St. Peter’s Flower Ministry

St. Peter's Church is celebrating its 200th anniversary but the current Flower Ministry of St. Peter's is only 15 years young! As far as can be determined, beautifying the church altar and sanctuary in years past was mainly voluntary and occurred mostly on special holy days, such as Easter and Christmas. Minutes from the Ladies Club dating back to 1977 reflect that that various members from the Club would take responsibility for ‘beautifying’ the altar from time to time.

During Fr. Gene Nichols’ pastorate (1984-1992), the late Rita Scaglioni volunteered to make floral arrangements for the altar on a more regular weekly basis. Parishioner Diane Rolfs related a story about Rita approaching Fr. Gene with a request for $10 a week to help with the cost of the flowers. Not surprisingly, Fr. Gene agreed to a much larger amount!


Before that time, Sebastian Grabenstein who joined the parish in 1948, and who just passed away a month ago at the age of 106, took a great interest in decorating the Church, particularly during the holy seasons of Christmas and Easter. For Christmas, he would donate freshly cut pine trees from his farm to be used in the sanctuary. Sebastian also paid special attention to setting up the creche – the creche we currently use. This creche was designed and built by Sebastian’s son, Patrick Grabenstein and the Nativity figures were donated by Sebastian. Rita and Sebastian joined forces to decorate the church for many years on special occasions, including Christmas and Easter.

After the devastating fire of 2004, the parish celebrated Mass in the Parish Center and several people would regularly donate bouquets of flowers for the temporary altar. Lucia (Grabenstein) Kline and former parishioner, Marilyn Potter, using their garden club knowledge, started to make arrangements using flowers and other plant material from their gardens.

After moving to the new church in late 2008, Lucia, Marilyn and Rose Grimes, who also contributed to the altar flowers, gradually formed a flower committee of interested volunteers. Marilyn, a flower show instructor, conducted several workshops for new members to provide pointers on floral arranging in the sanctuary.

Shortly after Fr. Jason Worley became pastor of St. Peter's (2009-2018), Lucia was invited to join the Liturgy Committee and to participate on the Art and Environment sub-committee. That marked the birth of what we today call the Flower Ministry. At that same time Marilyn suggested that the Flower Ministry have an annual fundraiser to off-set the costs of flowers and plant material needed for weekly arrangements and the special liturgical celebrations throughout the year. St. Peter’s Annual Tea was the result.

St. Peter’s Tea, sponsored by the Flower Ministry, was first held in 2011 and has been held annually each Spring (except during Covid). One of the more anticipated events of the year, the Tea has a different theme each year, but the décor is always classic English. Each member of the Flower Ministry is responsible for the décor of their own table and for the preparation of the food served and members of our Knights of Columbus Council assist in the seating and table service. There is usually is a silent auction feature in which guests can participate at their option. Once the delicacies have been enjoyed, there is always a well prepared floral program presentation. Tickets are limited and the event always sells out – sometimes before it is even announced in the Bulletin!

The ministry added an additional service in 2009, when they began helping wedding couples with their altar arrangements; this has the added benefit of giving back to the church, financially. The success of the Tea, combined with the Easter and Christmas Flower Memorials from the parishioners each year, have allowed the Flower Ministry to be a self-sustaining ministry of the Parish. In the past few years, the Ministry has even been able to contribute to the cost of hiring professional landscapers to trim the bushes and trees around the campus.

Some of the original volunteers to the flower committee continue to give their time and talent to the Flower Ministry and many new members have joined in their efforts over the last 15 years. Even though this Ministry is a fairly new part of the historical 200th celebration, these members take great pride in helping to add to the liturgical celebrations of this very special Parish.

   


Other Key Moments in St Peter's History

Monsignor John A. Dietzenbach

Image
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
Read more

St. Peter’s Bicentennial

Image
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
Read more

Deacons John Martin, Jerry Jennings and Michael Dvorak

Image
“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
Read more

Fr. Martin W. Flahavan

Image
 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
Read more

Religious Educators of our Children Over the Years

Image
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
Read more

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

Image
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
Read more

Father John McElroy, S. J.

Image
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
Read more

James McSherry Coale

Image
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
Read more

Consecration of St. Peter’s First Church

Image
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
Read more

Dedication of the Third Church

Image
“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
Read more