St. Michael the Archangel, Annunciation, and St. Clement Mary Hofbauer
A Franciscan Pastorate in the Archdiocese of Baltimore
Friary: 2 Willow Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21206
The Very Rev. James McCurry, OFM Conv. and Definitory
Provincial House
Our Lady of the Angels Province
12300 Folly Quarter Rd. Ellicott City, Maryland 21042
Re: The Pastorate of St. Michael the Archangel Church, the Church of the Annunciation, St. Clement Mary Hofbauer
Dear Fr. James and Definitory:
Greetings from Northeast Baltimore County! This is the second of two letters I am sending you regarding the ministry of the friars here in the Pastorate of St. Michael the Archangel, the Church of the Annunciation, and St. Clement Mary Hofbauer (affectionately called the “MAC Pastorate”). In this letter I hope to offer my thoughts about why I believe the friars of our Province should not depart from this ministry after the next Provincial Chapter.
Our House Chapter met on February 18, 2021 and we discussed the “First Draft of the Fraternal-Pastoral Plan, 2022-2026” of the Our Lady of the Angels Province that was sent to us via email on Friday, February 12, 2021. We did this in response to the invitation expressed in the same email that “each friary chapter to do a thorough review and thoughtful study of the plan.” For nearly a week prior to our House Chapter, the friars of our community had several lively dinner table and community-room conversations about the “First Draft” as it was presented. After our House Chapter discussion, these conversations continued in our house for at least another week, and so we continued to study and share our collective thoughts on the matter until when on the morning of Friday, March 2, 2021, and for the record, we formally sent a written response to the draft plan via email to Friar Richard-Jacob Forcier.
In that email we wrote the following:
1. A statement voicing surprise at the Province’s possible departure from Most Holy Trinity, Brooklyn, NY. We noted that Trinity can support the salaries of three to four friars, and that it offers our friars a “perfect ministry” for service to the poor.
2. Regarding the Pastorate of St. Michael the Archangel, the Church of the Annunciation, and St. Clement Mary Hofbauer, we noted (1) our commitment to the staff and parishioners of the Pastorate, (2) the very recent and costly renovations and improvements done to the friary to accommodate four to five friars, (3) the “groundwork” done by the friars in establishing the Pastorate, (4) the fact that St. Michael has had five pastors in the last ten years, and (5) our good working connection with the friars ministering at Archbishop Curley High School.
On the evening of March 2nd, and in response to our email of earlier that day, you asked us in a reply email to offer further input. You also reminded us that “we do not have the number of friars, or required skill sets, to remain in all of the places where we presently live and work.” An important point you made is the fact that our Province currently does not have enough friars to do Spanish ministry in places where it is needed. And so, you requested that we give “recommendation for two alternative places (of similar number and skill sets) to be closed.”
Very frankly and personally, I do not feel informed enough and/or qualified to make “recommendation for two alternative places (of similar number and skill sets) to be closed.” But for the most part I do believe I understand the reality that our Province “does not have the number of friars, or required skill sets, to remain in all of the places” it currently serves. To me it does not seem productive to suggest very randomly that “we should stay here and not there.” But I do have some other views on the matter that I would like to share (and I realize these ideas very likely have already been raised by others). And so, these are some of my thoughts:
1. It is estimated there are thirty million Spanish-speaking (i.e., “Hispanic”) Catholics in the U.S.A.; only about ten percent of these Catholics regularly attend Mass every Sunday. About forty percent of all Catholics in the U.S.A. are Hispanic; in many dioceses Hispanics make up more than thirty percent of the population. Today, most Catholics under the age of thirty in the U.S.A. are Hispanic. This is the growing, most dynamic single population of Catholics in our country (see www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/05/04/hispanic-catholic-church-us-growing-survey-confirms).
2. Isn’t it a noble idea for our Province to make every effort possible to serve the church where we are most needed, and in this case with Hispanics in the U.S.A. (who are growing in numbers and who will continue to represent one of the largest and most vibrant communities of faith within our country)? Do we want “to jump off” this proverbial “train,” and perhaps fail in our Franciscan obligations to build and to rebuild the Church, and to serve “the neediest of God’s people?”
3. For many years, in fact for almost all its history, the former St. Anthony of Padua Province depended heavily on the assistance of foreign-born Polish friar-priests. These priests came from Poland and were a much-needed part of the Province’s ministry to its many Polish-speaking parishioners. Why not continue this tradition in a new light as we embrace modern-day needs of the Church in the United States, a church in which the Spanish-speaking population is growing and flourishing?
