THE HISTORY OF ST GABRIEL PARISH
Once upon a time there were two parishes in the Woodlawn / Security area. The parish of St. Lawrence, Dickeyville, established in 1912 was first located in a hay barn on the Lawrence Kernan estate. The parish of The Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, established in 1936 was first located in a small country chapel located in the heart of the village of Woodlawn. These parishes grew from small country chapels to thriving suburban communities of worship with more than two thousand families each and multiple priests/staffs.
The parishes reached their height of development in the 1960’s fueled by the urban spraw and migrations of people moving west of Baltimore City. Both parishes built large schools and large worship centers to accommodate their growth. There was a large expanse of undeveloped land between Rolling Road and Colonial Drive and in the 1950’s it looked like there would be a very large residential development in this area. This did not materialize, because a large portion of this area was acquired by the Federal Government for the site of the Social Security Administration and another developer acquired another large portion for the site of Security Mall. The use of this land for commercial rather than residential development slowed and may have even stopped the growth of the region. The population of the two parishes peaked and began a slow decline as the migration of peoples continued to move West to Howard and Carroll Counties.
In 1979 the enrollment of the two schools declined to the point where it was necessary to merge into a regional school to be named, The John Paul Regional Catholic School. The name was chosen because this merger was taking place at the time that Pope John Paul I died.
The John Paul Regional Catholic School, now supported by two parishes, returned to the pace of the previous schools of St. Lawrence and The Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Meanwhile, the parish congregations showed serious signs of decline. Not only was the migration of the population depleting their congregations but the remaining population was aging. Many homes were reduced to empty nests as the children of medium to large families moved to other locations. The remaining members of the older population were beginning to look for smaller residences out of the area and some began moving to retirement communities, assisted living, nursing homes, and the after life.
With the continuing decline, both St. Lawrence and The Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help were encouraged to study the possibility of merging by the Planning Office of The Archbishop in 1996. The project was affectionately named “The West Side Study” and it encouraged the parishioners and their leadership to face the reality of demographics to hopefully join forces to survive the exodus until a new or renewed Catholic population would move to West Baltimore County.
At the same time that the parishes were studying the possibility of merging into one campus, the Catholic Korean Community was out-growing their church at St. Bernard in Baltimore City. The Archdiocese of Baltimore brokered a plan to use the soon to be unoccupied campus of St. Lawrence for the Korean Catholic Community. The location was determined by the proximity of the other Catholic churches to St. Lawrence. St Lawrence was closest to St. William of York and St. Agnes. It seemed logical to spread the Catholic presence to a midway point between St. William of York and Holy Family, Randallstown. The location of The Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was chosen as the campus for the new parish that was to contain the remaining congregations of St. Lawrence and The Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
Both parishes, St. Lawrence and The Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, closed with special Liturgies and ceremonies and on the First Sunday of Advent, November 30, 1997, St. Gabriel Parish was created and the worship space on the campus of The Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was consecrated under the patronage of St. Gabriel, The Archangel. St. Gabriel was chosen by the congregation by popular ballot. Reflecting back on the role that St. Gabriel played in Salvation History, bringing the news of a Savior to Mary, the new congregation of St. Gabriel is charged with bringing this same Good News to West Baltimore County.
Following the Consecration of the church, the Pastoral Council met to begin planning for the future of the parish. The council voted on developing a Master Plan for the parish and hired Murphy-Dittenhaufer, architects. The Master Plan included an addition to the John Paul Regional Catholic School to accommodate the pre-school which continued to operate on the old St. Lawrence Campus, now the Holy Korean Martyrs Parish. Other recomendations were to renovate the old rectory to become the Parish Center, with offices for the staff and meeting rooms. The Old Convent was to be renovated to be the parish Annex with meeting rooms, a kitchen, and rooms for overnight retreat. It was planned that the Church (Worship Space) would have a gathering space (Narthex) and a center aisle. The church also needed a new lighting system and relocation of the Baptismal Font.
The total cost of all of this work was to be $3,500,000.00. The Pastoral Council had to prioritize and choose the most important and most affordable components in the master plan. It was decided to begin with the renovation of the former Rectory to make space for offices and meeting rooms. The Convent was then converted in like fashion, according to the recommendations above. The expansion of the school was changed to reconfiguring the space to accommodate the pre-school and new windows were installed in the school. The Church renovation needed a capital Campaign which was held in the years, 1998 – 2004. By 2000 we had enough capital to begin the project which cost $575,000.00. Borrowing the remainder, the renovation of the Church was finished for Easter of 2001.
Since 1999 our parish community has developed into a diverse congregation, united in faith to build the Kingdom of God. The renovations of the church have proved to be very functional, encouraging greater activity and use. There are now more weddings, social gatherings after Mass, and Cultural processions. The communal celebration of Baptism with immersion for adults and children is now more expressive of the early Christian celebration of this sacrament.
Our community welcomes people of every race, language and way of life. We now have a very diverse group of people who add to the richness of our parish family. We celebrate this diversity with great enthusiasm every year in July and continue to encourage and support our many cultures to express their customs in our liturgies regularly. There are dinners and dances sponsored by individual cultural groups who extend a welcome to the whole community so that all may share in the experience.
The future of St. Gabriel is very bright. We have become a microcosm of the world and quite possibly the setting that all will experience when we are welcomed into Our Father’s house.