Letter from one of our parishioners to Archdiocese of Baltimore

I would like to share my concerns regarding the reorganization of the parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. As a parishioner of the Holy Rosary Church for almost 20 years, it was with great sadness that I found out information that the Parish will be liquidated. Although it is planned to keep holy masses in the Holy Rosary Church, for the survival of this church as the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy it is vital to keep it as a parish. Adding the Spanish speaking community to the Holy Rosary Church will benefit it spiritually; however, in my opinion, it will not generate enough funds to maintain the church building and related infrastructure, since in recent years most of the funds were obtained from organizing Polish cultural festivals rather than from collections.

In the past years on Sundays my family very often attended holy masses in English, and we noticed many new young people of various ethnic backgrounds in the church. Number of these peoples is steadily growing, although they may not be members of the parish. My wife says that this is the effect of our pastor Richard and his naturally friendly attitude to everybody appearing in the church. Even if this small number of new young attendees does not strengthen the Holy Rosary Church financially, it strengthens it spiritually. It seems that there is a potential for the parish to grow.

It is a great irony that after completing a few years of a joint effort of the pastor and the parishioners to raise funds for the renovation of the rectory and the roof of the church, the pastor is planned to be removed from the parish and the parish to be liquidated. I understand all financial challenges the Archdioceses of Baltimore encounters in recent years, but closing our vibrant and financially self-sustainable parish should not be a solution for the problems of the Archdiocese.

This decision will have many adverse effects. 1) As a result, many parishioners may depart from the Roman Catholic Church, in response to the unfair treatment from the hierarchy. It must be taken under consideration that many people go to Church not because of their deep faith, but rather because of the tradition they inherited from their families, and their faith may be fragile if they perceive injustice. 2) Many parishioners that live west from Baltimore may move to Archdiocese of Washington to the Our Lady, Queen of Poland and St. Maximilian Kolbe parish. 3) Remaining parishioners will not be involved anymore in fundraising activities that in recent years allowed keeping the church and the rectory buildings in in good conditions. 4) It will trigger a long-term legal dispute between the parishioners and the Archdiocese that will be harmful for both sides.

It is obvious that for the temporary finances of the Archdiocese it is more beneficial to liquidate the Holy Rosary Parish and to rent its properties to the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, than to wait for an income after revival of the Holy Rosary Parish. But a question remains how many souls will be lost if the parish is liquidated. I have hope in the salvation of my soul, and I am sure that the Holy Rosary Church was very significant in the process of my conversion.

Therefore I kindly ask your Excellency to find a solution that would help for the Archdiocese to accommodate its financial needs and the Holy Rosary Parish to survive. I assure your Excellency to keep in my prayers.