4. There are Conventual Franciscan Friars living and working in many Spanish-speaking countries throughout the world. In fact, in addition to Spanish-speaking friars in the four provinces of the U.S.A., we have provinces in Spain, in Columbia, and in Mexico; there are custodies in Bolivia and in Costa Rica, and there are delegations in Chile, Cuba, Paraguay, and Venezuela. While I am sure these friars, and their respective jurisdictions, are as “stretched” as we are in meeting personnel needs, I am left to wonder what type of success we might have had, or may have in the future, in soliciting the help of our brothers, even temporarily, to meet some of the Spanish language needs we currently have as the Province of our Lady of the Angels? Could we develop some type of “exchange program” where they come to help us, and we in turn send friars to them who could build bridges between our jurisdictions, and for O.L.A. friars who could use such opportunities to immerse themselves in Spanish and Hispanic cultures (thereby preparing themselves for possible future ministry among Hispanics at home)? This would be following exactly in the tradition of the former St. Anthony of Padua Province’s interaction with the Polish provinces for the purpose of securing linguistically able priests for the Province’s ministries.
5. Might we also study and propose creative, if even just “temporary,” solutions to our Province’s lack of Spanish-speaking friars available for ministry? While certainly not “ideal,” why not invite local diocesan priests and/or other religious communities to our parishes where Spanish ministry is needed to assist us as “outside clergy” and/or “weekend help?” This could be a “stop-gap measure” done until a day in the future when again we will be able to respond robustly to these needs ourselves.
I offer these thoughts above as a different option to the invitation to make “recommendation for two alternative places (of similar number and skill sets) to be closed.”
In the first of these two letters that I have sent to you I outlined numerous accomplishments and benefits we have experienced as friars ministering in the emerging Pastorate of St. Michael the Archangel, the Church of the Annunciation, and St. Clement Mary Hofbauer, “A Franciscan Pastorate in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.” Building upon what I presented in that outline, and upon the thoughts our House Chapter shared with you on March 2nd, I would like to offer the following reasons I believe we should not depart from this ministry after the next Provincial Chapter:
1. We have worked extremely hard, and very successfully during the past two and a half years to build a very positive and productive rapport among the members of our extended Pastorate staff. It seems “we just got here” and after immediately and enthusiastically working on staff development, which continues to demand our energy and attention, it seems if we depart then all these efforts might have been for naught. And I do not mean to suggest a departure would be to our friars’ disadvantage, but rather that it would be very detrimental to a staff of people (not to mention parishioners) who during these two and a half years have trusted us, who have been willing to accept our guidance, and with whom our efforts in staff restructuring and development have been so successful. I believe we have had a similar success in the rapport we have with various diocesan officials with whom we have worked to build the Pastorate. Why would we want to “throw-away” such an accomplishment?
2. In August of 2018, when our community first took up residence in the St. Michael the Archangel Rectory (now our friary) we did so “sight unseen.” The condition of the building was not suitable for the five friars assigned to live there. And so, for more than a month after we first arrived, and at the cost of about $56,000.00, we were able to renovate and to refashion the building so that it could comfortably accommodate a religious community of men. We are grateful the Province was able to grant us with $25,000.00 to partially cover the expenses associated with that renovation, but the St. Michael Parish’s necessary $31,000.00 contribution to the project was very painful, given the concurrent financial stress it also was facing. At the time, and in meetings with the parish Finance Council and parishioners, we “sold” these renovations with the idea that they were parish “investments” in a future in which our friars would serve for a long time. Now if we depart after so short a time, this part of our history at St. Michael will no doubt cause very hard feelings among parishioners and perhaps the clergy who come after us. I would also add that because of the work we did on the house, I believe it is now one of the most functional and “conventual” friary buildings within the Province. We can easily accommodate five friars, there are two guest rooms, we have a very well-designed community room, there is a fine chapel, and among other positive features there is more than sufficient space to entertain guests and visitors while maintaining the privacy of the community. We are positioned here to have a truly “conventual” friary where friars engaged in multiple ministries can function together quite well (for example and perhaps in a future where friars from Archbishop Curley and those of our Pastorate could be housed at St. Michael and/or in the currently underutilized former rectory at Annunciation). I believe it would be regretful to lose such a possible asset to our broader Conventual community.
