BY MATT PALMER
mpalmer@catholicreview.org

A slow day at St. Mary’s in Annapolis doesn’t exist.

From its bustling elementary and high schools, to the well-attended eucharistic adoration chapel and numerous activities going on throughout the week inside the parish, St. Mary’s never stops.

More than 5,300 registered families breathe life each day into St. Mary’s and its mission, St. John Neumann, also in Annapolis.

The hectic schedule keeps the pastor, Redemptorist Father John “ Jack” Kingsbury, alert for ways to tap into all avail-able resources and facilities. A weekday school session can keep the parking lots full, leading the parish to hold funerals at St. John Neumann.

“What’s nice is we’re able to deal with both sites as one,” Father Kingsbury said. “ We belong to a parish at St. Mary’s. Now, you may go to church at St. John Neumann, but you’re still part of St. Mary’s parish.”

In many ways, he’s like a chief executive officer – delegating authority to a group he calls his “ senior staff.” He calls on principals and parish leaders to keep him abreast on every aspect of the church, using open channels of communication.

“You learn very quickly that if this is going to work,” high school principal Richard Bayhan said, “ there can be no single group that feels they are the top banana in all of this. The thing that impressed me is how clearly defined the mission is here, and we’re trying to reach that. That really goes back to Father Jack.”

Father Kingsbury says he constantly strives to make St. Mary’s “ a community for all.”

“I like that model because when you’re dealing with this many people, you can become very impersonal,” he said. “ The beauty of the parish is that it has another dimension. Where are you attached to in the community? Our goal is to help people experience community.”

It’s a long-standing goal going back to the mid- 19th century.

Just a short stroll from the State House, the church was completed in 1860 and sits on land once owned by Charles Carroll, the lone Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence. His waterfront house and property, which the Redemptorists obtained in 1852, remain to this day.

According to St. Mary’s, Mr. Carroll faced down anti Catholicism to open a chapel in his home to allow people to receive the sacraments when the practice of the faith was banned by Maryland law.

Arriving just more than a year ago, Mr. Bayhan was over-whelmed by the scope of the parish and its history.

“You have a parish that has existed since the 1850s and had innumerable changes over the decades,” said Mr. Bayhan, who is also a parishioner. “You’ve had the charism of the Redemptorists , the charism of the School Sisters of Notre Dame who have lovingly held these schools together for all those decades. It’s a growing, strong parish community. There’s just so much going on.”

The current church is a stunning gothic structure that com-bines a brick façade with marble and wood inside. A vibrant blue, star- filled ceiling above the sanctuary features the exact pattern of stars the night the church was dedicated in 1860.

Father Kingsbury, who arrived more than three years ago, said there is always some-thing to discover at the parish. He’s seeking more community action among his parishioners, some of whom are politically and economically powerful.

“I believe that is where the Gospel is lived,” he said. “ We want to get away from this feeling that I came in and filled an obligation of going to Mass. We want them to be a part of a group of believers who have a vision that came from Christ through the Gospel. It’ll go beyond going to Mass and then into living it in society.”

(Reprinted from the December 25 issue of The Catholic Review)