Anchors have defined St. Ann in northeast Baltimore for 150 years – from the anchor Capt. William Kennedy brought home from his ship, The Wanderer, to the parish’s symbolic role as an anchor of the community.
Throughout 2023, parishioners are celebrating with social activities, community prayer, monthly history tours and Friends and Family Days, according to Jerome Wooden, chair of the sesquicentennial anniversary committee.
“All of these activities are intended to reach out to the community, as well,” Wooden said. “Anyone connected to the school or church should call the church and give their contact information.” He said the parish hopes to welcome as many former members as possible.That includes descendants of the Kennedy and Boone families.
The anniversary theme, “Anchored in grace, anchored in Jesus Christ,” is emblazoned on a banner hanging from the choir loft.
The celebration kicked off in October 2022 and will conclude with an anniversary Mass at which Archbishop William Lori will preside Oct. 22 at 10:30 a.m.
The church was built after Captain 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 St. Ann’s and named the new church for St. Ann, Wooden said.
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.
At one time, the parish included a school, a convent and rectory – and the house next door to the rectory. Once the home of Oriole Hall of Fame John McGraw, it was later donated to the parish. It was sold about three years ago, according to parishioner Delores Moore, who will lead upcoming history tours.
As for that anchor, at some point it was hauled to the dump, but in 1925, it was found, restored and placed near the cornerstone where it remains to this day.
The parish has seen great changes in its century and a half.
“The church has been through numerous storms but we have been able to prevail through the grace of God,” Wooden said.
Once a predominantly Irish Catholic congregation, it is now comprised mostly of African-American Catholics.
“St. Ann’s was a welcoming, embraceable parish to all kinds of people,” said Father Joseph Muth, pastor from 1982 to 1989.
He remembers joining parishioners inviting neighbors to church. The congregation celebrated Palm Sunday and other holy days with churches of other denominations.
Needs changed. The school closed and the convent was no longer needed.
The school building has housed Mother Seton Academy since 2009. The middle school offers scholarships to all its 80-plus students as a Nativity-Miguel school providing quality, tuition free education to low-income children.
A prayer garden now fills the space where the convent once stood.
School Sister of Notre Dame Jeanne Barasha, who joined the church after Ss. James and John closed in 1986, agreed to help in the restructuring that eventually twinned St. Ann’s and St. Wenceslaus parishes. She was also parish administrator from 1995 to 2011.
In 2018, St. Wenceslaus, St. Ann and St. Francis Xavier churches formed a pastorate under the care of the Josephites. Josephite Father Xavier Edet heads all three congregations.
“In the midst of all those 20 years, the parish has remained committed to its mission and its desire to be of service to the community,” said Sister Jeanne, still a parishioner. She particularly praised the strong lay leadership. “That is what has enabled them to keep on going through all the changes,” she said.
A leader in efforts to see six prominent African American spiritual leaders beatified, their portraits are displayed by the side altar.
Kay Bee, a corporator and parishioner for more than 60 years, likens the church to a neighborhood store. “You can always rely on the fact that it’s always there,” she said. “It is a place that God dwells.”
She pointed to services from the food pantry to social justice issues to community organizing. “We’ve always been available to the community when there’s tragedy,” she added.
Parishioners have taken the Gospel to streets troubled by drugs and guns. To mark Good Fridays, for instance, worshippers anointed corners marked by violence with red crosses.
“We’re going to be there,” said Moore, a parishioner since 1972. From health fairs to a successful effort in 2012 to find a solution to a noxious bus yard on Bartlett Avenue, the parish has lent a hand, she said.
Some 70 families belong to St. Ann’s – but Wooden noted that its reach is wider than that, especially when people need the sacraments. “Everybody belongs to St. Ann’s,” he said.
The anchor continues to symbolize St. Ann’s, Father Muth said. “It is a heartfelt symbol for what St. Ann’s is called to do.”
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