The Pastorate of Our Lady
In June of 2018, as part of the archdiocesan-wide planning effort, “Be Missionary Disciples”, Most Reverent William E. Lori announced that Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Perpetual Help would be one of nine pastorates created in this phase. What did this mean for our two individual parishes? It meant that the two parishes would be united under the leadership of a single pastor and leadership team – with a focus on the six mission priorities the archbishop laid out in his pastoral letter, “A Light Brightly Visible”: These priorities are liturgy, welcome, encounter, accompaniment, sending and mission support.
That fall, the two individual parish councils started to review what a pastorate was and how they could work together. In the fall of 2019, the two councils started meeting as one unit. Progress was made towards bringing the two parishes with differing cultures and experiences together to be a more cohesive unit. Unfortunately, there was a major setback in March of 2020 when churches were closed as a result of the COVID pandemic.
As churches began to open again in June of 2020, the pastorate was advised that our pastor was retiring. September 1, 2020, the pastorate was assigned a new pastor. Father Richard Gray. Faced with two parishes with very diverse populations, different organizational structures and duplicate ministries, he challenged his staff and pastorate council to look for ways to become more efficient.
Some major progress has been made, we now have a single bulletin, a single faith formation program led by Deacon Tim Mikules, a single Easter Vigil mass, a pastorate strategic mission and a pastorate charter. We continue to grow as a welcoming pastorate, two churches walking together as one, growing in faith, charity and love.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Our Lady of Perpetual Help serves the communities of Edgewater and the Mayo Peninsula. It was established in1939 as a mission church of St. Mary’s in Annapolis which met at Cape St. Rose in Beverly Beach. In the late 1940’s, summer masses were held in the Old Woodland Beach House. In 1950, masses moved to Old Lou’s Woodland Beach Restaurant until 1952 when the first church building opened at 211 Mayo Rd, Woodland Beach. In 1976, the parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was established under Redemptorist leadership and on Easter 1980, the first mass was held at the current church location. In 1996, OLPH became an archdiocesan parish of Baltimore. In 2007, OLPH began a commitment with St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Haiti to provide food and educational programs for the local children. Today, OLPH has a large Hispanic Community with weekend masses in Spanish and provides a great environment for both our English and Hispanic communities to grow in faith.
Our Lady of Sorrows
Our Lady of Sorrows serves a large geographic area that extends from the Patuxent River in the west to the Chesapeake Bay, and from Route 214 in the north to the southern edge of Anne Arundel County. The parish dedicated as Our Lady of Dolors was later anglicized as Our Lady of Sorrows. The original church was founded in 1866 and was built of wood frame construction. It was staffed by Redemptorist priests until 1890 when the Marist Fathers took over. The church underwent a number of restorations and enlargements over the years but was eventually demolished in 1951 to make way for a new brick church (the center wing of the existing church). In 1953, the new diocesan church was dedicated. By the late 1900’s, the church had become too small for the membership and two wings were added to the church to triple its seating capacity. The first mass was held in the newly renovated church at Easter 2001. Our lovely church and tranquil country setting provide a great place to refresh ourselves and live our faith striving to be the people the Lord calls us to be.