all ideas.”

As Kelly sees it, he is still called to do the steward’s work he has been doing at St. Peter Claver, but now has an opportunity to reach more people.

“My thing has always been to create this safe space for difficult conversations,” Kelly said. “Now that we are actually in the midst of the actual transition, I want to make sure people know this is what this place is. For me, this is the start of the next phase of the Black Catholic Church in West Baltimore.”

At the cathedral, a hospitality committee is forming to make everyone feel welcome and a part of the community. Julie Grace Males, the cathedral’s director of music, helped organize that committee and has also been meeting with the music ministries of the affected parishes.

“Developing a culture of welcoming requires a conscious effort,” she said.

Steps the cathedral’s committee is taking cover the gamut from having greeters at the doors and proper signage to “make it clear where the bathrooms are” to a website where people can sign up for various ministries, she said. Males is working with the merging parishes’ musical ensembles with hopes to bring all together amicably.

Father Bianco is also trying to incorporate different physical elements of the merging parishes, including creating a new prayer garden outside of the sacristy wing at the cathedral that may include items from merging parishes. He is hoping to bring a stained-glass window featuring Mother Mary Lange from St. Mary of the Assumption to the cathedral, too.

“Obviously, I cannot remove any stained-glass windows from the cathedral church, but it could be that the window is placed somewhere in the church or parish center and backlit,” Father Bianco said.

The rector noted that the Shrine of the Sacred Heart has a large Filipino population that frequently celebrates its culture. 

“I would be happy if the cathedral can be the place where those celebrations occur, especially because a cathedral is the mother church for all Catholics in a diocese,” he said.

Several pastors said it will take patience and understanding to help disparate parishes, which had sometimes been rivals in previous generations, to come together.

“It’s a tough time for all of our parishioners,” said Father John Streifel, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Essex and St. Clare in Essex, which will unite at Mount Carmel. “There is a good spirit of openness a lot of people have, but certainly not everybody. There is good momentum, and we continue to build on that.”

Transition teams have been studying a wide range of issues, including ways of fostering community development, he said.

“There is quite a lot to do and quite a lot we would like to do,” Father Streifel said.

In the months leading up to the announcement of the Seek the City plan, St. Clare and Mount Carmel have shared pastoral leaders. They also have a combined religious education program. St. Clare has been home to a significant Spanish-speaking community, while Mount Carmel has an elementary and high school.

“I have a firm belief God is guiding what we do,” Father Streifel said. “He is helping us to open our hearts and minds.”

It is, Father Streifel admitted, a difficult and painful job at times, and he is grateful to all the parishioners making the effort.

“I have seen folks really trying to approach this in the best way possible,” Father Streifel said. “That spirit of goodwill and positive energy encourages me. It gives me a reason to get up in the morning and continue laboring with each church through ups and downs, but side-by-side with God’s grace.”

While his church is not part of the Seek the City plan, Father Raymond L. Harris Jr. of Holy Family in Randallstown was part of the planning, as many of the parishioners currently attending churches in West Baltimore live near his parish. He wants to “encourage them and welcome them to Holy Family if they were led by the Lord to come here.”

So far, he has not seen an uptick of new parishioners, but he noted that some people “may need to grieve a little” before coming.

“We will be with people where they are,” Father Harris said. “People have free will. They can choose to be part of the newly merged parishes and build them up and I hope they do. Or they can choose to come to Holy Family, and we will certainly welcome them.”

The closing and merging of parishes have been going for centuries, Father Carrion noted. And while there is real grief that comes with saying goodbye to familiar and much-loved former parishes, there’s also an opportunity for new life.

“We are still the Catholic Church and Catholic people,” Father Carrion said. “We are just worshiping someplace else.”

Email Katie V. Jones at kjones@CatholicReview.org

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