Whitemarsh Cemetery Service of Remembrance
Sacred Heart Parish, Bowie
February 25, 2023
Last week, Carolyn Fugett, a beloved member of our Baltimore community, the mother of Reginald Lewis, went home to the Lord at the age of 89. Let us pause to thank God for her life and blessing she was to so many, and ask that she may share forever in the light and joy and peace of heaven.
I am Archbishop William Lori and I serve as Archbishop of Baltimore, the first Roman Catholic diocese in the United States.
This afternoon, we gather in remembrance of a shared history. We gather to remember the formerly enslaved who are buried here – formerly enslaved because the Lord in his love has set them free – from the shackles unjustly placed upon them. The remembrance of these women, men, and children is a living memory – living because their immortal souls are living, living because their descendants are keeping their memory alive, living because public officials, parishioners, and representatives of the church embrace our solemn, shared responsibility, not only to curate this history but to learn from it.
Here at Whitemarsh, foundations for the Church in the United States were laid. While that history has been recounted many times and celebrated, it cannot distance itself from the cruel and inhumane institution of slavery. Until 1947, Whitemarsh was part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
This living history that we respectfully remember today is a shared history – a history we share first and foremost with you who are descendants, a history we share as a church – the Society of Jesus, as well as the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Archdiocese of Washington, and parishioners here at Sacred Heart Parish. It is a history shared with public officials and lawmakers, and ultimately, it is a history we must all own and learn from.
There is no healing without remembrance, no conversion with remembrance, there is no holistic path forward without remembrance. Without it, injustice flourishes. With remembrance, we pray, a new day will dawn. I am honored to be with all of this afternoon, and pray that God will abundantly bless our gathering. Thank you!