Father Charles M. Wible

Fr. Charles M. Wible, known affectionately by parishioners as Father Chuck, is the pastor leading St. Peter’s into its third century as a community of Catholics in eastern Frederick County and western Carroll County worshipping and serving our Lord in Libertytown.  Fr. Chuck came to St. Peter’s five years ago when he was initially named parish administrator in January of 2018, before being appointed as pastor. 


"Our parish anniversary gives us the opportunity to express our gratitude for the blessings of the past, as well as to be hopeful for future blessings as we continue to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ," said Fr. Chuck as the parish kicked off the bicentennial celebration marking 200 years since the establishment of our first church on the same site where we worship today. The building of the first church, a stone chapel, was initiated in 1821 when the parish was formally established. Construction was completed over the next two years and the church was dedicated in September 1823. Our parish was blessed to be able to mark the bicentennial of the beginning of work on that first church with Fr. Chuck shredding the now paid-off loan for our third church at the parish picnic in September 2021. As he noted at the time, only half-jokingly, we avoided the traditional mortgage burning ceremony since the third church was necessitated by the accidental 2004 fire that destroyed our second church building.

Fr. Chuck brought to us his rich background of previous experiences that inform his varied roles as a pastor. The Frederick News-Post described him as “a bit of a renaissance man” in a March 2018 article, noting that he is “an accomplished musician, a published author of two books, a singer and bass player, a former monk, [and] an educator.”

Born and raised in the Catonsville area, he attended St. William of York Parish and School as well as Mount St. Joseph High School. Fr. Chuck later graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from St. Hyacinth College and Seminary in Granby, Massachusetts. He was the youngest of five children, with one brother and three sisters. As he has sometimes noted in his homilies, his father was a typewriter repairman and his mother a bookkeeper. His grandmother lived with the family from the time he was 6 years old.

It was after high school that Fr. Chuck joined the Conventual Franciscans beginning his theology studies at St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary, in Rensselaer, New York. After St. Anthony closed, he transferred to the Washington Theological Union in Silver Spring, where he received his Master of Theological Studies degree in 1989. His career as a high school teacher began while he was with the friars, teaching religion and social studies at St. Francis High School near Buffalo. Discerning out of the friars after 10 years, he left before being ordained and was dispensed from his vows in 1990.

His teaching ministry continued though, and he taught religion at Seton Keough High School in West Baltimore for two years before becoming coordinator of youth ministry at St. Louis Parish in Clarksville. Fr. Chuck says that the ordination of a good friend and his attendance at the 1993 World Youth Day with Pope St. John Paul II in Denver moved him toward priesthood.

He was accepted into a program at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park and assigned to St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Riviera Beach, for pastoral work on weekends. He also completed a pastoral year there. Fr. Chuck was ordained as a transitional deacon in November 1995 and as a priest in 1996. He then served as associate pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Hydes, and St. Joseph in Cockeysville.

In order to discern a contemplative vocation with the Camaldolese Benedictines, a monastic community in Big Sur, California, he took a leave from pastoral ministry for four months in 2003, but missed being a parish priest. He would return to Maryland as associate pastor at Sacred Heart Church, Glyndon, then as pastor of St. Francis de Sales, Abingdon, followed by St. Michael the Archangel, Overlea. Before coming to St. Peter’s, he served as associate pastor at St. John the Evangelist, Frederick. “St. Peter’s has been wonderfully warm and welcoming to me,” Fr. Chuck told the News-Post in 2018. “There is a genuine sense of community here, and the parish has been quick to incorporate me into it. I am privileged to stand on the shoulders of giants who have each had a unique mark on St. Peter’s.”


Parishioners have heard Fr. Chuck sing, but all may not know that he plays bass, guitar, ukulele; and writes songs. He’s had several poems published and authored two books “Bible Stories That Speak to Our Heart” (Paulist Press) which explores the joys and challenges of human love and friendship through the example of timeless Bible stories, and “I Do and Beyond, Planning the Catholic Wedding Ceremony” (Cathedral Foundation Press) which helps engaged couples prepare their nuptials. As parishioners also know, Fr. Chuck resides with a Russian Blue cat, a rescue named Venus Marie.


Fr. Chuck enjoys reading and visiting historic sites when he vacations. In 2022 he led a group of parishioners on a pilgrimage to Austria and Germany including the COVID-delayed decennial presentation of the Passion Play in the village of Oberammergau. The travel delay was certainly not the only impact of the pandemic, and Fr. Chuck led our parish as we navigated the uncertainties of that extraordinary and evolving situation, finding new ways to minister to his flock.








