St. Brigid’s religious items find new homes as former property is redeveloped

Although St. Brigid’s church in Canton has been demolished to make way for a new townhouse development in the Canton neighborhood, the rectory remains, ready for repurpose, and religious items – from the altar to the statues – have been transferred to other churches around the archdiocese and beyond.

“Under canon law, you’re not supposed to sell those things,” said Nolan McCoy, director of Facilities Management for the archdiocese.

The pastor, Conventional Franciscan Father Dennis Grumsey, said every item inside the church except a few pews have been given to other parishes for their new or renovated buildings.

The stained-glass windows, for instance, will be installed at Resurrection Parish in Ellicott City as part of its renovation, he said. “They are the most beautiful part of the church,” Father Grumsey said.

Other items, including the altar and statues, will be used at St. Stephen’s Parish in Bradshaw, which is building a new multipurpose facility.

One item has gone a little farther afield. The tabernacle now graces the day chapel at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport. Father Grumsey said friars who have a parish in nearby Jonesboro, also take care of the chapel and minister at the airport.

Father Grumsey said he plans to compile a list of where all the items were sent to give to former St. Brigid’s parishioners.

“We have to make sure these things are preserved,” he said, noting that he has had experience with closing parishes before. As a pastor in Shamokin, Pa., he oversaw the closing of four churches, including the moving of religious items. He understood his parishioners’ interest in seeing those items become part of a different church. “It gave people a sense of peace,” he said.

The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary that graced St. Brigid’s courtyard found a new home at St. Francis of Assisi Parish on Harford Road, thanks in part to the efforts of the new property owners, according to John McSherry, archdiocesan project manager for real estate.

Jacob Wittenberg, president of Edgemont Builders, and members of his staff moved the heavy sculpture as work began on the new housing project.

“I was so glad they were able to move it,” Father Grumsey said.

Wittenberg is overseeing the restoration of the turn-of-the-20th-century rectory and construction of new townhouses now that the mid-20th-century church has been demolished. Construction of the $700,000 modern townhouses are expected to begin in June, pending city approvals, Wittenberg said. Work should be complete by March 2023.

Although the church fronted on South Ellwood Street, eight of the new townhomes will front on Hudson Street and one will front on Robinson.

The rectory will be turned into apartments. “The building was really well-built,” Wittenberg said. He noted that features such as the plaster ceiling, fine floors and beautiful staircase will be preserved. In fact, he added, he is planning to apply for historic tax credits for the restoration.

“I would’ve saved the church if there was a creative way to save it,” he added.

Wittenberg said the new buildings are designed to be respectful of the scale of Canton’s many brick rowhouses.

The church and rectory of the shuttered parish were sold in late 2021, according to McCoy. He declined to comment on the property’s selling price.

St. Brigid opened in 1854 to serve Irish immigrants, first as a mission to St. Patrick Parish in Fells Point. Its first resident pastor was newly ordained Father James Gibbons, who went on to become the ninth archbishop of Baltimore and a cardinal.

Dwindling numbers led to the closure of the school in 1980 and then in 2019 the closing of the church, a 1966 replacement for the original church that burned down.

St. Brigid’s parishioners were invited to join the nearby churches of the Pastorate of St. Casimir at Canton and Patterson Park, including St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Casimir churches, where Father Grumsey is pastor.

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