3. The Pastorate was formed by bringing together St. Michael the Archangel, the Church of the Annunciation, where our friars served for many years, and St. Clement Mary Hofbauer, where our friars served since the early 1990’s. All these parishes had long histories of administration by diocesan priests. In a relatively short number of years, our friars developed tremendously positive and robust rapports with the people of St. Clement and Annunciation. We have just begun to make such headway with the people of St. Michael (and incidentally the parish has had five different pastors over the past ten years) and our success thus far has been very encouraging. I believe we really have worked hard and have made very positive efforts to truly make this “A Franciscan Pastorate in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.” Why would we give up on these people, and these efforts to establish a strong and stable “Franciscan Presence” in Northeast Baltimore County and City after such a short time and so enormous an effort? Also, what impact would this have on the morale of the many friars who over the years have ministered at St. Clement and at Annunciation, and those of us who for these past two and a half years have worked so hard also to include St. Michael as an important part of this Franciscan apostolate?
4. We have an excellent ministerial relationship with the friars of our community who staff Archbishop Curley High School. During the past year, the friar-priests from Curley have become very regular “weekend clergy help” in all three of our parishes. The people of our parishes understand that we are making an “all-out-effort” to be a “Franciscan Pastorate,” and I believe the inclusion of the Curley friars in our ministry has tremendously bolstered these efforts. Because of this, and in addition to the nearby ministry of the friars at St. Casimir and St. Elizabeth of Hungary, I believe our Province has a formidable presence in East Baltimore City, as well as in our Pastorate’s part of Northeast Baltimore County. I believe this presence is very significant and beneficial to our broader Province community of friars and to the people we serve in the Baltimore area.
5. In our three parishes we have very many families who are associated with Archbishop Curley High School (as well as with the nearby all girls Franciscan school, the Catholic High School). Many of the men and fathers of our three parishes are graduates of Archbishop Curley, and many of their sons, our young parishioners, are currently students there. In conversations with these parishioners, and whenever “the friar connection” between our parishes and Archbishop Curley is mentioned, it is without exception done with tremendous pride and joy by both the old and the young. I believe this robust “Franciscan Presence” on the East side of Baltimore (including also the two parishes in the city) brings with it the great possibility of true and visible “vocation promotion” that we hope to develop and expand as a Province. Since “vocation promotion” is one of our stated objectives for the future, why would we depart from such a fertile opportunity?
6. These parishes are not “rich,” nor are they “affluent” as possibly some of our other Province apostolates are. Our parishioners are mostly “working class” or “blue collar middle class.” The neighborhoods surrounding our three parishes are “changing,” but not necessarily for the better. St. Michael the Archangel is very financially challenged. Even so, our parishes have tremendously wonderful outreach ministries to the needy. Both St. Michael and St. Clement have active St. Vincent de Paul Societies and wonderful food pantry ministries. Annunciation has a fantastic “Social Concerns Committee” that throughout the year sponsors various outreach efforts done for the poor of Baltimore City. All three parishes regularly support the food pantry and outreach efforts of my former parish of St. Wenceslaus in Baltimore City (a coincidental reality for me that long precedes my association with any of these parishes). This Pastorate apostolate gives our friars direct opportunities to work with and minster to the neediest of our neighbors. That is what Franciscans do! I believe this Pastorate is an excellent place for our friars to thrive as sons of Il Poverello and as Franciscan witnesses to the Gospel!
Many of the suggestions and observations I have made above (particularly those having to do with the Franciscan obligation to serve the poor) would also apply to my belief that we should not depart Most Holy Trinity-St. Mary in Brooklyn (where I served joyfully for a total of seventeen years). Trinity must be the most dynamic, the most “conventual,” and the most service-to-the-poor oriented parish we have. I believe a departure of our friars from there would be deeply regretted for many years to come. Once the dust would settle, they likely would say: “we never should have left there.”
I, Friar Timothy P. Dore, OFM Conv., strongly believe that we ought not withdraw from our Province commitment to ministry in the Pastorate of St. Michael the Archangel, the Church of the Annunciation, and St. Clement Mary Hofbauer (nor from Brooklyn as well). I believe the friars with whom I live and minister, are in complete agreement with me on the points I have presented in this letter. I am grateful for any attention you can give to what I have written.
Most Sincerely,
Friar Timothy Dore, OFM Conv.
Pastor, St. Michael the Archangel, Annunciation, St. Clement Mary Hofbauer
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