Other Key Moments in St Peter's History

Monsignor John A. Dietzenbach

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John Augustine Dietzenbach was born on December 9, 1951 at West Union, Iowa, the second of six children. He grew up on a family farm near Fort Atkinson, Iowa and attended St. Luke Church and school in St. Lucas, Iowa. After graduating from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa in 1974 with a BA double major in Business Administration and Philosophy, he attended St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park, Baltimore, MD. He graduated with a Masters of Divinity in Theology from there in December of 1978 and during his last year in the seminary, he sought incardination (the official acceptance by one diocese of a clergyman from another diocese) with the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Fr. John was assigned to All Saints Parish on Liberty Road in January 1979, where he remained through his deaconate ordination on May 24, 1980 and his ordination to the priesthood on November 29, 1980. In the summer of 1981 he was assigned to St. Elizabeth Parish on Baltimore Street where he remained for 5 ye
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St. Peter’s Bicentennial

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The most recent key moment in St. Peter’s history is the commemoration of the parish’s bicentennial. 2021 marked 200 years since the establishment of the parish and the beginning of construction of our first church building, a stone chapel, on land donated by the Coale family. In September 1823, the newly completed first church was consecrated by Archbishop Ambrose Maréchal of Baltimore. To commemorate this milestone, a Bicentennial Committee consisting of 20 parishioners planned a number of activities beginning in September 2022 and culminating in Fall 2023. In order to carry out these plans without impacting the parish’s normal operating budget, Bicentennial fundraising efforts were undertaken. Early on, a logo was developed showcasing the current church with the extant portion of the second church prominently featured. This logo was used in the development of a Bicentennial ornament, which has been sold over the past year. A ticketed Bicentennial Ball dinner dance is planned f
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Deacons John Martin, Jerry Jennings and Michael Dvorak

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“I’ve come to serve.” That was the response called out by John Martin in May 2009 and by Jerry Jennings and Michael Dvorak in May 2011 as each was called forward from the pews of Baltimore’s Cathedral of Mary Our Queen to be ordained as deacons by then-Archbishop (now Cardinal) O’Brien. When asked today to talk about their roles as deacons assigned to St. Peter’s, they each summarize by saying “I’m here to serve.” Both Deacon John and Deacon Jerry have served in our military, and Deacon Mike works for the Employee Assistance Program for the Department of Defense.  Deacon John was in the U.S. Air Force and Air Force Reserves, while Deacon Jerry is a retired U.S. Army Colonel.  All are husbands and fathers, and Deacons John and Jerry are grandfathers. They each talk about how blessed they are to serve in our parish which values its deacons and allows them to exercise their full diaconal ministry through the liturgy, sacraments, preaching and outreach ministries.  Over the years, our d
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Fr. Martin W. Flahavan

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 Fr. Flahavan was a man of varied talents.  One example was a Marian Children’s Missal with Martin Flahavan featured in photos celebrating Mass.  This Missal, published by the School Sisters of Notre Dame, was designed to help children prepare for their First Communion, and was widely purchased throughout the country by parents for their children in the 1950’s and 60’s. In all the parishes he was assigned to, he was perpetually active doing something to advance the mission of the Catholic Church.   At St. Peter’s, where he was assigned from 1961 to 1965, he constructed a basketball court, developed the largest Altar Boy Society in the history of St. Peter’s, revived the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, organized an Usher Society, began high  school and adult discussion groups in cooperation with the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (known to many of us as CCD), made major maintenance improvements to the church and (old) rectory, renovated the parish hall, and developed a new
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Religious Educators of our Children Over the Years

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While the religious education of our children has always been the responsibility of their parents (and extended family), there is documented evidence that the Jesuits who visited Libertytown in early years of the Parish, and later the diocesan pastors, provided specific instruction to our young, prior to their receiving their First Holy Communion and Confirmation. Archive materials from the School Sisters of Notre Dame, however; provide us with our earliest window into the beginnings of formal religious education at St. Peter’s. From these records we learn that the religious women from that Order, beginning with Sr. Theophora Foley and Sr. Fidelis de Katow, moved into their new convent on October 25, 1892. This convent was adjacent to the school where they would be teaching – Notre Dame Academy (now occupied by the Parish office staff). Records don’t indicate how many sisters were teaching at the school at one time, but in 1935, the number of religious in the community were reduced t
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Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

