Some Seek the City parishes in Baltimore celebrating Masses of thanksgiving and remembrance

As part of the Seek the City to Come pastoral planning initiative, some parishes in Baltimore and Baltimore County will merge this fall. The Archdiocese of Baltimore is consolidating its parishes in the city and surrounding area from 61 parishes at 59 worship sites to 23 parishes at 30 worship sites.

Below are capsule profiles of some of the affected parishes, along with a look at the schedule of thanksgiving and remembrance Masses for those parishes that have announced plans. These parishes – which are being proposed for merger and would become secondary churches – would be open on request for baptisms, weddings, funerals and other celebrations at the discretion of the pastor.

This list will be updated with additional affected parishes as more details, including dates and times, are finalized.

Blessed Sacrament

4111 Old York Road, Baltimore

Founded: 1911

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Held Oct. 20

Status: Merging with St. Matthew, Northwood

School closed: 1972

History:

Blessed Sacrament has long been known for producing many religious vocations – including 40 women who became religious sisters, three men who became religious brothers and 24 men who became priests – the late Baltimore Auxiliary Bishop William C. Newman among them.

The parish operated an elementary school, beginning in 1919, which closed in 1972.

Blessed Sacrament was twinned with St. Mary of the Assumption in Govans in the 1990s and later became part of a pastorate with St. Matthew in Northwood.

In 1979 Stella Maris used the school building for the Blessed Sacrament Residence. Senior citizens were housed there until its closing in 2000. Currently, the school is used by Safe Haven of Blessed Sacrament for transitional housing for the chronically mentally ill. The convent is now the home of the Marian House II Program.

Church of the Annunciation

5212 McCormick Ave., Rosedale

Founded: 1968

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 23, 4 p.m.

Status: Merging with St. Michael, Overlea

History:

Cardinal Lawrence Shehan appointed Father A. Leo Abendschoen as founding pastor of Church of the Annunciation June 8, 1968, in response to rapid growth in northeastern Baltimore City and the surrounding area of Baltimore County.

Its first approximately 6,000 parishioners were drawn from the existing parishes of St. Anthony of Padua in Gardenville, St. Clement Mary Hofbauer in Rosedale and St. Michael the Archangel in Overlea. Masses were first held in a farmhouse on the church’s property, then at Elmwood School Hall until a church building was completed in October 1970.

Corpus Christi

110 W. Lafayette Ave., Baltimore

Founded: 1880

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: TBD

Status: Merging with Baltimore Basilica (Corpus Christi campus will remain open as worship site for local colleges)

History:

The parish was founded in 1880, with the congregation meeting on the top floor of a school building across the street. The magnificent Gothic church building was consecrated in 1891 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It was the first church in the United States to be named Corpus Christi and it was the first church in Baltimore to be built entirely of granite.

Corpus Christi was originally called the Jenkins Memorial Church, and was one of a few “memorial” Catholic churches in the United States dedicated to an individual or family. The Jenkins family was one of Maryland’s oldest families, prominent in business, philanthropy, church affairs and the arts. The building’s origin began in 1882, when Louisa Carrell Jenkins, a few days before her death, called her five children together and asked them to erect a church in memory of their father, Thomas Courtney Jenkins, who had died the previous Christmas Eve. Thomas and Louisa are buried in a crypt below the St. Joseph chapel and several of their children are buried below the St. Thomas Aquinas chapel.

Immaculate Conception, Baltimore

Immaculate Conception, West Baltimore. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

1512 Druid Hill Ave., Baltimore

Founded: 1850

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 24, Time TBD, at St. Cecilia

Status: Merging with New All Saints. The building is closed and the community is worshipping at St. Cecilia.

School closed: 1945

History:

Immaculate Conception, founded by the Vincentians, was the first parish in the United States to be named after the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The most recent church building used by the parish was the third in its history and was dedicated by Cardinal Lawrence Shehan in 1972. It was built in the brutalist architectural style and was the center of worship until recent years. Today, it is the “Garden Church.” Over the decades, the parish operated a school which closed in 1945 and has been home to DePaul House, a residential program for recovering addicts.

