May 17, 2024
Dear Friends in Christ,
For more than two years, the Seek the City to Come consultations have been underway. I am grateful to all who participated in this process, whether in your parishes or in one of the many regional or city-wide meetings that were held. Overall, some 6,000 voices have been heard throughout this process and the proposal that was made public some weeks ago was actually developed by a working group of about 250 parishioners and clergy from across the City and some nearby county parishes. That was followed by a period of vigorous public comment during which many of you spoke passionately in favor of keeping their parishes open.
It is clear how much we Catholics love our parishes. They are your spiritual home. They hold precious memories. Each is beautiful in its own way. Even if you no longer live in the city, you hope the parish you grew up in will always be there. That is perfectly understandable. I feel the same way about the parish I grew up in. Yet, in this world of ours time marches on. Things change, and not always to our liking.
Over time, the City of Baltimore and the surrounding areas have changed dramatically. Today, Baltimore has less than half the population it had when the 61 parishes inside the Baltimore Beltway were flourishing. Small congregations are often faced with supporting aging buildings in need of repair. As beautiful as they are, not all of them can be sustained. Efforts to maintain buildings have frequently drained the resources needed to evangelize urban neighborhoods and to invite those who live in them to gather with us around the table of Lord. And this, despite heroic efforts of clergy and lay leadership to keep the doors open.
That is why we embarked on the Seek the City to Come process. It’s not just about right-sizing or sustainability – important as that is –but primarily it’s about mission, about the formation of parishes that have what it takes to provide a full range of parish services, to evangelize our neighborhoods, and to place before our City and its surrounding communities a eucharistic vision that is at once life-giving and beautiful and the key to human dignity and flourishing. In other words, while church structures are often very beautiful, the mission of proclaiming Christ and sharing in his redeeming love is even more beautiful and must always be our highest priority as Catholic Christians.
So, we are faced with a choice. We can either look backward or we can look forward. We can either long for a past that will never be re-created or we can face present and future realities and find the way to best accomplish in Baltimore the very mission the Lord entrusted to the apostles.
This has called for difficult and often painful discussions, and it requires difficult and painful decisions. While no process is perfect, every effort has been made to listen. To envision. To discern. And every effort will be made to walk with and assist each of our parish communities once decisions have been reached.
In the days to come, I invite you to keep your eyes fixed on the Lord and on the mission that he has entrusted to us all. Let us come together as a family of faith, “striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3).
Let us embrace a beauty that is more beautiful than our earthly structures, “the glory of God shining on the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6), a radiance that must shine more brightly than ever in our City and its environs through vibrant parish communities fully engaged in faith, worship and service. Now is the time to look to the future with hope. To renew our efforts to evangelize. To build up the Church anew. And yes, to Seek the City to Come!
Faithfully in Christ,
Most Reverend William E. Lori
Archbishop of Baltimore