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Catholics in Libertytown were blessed to interact with some of the major pillars of early Catholicism in the United States. For example, the first US bishop, John Carroll, was involved in the initial discussions about the possibility of a church in Liberty. Fr. John Dubois, who would go on to become Bishop of New York had ministered to Catholics here, as did Fr. John McElroy who completed our first church and later founded Boston College. Very notably, they also interacted with the first American born saint! Some eight decades before St. Peter’s would open the Notre Dame Academy, and a decade before our first church building even got underway, a young lady from Libertytown would benefit from the fact that the first free Catholic school for female education staffed by religious women in the U.S. opened here in her county. “Received the sum of twenty five dollars for three months advance payment for the board + tuition of Miss Sarah Coale,” reads a September 1811 receipt signed by Mo
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Father John McElroy, S. J.

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The priest who saw to the completion of the first St. Peter’s church was one very busy Jesuit. He was also responsible for building other local Catholic churches and schools before moving onto important roles from Mexico to Massachusetts. John McElroy came to the US from his native Ireland as a young man in 1803. He was ordained a priest in 1817 at the age of thirty-five. He was sent to Frederick in 1822 to aid the ailing pastor of St John the Evangelist Church, Fr. Francis Maleve, S.J. the successor to Fr. John Dubois, S.S. After arriving, Fr. McElroy, S.J. stayed with Fr. Maleve until he passed away a few days later, on Oct 3, 1822. Fr. McElroy was subsequently named pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church. St. Peter’s was a mission of St. John’s, as was St. Joseph’s on Carrollton Manor. While here, Fr. McElroy continued to build the church in our community…both figuratively & literally. Fr. McElroy’s journal notes that he made his first visit to Liberty on Nov. 12, 1822, and
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James McSherry Coale

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The building of the second St. Peter’s Church (dedicated in 1871, accidentally burned in 2004) was made possible by the generosity of the son of Richard and Catharine McSherry Coale who had donated the land and funding for our first church, dedicated in September 1823.   As our parish outgrew the original stone chapel, James McSherry Coale, son of Richard and Catharine, helped see to construction of a new brick church next to it. James was born in Libertytown on January 19, 1805, educated at Mount Saint Mary’s in Emmitsburg, and later studied law under Richard Potts of Frederick.   He was an Elector in the Electoral College for the 1836 and 1840 Presidential elections.   As noted in another Key Moment it was James, who had inherited the land where our church sits, who followed through in November 1867 on his late father’s intention that the 2 acres be transferred to the Catholic Church.   The “better late than never” transfer facilitated efforts to construct the larger church that the
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Consecration of St. Peter’s First Church

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Jesuit records reflect that the building of St. Peter’s first church was initially overseen by the Jesuit pastor of Frederick, Fr. Maleve. When Fr. Maleve died in October 1822, his successor, Fr. John McElroy, S.J. stepped in to see the completion of Liberty’s Catholic church. St. Peter’s was consecrated on September 28, 1823, as recorded in the diaries of both Archbishop Maréchal and Fr. McElroy: “I set out for Liberty town and got out at Mr. Coales’s, an earnest and zealous man, and owner of all the land about the town. He built a fine stone chapel and intends to give land for a graveyard, and very likely, a presbytery, garden and pasture: great prospect for an ecclesiastical establishment." - Arch Bishop Maréchal diary entry September 26, 1823 [i] “On the 28th I blessed the church. A great crowd from the neighborhood, and singers from Frederick and a fortepiano. Mass with the deacon and sub-deacon. I spoke twice, first on dedication of the church and secondly on confirmat
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Dedication of the Third Church

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“Woo-hoo!” shouted an excited parishioner, breaking the hush a few seconds after Msgr. Dietzenbach opened the doors. Perhaps a bit more vocal than the consecration 200 years ago of our first church, but no doubt very similar in sentiment to the consecration of our first church. Countless hours, lots of energy and significant effort went into making sure this most recent dedication was as flawless as possible. It was no small undertaking to arrange for a dedication liturgy involving a Cardinal, an Archbishop, 2 Bishops, more than 40 priests and deacons and a congregation numbering 800. Of interest, the youngest parishioner in attendance was Ava Folger, who was only 13 days old on the 7th of September and our most senior parishioner to witness the Dedication was Anne Morrissey, 104 years of age at the time. Two hundred years ago, in 1823, Fr. McElroy’s diary contained the following specifics concerning the procession preceding the liturgy of the consecration of the first church: “… s
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