Most Precious Blood

5010 Bowleys Lane, Baltimore

Founded: 1948

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Held Sept. 22

Status: Merging with St. Matthew, Northwood

School closed: 1998

History:

Most Precious Blood opened with worshipers using the Fox Mansion community center in Armistead Gardens. The parish’s current two-story brick building, situated on land donated by the developer of many of the apartment complexes in the area, was completed in 1960. It housed the parish school and its worship space. Plans to build a separate church on an adjoining lot never came to fruition as the post-World War II baby boom era waned. After the school closed, the worship space was renovated and turned into a more modern, intimate facility for liturgies

The parish was twinned with St. Anthony of Padua in 1995 and later joined a pastorate with St. Dominic, the Shrine of the Little Flower and St. Francis.

Our Lady of Pompei

3600 Claremont St., Highlandtown

Founded: 1924

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: TBD

Status: Merging with Our Lady of Fatima

School closed: 1997

History:

The first Mass inside the completed church was held June 1, 1924, which Archbishop William E. Lori commemorated with an anniversary Mass June 2, 2024. The first graduating class of elementary school students consisted of seven pupils in 1929 at the parish school. In 1959, a high school opened. Neither school, founded by the Religious Teachers Filippini, currently operates in the parish.

For most of its history, the parish was served by Vincentians. Parish leadership in recent decades has included diocesan priests, and then priests of the Italian-led mission group, Operation Mato Grosso – Spanish-speaking clerics who have done work in Peru.

Sacred Heart of Mary

6736 Youngstown Ave., Graceland Park

Founded: 1925

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Dec.7, time TBD

Status: Merging with Our Lady of Hope

School closed: 2010

History:

Over its history, Sacred Heart of Mary was especially known for its ministry to the Polish-American community. Once known as the “Polka Capital of Maryland,” the parish was home to numerous polka dances and offered an annual “polka Mass” on Thanksgiving. The parish school was home to PRIDE (Pupils Receiving Inclusive Diversified Education), a program offering support to students with documented learning disabilities. Among the native sons of the parish is St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski.

Shrine of the Little Flower

3500 Belair Road, Baltimore

Founded: 1926

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Held Oct. 13

Status: Merging with St. Matthew, Northwood

School closed: 2005

History: After the founding of the church, a school opened quickly followed Sept. 15, 1927, with 275 students, remaining open until 2004. The current church building’s groundbreaking was Oct. 3, 1949, and It was completed in 1951 with the first Mass Dec. 25, 1951. A Casavant pipe organ was installed in 1952.

In the 1950s, about 7,500 families worshiped at the Shrine of the Little Flower. Catholics in the Northeast Baltimore area began to identify their neighborhood along Belair Road as “Little Flower.” In those days, hundreds of parishioners were active in the Holy Name Society, inducting 250 new members in one year alone, while as many as 7,000 parishioners pledged to pray the rosary every day as a family. The parish’s Little Flower Drum Corps, reorganized right after World War II, won at least three state titles in the 1950s and came in fourth in the nation in 1955. In the 1959-60 school year, enrollment at the parish school, run by the Sisters of St. Francis, peaked at 1,716 students.

St. Ann

2201 Greenmount Ave., Baltimore

Founded: 1873

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: TBD

Status: Merging with St. Francis Xavier

School closed: 1974

History: St. Ann Church was built after Capt. William Kennedy prayed to St. Ann that his clipper ship’s anchors would hold during a harrowing storm in 1833. He saved the anchor and chain after he retired from sailing and returned home to Baltimore. In thanksgiving, he and his wife, Mary Ann Jenkins, bought the land for the parish and named the new church for St. Ann. The cornerstone was laid in 1873, the year both Kennedys died. When the church was completed the following year, the husband and wife were laid to rest in the center aisle. The anchor is displayed outside the church.

An early parishioner and a student at St. Ann School was Cardinal Lawrence Shehan, archbishop of Baltimore from 1961 to 1974.

St. Ann has a long history of promoting social justice and advocating for the promotion of the sainthood causes of six Black Catholics who ministered in the United States.

