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Showing posts with the label West Baltimore

Discovering a Community of Joy!

Discovering a Community of Joy! On the weekend of the First Sunday of Lent in 2017, I had the privilege of celebrating Mass outside my home parish on a Saturday evening with the people of St. Bernadine's in West Baltimore . "Their home under the dome" as they referred affectionately to their parish. For those unfamiliar with West Baltimore , it is a community that struggles with crime and poverty as industry and opportunity abandoned the community decades earlier.   My daughter Faith works with the Sisters of Bon Secours Volunteer Ministry, which supports the community with various charitable services. We stayed at the volunteer house on Saturday night and went to the 5:30 pm Mass. Abandoned buildings and condemned properties abound as you could imagine the neighborhood's heyday as we drove by magnificent churches, old factory mills and remnants of the Baltimore Ohio railroad. Faith had long wanted Debbie and me to come to town and live the experience