St. Anthony of Padua

4414 Frankford Ave., Gardenville

Founded: 1884

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Held Sept. 29

Status: Merging with St. Matthew, Northwood

School closed: 2004

History:

St. Anthony Parish was founded in 1884 by Archbishop James Gibbons in response to the needs of the flourishing community of Gardenville. The first pastor was Father Charles Damer, who also had responsibilities as pastor of St. Joseph Church in Fullerton.

The site of the church was the Franklin estate that bordered Franklin (today Frankford) Avenue. Archbishop Gibbons laid the cornerstone July 5, 1884, at a ceremony attended by 2,000.

St. Anthony School opened Sept. 26, 1886. It was served by the Sisters of St. Francis. Groundbreaking for a new school occurred in December 1924.

In 1941, the parish was increasing rapidly, leading to the construction of a new church on the same site as the original chapel. Groundbreaking ceremonies took place June 25, 1950, and when completed the new church seated 1,500 (800 in the upper church and 700 in the lower church). Archbishop Francis Patrick Keough dedicated the church upon its completion in April 1952.

St. Benedict

2612 Wilkens Ave., Baltimore

Founded: 1893

Status: Merging with Our Lady of Victory, Arbutus

School closed: 1975

History:

Cardinal James Gibbons asked the Benedictines to establish a new parish in the Mill Hill area of Southwest Baltimore in the late 19th century. The first Mass was celebrated Oct. 19, 1893, and the first church building was consecrated on Thanksgiving Day 1893.

A school began operating in 1908, staffed by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Noted architect, Benedictine Father Michael McInerney of Belmont Abbey in North Carolina, designed a new church on Wilkens Avenue, which was dedicated in 1933.

The school became part of the Madonna Catholic Grade School Cluster in the early 1970s, but later closed. In recent decades, the parish has been a hub of community outreach, offering a wide range of services and even serving as home of a Catholic radio station.

St. Cecilia

3301 Windsor Ave., Baltimore

Founded: 1902

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 24, Time TBD

Status: Merging with New All Saints Church

School closed: 1993

History:
The first Mass in the newly erected church was celebrated at the Midnight Christmas Eve Mass in 1904. As the neighborhoods surrounding the parish became increasingly populated by African Americans, the parish eventually became a predominantly Black faith community. The school, originally founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1915, was staffed by the Oblate Sisters of Providence beginning in 1961. It became part of the Rosa Parks Cluster in 1975 and closed in the 1990s. In 1995, the parish was twinned with St. Edward. Most recently, it has been in a pastorate with Immaculate Conception in Baltimore.

St. Clare

714 Myrth Ave., Essex

Founded: 1956

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 23, 6 p.m. (Spanish); Nov 24, 11 a.m. (English). Reception to follow both Masses.

Status: Merging with Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Essex

School closed: 2010

History:
St. Clare in Essex was founded to help alleviate overcrowding at nearby Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The parish school was staffed by the Irish Sisters of Mercy in Kells, Ireland, from the late 1950s until the early 1980s. The nuns were known for teaching students Irish dance and staging elaborate St. Patrick’s Day productions. The Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore, the School Sisters of Notre Dame and lay leaders later staffed the school.

In 1966, St. Clare was selected as one of five pilot parishes for developing prototype parish councils as directed by the Second Vatican Council. In the last decade, the parish has been home to a growing Spanish-speaking community. In 2016, the faith community completed an extensive renovation of the church sanctuary.

St. Dominic

5310 Harford Road, Hamilton

Founded: 1906

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: TBD

Status: Merging with St. Matthew, Northwood

School closed: 2005

History:

After the parish was established in 1906, a church that seated 400 was built in Norman style with stone from local quarries. Two years later, a parish school opened, with one teacher instructing all eight grades. A bigger school building was completed by 1920, with the school staffed by the Daughters of Charity. The school eventually encompassed two buildings and served more than 1,200 students a year. As the parish grew, the church building was enlarged in 1925 and again in 1957, ultimately accommodating 1,100 people.

Over the years, vocations from St. Dominic parish were numerous with more than 40 women joining the Daughters of Charity, Franciscan Sisters, Sisters of Mercy, Mission Helpers, School Sisters of Notre Dame, and other orders. In addition, more than 20 priests and seven brothers hailed from St. Dominic Parish.

St. Edward

901 Poplar Grove St., Baltimore

Founded: 1880

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 12, Time TBD

Status: Merging with St. Bernardine

School closed: 1967

History:

St. Edward Parish was founded in 1878 as a mission of St. Peter’s Parish in a neighborhood known in those days as Calverton, outside the western boundaries of Baltimore. The mission was established by Father Owen B. Corrigan who later became an auxiliary bishop. He supervised the building of the first church, opening its doors Sept. 19, 1880. The mission later was put under the jurisdiction of St. Agnes, Catonsville. From 1881 to 1886, Father Thomas E. Stapleton, pastor of St. Agnes, and Father Elias McKenzie, his assistant, alternated in the care of the small mission until the building of the rectory in 1886, at which time Father McKenzie became the first pastor of St. Edward. He had previously established the parish school in a house on Franklintown Road in 1882.

A new school was opened in 1923, and a new rectory and convent were built. Five sisters of the Holy Union of Sacred Hearts arrived Aug. 22, 1923, to staff the school.

The congregation grew to 5,000, requiring nine masses every Sunday. A campaign was begun in 1938 to build a new church at 901 Poplar Grove St. St. Edward Church was dedicated March 9, 1941, by Bishop John M. McNamara. The parish faced several changes in the 1960s and in 1967, the school merged with St. Bernardine School under the title John XXIII Center. After six years the center was absorbed into the Father Charles A. Hall Cluster School. In 1973, five Holy Union Sisters resided at St. Edward, teaching at St. Ambrose School and continuing to serve the children of West Baltimore. In the early 1980s, five Franciscans Sisters of Baltimore served as instructors and administrators of the St. Edward Day Care Center.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

2700 East Baltimore St., Highlandtown

Founded: 1895

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Held Sept. 8

Status: Already merged with St. Casimir

School closed: 2002

History:

St. Elizabeth of Hungary had its beginnings in July 1895 when the cornerstone for the new church was laid at the building site on the corner of Baltimore and Patapsco streets near Patterson Park. A large functional building of sand brick with granite and brownstone trim, the church was dedicated by Cardinal James Gibbons Nov. 19, 1895, the feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. The upper floor, with two grand stairways leading from the main vestibule, housed the church and the lower level was used first for social events and later as the parish school. Adjoining the church, to the rear, was the rectory.

Before the City of Baltimore continued to expand eastward into Highlandtown, when Polish immigrants worked nearby farms, St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church stood as the last building at the municipal boundary. From its origin, the location of the church was considered one of the most favorable sites in East Baltimore facing Patterson Park. By 1920 the parish added a parish school and a convent for the Franciscan Sisters of Glen Riddle. St. Elizabeth School was one of the biggest in the archdiocese and had an enrollment of 1,513 students in 1962.

Third Order Regular Franciscans and Conventual Franciscans have staffed the parish in recent decades.

St. Gregory the Great

1542 N. Gilmor St., Baltimore

Founded: 1884

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 17, 11 a.m.

Status: Merging with St. Bernardine

School closed: 1951

History:

In October 1883, Cardinal James Gibbons established a new parish, named after St. Charles Borromeo, in northwest Baltimore and appointed Father Owen B. Corrigan as its first pastor. The first Mass was celebrated in the new parish Jan. 7, 1884. Initially, the congregation was housed in a building that later became part of the complex of St. Peter Claver. Cardinal Gibbons officially changed the name of the parish Oct. 12, 1884, to St. Gregory the Great and blessed its new schoolhouse and chapel, where Mass was now offered.St. Gregory the Great parochial school was opened Nov. 10, 1884, under the care of the Sisters of Mercy.

A contract was signed May 22, 1885, for the erection of a new church at the corner of Gilmor and Baker streets and the cornerstone was blessed and laid Sept. 13, 1885, by Cardinal Gibbons. The new Gothic church was completed and officially dedicated on the first Sunday of Advent, Nov. 28, 1886. St. Gregory the Great Parish grew quickly, with more than 3,500 parishioners reported in 1909.

In the early part of the 20th century, St. Gregory the Great was one of the largest parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, boasting more than 5,000 families after World War I. With shifting demographics, however, the number of families declined to about 500 by the middle of the century. The parish school closed in 1955. The huge church building, which many considered a “mini-cathedral,” was demolished in the 1970s, with Mass offered in the renovated school building. St. Gregory has long been known for its outreach to recovering addicts and for providing food and other assistance to those in need. For several years in this century, it was also home to an annual gun-buyback.

St. Luke

7517 North Point Road, Edgemere

Founded: 1888

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 24, Time TBD

Status: Merging with Our Lady of Hope, Dundalk

History:

The parish began when employees at the Sparrows Point steel mill gathered in a local drugstore to celebrate Mass on Sundays with a priest who would travel by ferry from Fells Point. A mission church was established in Dundalk that would become St. Rita’s in 1922.

A school was erected in Edgemere on North Point Road.

In 1973, the church was torn down and worship was moved to the school. The school merged with Our Lady of Hope in the 1980s to form Our Lady of Hope-St. Luke School.

During the years of World War I, the first population increase occurred in the Dundalk area. There was no Catholic church in the vicinity. Catholics of the area attended either the Church of the Sacred Heart in Highlandtown or St. Luke’s at Sparrows Point. The idea of establishing a Catholic church occurred to those living in the residential section of St. Helena and Dundalk. It was not until 1921 that definite plans were made.

St. Mary of the Assumption

5502 York Road, Govans

Founded: 1849

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Jan. 5, 11 a.m.

Status: Merging with Cathedral of Mary Our Queen

School closed: 2012

History:
St. Mary’s of the Assumption started as an orphanage in the 1840s that was populated largely by Irish immigrants fleeing their country’s Great Famine. It was built by Father James Dolan, a Fells Point priest, at the site where Loyola University Maryland’s aquatic complex now stands on North Charles Street.

A chapel, cemetery and schoolhouse followed on what became Homeland Avenue, east of the current grounds of Notre Dame University of Maryland.

St. Mary’s stayed on Homeland Avenue until 1942, when it opened its new church, school and convent at York and Tunbridge Roads. Through the years, St. Mary’s became the seat of five missions throughout north Baltimore and northern Baltimore County. These missions eventually evolved into independent parishes. It is known as the “Mother Church of North Baltimore.” The church is currently part of a pastorate with St. Pius X in Rodgers Forge.

St. Mary, Star of the Sea

1400 Riverside Ave., Federal Hill

Founded: 1868

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 23, 4 p.m.

Status: Already merged as part of Catholic Community of South Baltimore

School closed: 2012

History: St. Mary’s Star of the Sea was established to meet the needs of the growing Irish immigrant population. First met in the basement of the rectory. The church cornerstone was laid May 9, 1869, and it was dedicated in March 1871 by Archbishop Martin John Spalding. Stained-glass windows from Munich were added in the 1890s, and in the 1920s, a Cassavant organ was installed.

A tall spire with a light at the top, first powered by candles and mirrors and later by electricity, served as a beacon to ship traffic in the Inner Harbor and as an official landmark on mariners’ maps of the Port of Baltimore.

The school opened in 1877, and in 1914, a new building was built and staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph. In 1972, it merged with the previous Holy Cross and Our Lady of Good Counsel to form Catholic Community School of South Baltimore

St. Pius V

1546 N. Fremont Ave., Baltimore

Founded: St. Barnabas, established in 1879, moved to St. Pius V in 1931; St. Peter Claver in 1938

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 24, Time TBD at St. Peter Claver

Status: Closed

School closed: 1973

History:

St. Pius V was organized in 1878 as St. Barnabas and dedicated Nov. 2, 1879. The Sisters of the Holy Cross operated its school. The parish later merged with St. Barnabas, which was founded in 1879 and dedicated July 11, 1907, by Cardinal James Gibbons as a Black Catholic Church.

St. Barnabas, located at West Biddle Street and Argyle Avenue, relocated July 12, 1931, and became the congregation of St. Pius V, located four blocks away.

St. Barnabas school started with 110 students in 1908, run by the Oblate Sisters of Providence. It grew to 340 children. The Oblate Sisters eventually transferred their residence and established a convent and school at Harlem and Arlington avenues.

St. Barnabas was one of the four Black parishes run by the Josephite Fathers and due to growth needed a larger facility.

In 1931, Archbishop Michael Curley contacted the Josephite Fathers, the Oblate Sisters and the parishioners of St. Barnabas and asked if they would be willing to move to the larger St. Pius V Church. The parishioners of St. Barnabas took possession of and became the congregation of St. Pius V with 3,000-plus parishioners.

A landmark occurred in 1932 when St. Barnabas School, still a product of St. Pius V Parish, moved to a new location at 954 Harlem Ave. The school’s name was changed to St. Catherine Academy. In 1956, the school changed names again, to St. Pius V School.

The school remained at this location until 1972, when the building was condemned. The school moved to 901 Poplar Grove St. and remained St. Pius School until 1973. With the formation of cluster schools in the archdiocese, St. Pius became the middle school of the Father Charles A. Hall Cluster.

St. Pius X

6482 York Road, Rodgers Forge

Founded: 1958

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Dec. 29, 10:30 a.m. (continuing weekly liturgies through end of year)

Status: Merging with Cathedral of Mary Our Queen

School closed: 2021

History:

The parish of St. Pius X was established in 1957 by Archbishop Francis P. Keough to serve the people of the Rodgers Forge area of Baltimore County. Within a short period of time, the Catholic families of the area raised enough funds to begin building a church. They also raised funds for stained-glass windows depicting several saints and carrying the words of the Beatitudes.

St. Pius School was opened in 1962 and was expanded in 1968 and staffed by School Sisters of Notre Dame. In recent years, St. Pius X School was the only Catholic Montessori school in the state.

In 2004, St. Pius X embarked on a new model of pastoral leadership through the appointment by Cardinal William Keeler of Carol Pacione as pastoral life director. In more recent years, diocesan priests have led the parish as part of a pastorate with St. Mary, Govans.

St. Rose of Lima

3803 4th Street, Brooklyn

Founded: 1914

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 24, Time TBD

Status: Merging with St. Athanasius

School closed: 2010

History:

St. Rose of Lima Parish began as a mission of St. Athanasius Church in 1914. Four times, fire and disaster struck and took their toll. The Helmstetter family generously donated land to erect a small wooden church for the scattered settlers on the site of the present St. Rose of Lima Church. The first Mass as a formal parish was celebrated in the church in 1914. The Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart taught the catechism to children every Sunday and organized the Children of Mary Sodality. This little church was destroyed by fire Feb. 7, 1915. A new church of brick was started immediately and was dedicated Feb. 6, 1916.

Monsignor Leonard Ripple became the second pastor June 28, 1922, and was an able educator. His first act was to build a school. Four Dominican Sisters from Sinsinawa, Wisc., staffed the school. The school was destroyed by a fire Dec. 21, 1926, and a new school was built in 1927. It had 224 pupils, four sisters and two lay teachers.

On April 22, 1950, fire and water destroyed the brick church, built in 1916, and a new church, an American Colonial style architecture with limestone trim, was dedicated by Archbishop Francis P. Keough Nov. 23, 1952. There was a fire in Arundel Hall Feb. 3, 1956, and during an 8 a.m. children’s Lenten Mass Feb. 9, 1967, the church roof collapsed due to deep, drifted snow. The fourth church was constructed on a much larger scale to accommodate the church’s growth.

St. Thomas Aquinas

1008 W. 37th St., Baltimore

Founded: 1867

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 24, Time TBD

Status: Merging with Cathedral of Mary Our Queen

School closed: 2017

History:

St. Thomas Aquinas Church had its beginnings in the 1860s. The town of Hampden had a growing number of Catholics who had to travel long distances to get to Mass. The pastor of St. Mary in Govans arranged to celebrate Mass at the local residence of Martin Kelly every other Sunday for a group of about 100. In January 1867, the parish was given permission to build a church. Mr. and Mrs. John Armstrong donated the land and materials for the new church. The cornerstone was laid May 12, 1867.

In 1868, Mass was celebrated in the basement of the church until the building was completed in 1869. A parish school was established in 1873. The school would later be operated as a public school until 1907, when it was taken over by the School Sisters of Notre Dame as a parochial school.

In 1937, a new school was built, financed by the efforts of a Builders’ Society formed among the men of the parish.

St. Thomas More

6806 McClean Blvd., Baltimore

Founded: 1961

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 27, 6:30 p.m.

Status: Merging with Immaculate Heart of Mary, Baynesville

School closed: 1988

History:

In 1958, the neighborhoods around Perring Parkway were burgeoning. To help alleviate the crowded conditions in St. Matthew, St. Dominic, St. Ursula and Immaculate Heart of Mary parishes, 12 acres of land were purchased on McLean Boulevard in 1959 for $108,900. In 1960 architectural plans were drawn up for a school, rectory and convent. In January 1961 Archbishop Francis P. Keough appointed Father Thomas M. Kelly as pastor and the first Masses were celebrated Sept. 10 in a storefront in the Hamilton Park Shopping Center. The dedication of the new St. Thomas More Church was held Sept. 15, 1962.

In 1961, the school opened, staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chestnut Hill. By 1965, the need for additional classrooms and a parish hall became apparent. After a successful building campaign, Cardinal Lawrence Shehan gave permission for the new building. In 1988, St. Thomas More School merged with St. Matthew School to form the Cardinal Shehan School, which is located on the campus of St. Matthew. The former St. Thomas More School is currently rented by the Children’s Guild, a nonprofit organization and national leader in special education.

St. Wenceslaus

2111 Ashland Ave., Baltimore

Founded: 1872

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: TBD

Status: Merging with St. Francis Xavier Church

School closed: 1986

History:
Initially founded to serve Czech immigrants, many of whom worked in Baltimore’s can factories, St. Wenceslaus evolved over the decades to become a multicultural parish. Today, St. Wenceslaus is a largely African American faith community.

The parish is home to the Gift of Hope AIDS hospice operated by the Missionaries of Charity, whose founder, St. Teresa of Kolkata, twice visited St. Wenceslaus. The hospice is located in the convent that had previously been home to the School Sisters of Notre Dame who operated the now-closed parish school.

For most of its history, St. Wenceslaus was served by Redemptorist priests and brothers. Third Order Regular Franciscans took over leadership in 1999, with Conventual Franciscans and Josephites serving in more recent years. It is part of a pastorate that includes St. Ann and St. Francis Xavier.

St. William of York

600 Cooks Lane, Ten Hills

Founded: 1914

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 24, 10:15 a.m. (reception to follow in parish hall)

Status: Merging with St. Agnes

School closed: 2010

History:

The parish of St. William of York was established July 1, 1914, by Cardinal James Gibbons with Father Pasquale Di Paola appointed as the first pastor. Patrick and Annie McEvoy donated the land on which the church is erected Feb. 11, 1914,. The funds for the construction of the church were donated by Catherine Lanahan. The church, of Gothic design and purportedly a copy of a church in England, is a memorial to her husband, William Lanahan, a prominent Baltimore businessman and philanthropist who died in 1912.

The school building was completed in 1950 under Father Francis J. Egan, who had become the fourth pastor in 1949. The first day of classes, with 203 students enrolled in grades kindergarten through grade five, was held Sept. 13, 1950, under the care of the Holy Union Sisters. These Sisters had been active in the parish since 1934 when they initiated the parish’s religious education program. Between 1951 and 1953, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade classes were added to the school, which closed in 2010.

Transfiguration Catholic Community

Seek the City parishes – Transfiguration Church. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

775 W. Hamburg Street, Pig Town

Founded: 2004

Mass of thanksgiving and remembrance: Nov. 24, 10 a.m.

Status: Merging with Our Lady of Victory, Arbutus

History:

Transfiguration Parish grew out of what was known as the Tri-Parish Catholic Community of St. Jerome, St. Martin and St. Peter the Apostle. Cardinal William H. Keeler celebrated Mass Aug. 29, 2004, at the former St. Martin of Tours, the location of the newly formed Transfiguration Parish. Mass was followed by a procession with parishioners to St. Peter the Apostle and St. Jerome to mark the start of the new parish.

Gerry Jackson and George Matysek Jr. contributed to this story.

Editor’s note: The parish histories were compiled from previous Catholic Review articles, information from parishes and the Archdiocese of Baltimore and “First & Forever: The Archdiocese of Baltimore.”

To view more photos of the parishes, click through the slideshow below: