Mount Calvary choir to sing at Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

On St. Nicholas Day, December 6th at 6 pm.  The choir of Mount Calvary Church This will continue its collaborative efforts with the Mother Seton Shrine and St. Mary's Spiritual Center. Their choir will be singing at shrine, which is 2 1/2 blocks away from the church on Paca Street in Baltimore.

Mass for the Feast of the Assumption of the BVM in Baltimore

On a personal note, I'll be in the mid-Atlantic next week, and I'm looking forward to visiting Mount Calvary for this feast day and renewing my acquaintance with my Baltimore friends.

Spring Liturgies at Mount Calvary, Baltimore

Tenebrae on Spy Wednesday at Mount Calvary

Please join Mount Calvary, Baltimore's Ordinariate parish, on the evening of Spy Wednesday for one of the only Catholic Holy Week Tenebrae services in the mid-Atlantic region. The Matins and Lauds of Maundy Thursday in the Anglican Use will be chanted by candlelight in the main church. Please join us at 7:00pm for this most moving and ancient of Holy Week liturgies. "And from the daughter of Syon all her beauty is departed : her princes are become like harts that find no pasture : and they are gone without strength before the pursuer." (First Nocturne of Matins)

Mount Calvary is located at 816 N. Eutaw Street in down Baltimore, at the corner of Madison and N. Eutaw. Ample parking space is available next to the church. For more information, see our website at www.mountcalvary.com or call us at 410-728-6140. 

Lenten Friday series continues at Mt. Calvary Baltimore

Friday, March 28: Fridays in Lent Series Continues with Barry Sullivan.  Please join us at 7:00pm, on Friday night tomorrow, March 28, for Stations of the Cross, Benediction in the Anglican Use, and a simple Lenten supper and reflection by Barry Sullivan of Defend Life, nuclear engineer, Project Manager for the Department of Energy, father of two adopted children, and a former candidate for Congress in Southern Maryland. Barry will reflect on the many times that he has been involved in various charitable causes, pro-life activities, politics, everyday situations with the various moral challenges one runs up against, in a talk entitled, "Sowing the Seeds of Life, and Reaping a Lifetime of Joy." This is a popular talk that Barry has given in a number of Maryland parishes. All are welcome! 

2) Friday, April 4: Fridays in Lent Series Continues with Fr. Jacob Straub. Please join us at 6:30 pm, on Friday, April 4, for Stations of the Cross, Benediction in the Anglican Use, and a simple Lenten supper and reflection by Fr. Jacob Straub. Fr. Straub is a priest of the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky, and is currently studying for his Licentiate in Systematic Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Fr. Straub will reflect on "Lent and The Four Last Things" – death, judgment, heaven and hell – and how meditating on them in Lent can serve to remind us of our purpose in life, to receive the gift of grace necessary to save our souls. Note that Friday, April 4th, and Friday April 11th, the start time has been moved back to 6:30 pm, thanks to a broad consensus in the parish that an earlier time works better with most people's schedules. 

Sung High Mass for Lady Day at Mount Calvary, Baltimore

Mount Calvary, Baltimore's Ordinariate parish, will celebrate a special High Mass according to the new Ordinariate missal in honor of Our Lady for the Feast of the Annunciation (Lady Day) at 7:00pm on Tuesday, March 25. Choral accompaniment will feature motets by Hassler and Biebl. Confessions will be heard starting at 6:30pm. The Lord said, as he entered the world: Behold, I come to do your will, O God. (Introit: Heb 10:5,7)

Mount Calvary, a parish of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, was founded in 1842 as a Anglican parish, and has a long and rich reputation for its Anglo-Catholic heritage and traditional chant and polyphonic sacred music. It was the first Anglican parish to vote to join the Roman Catholic Church as part of the Ordinariate structure established by Pope Benedict XVI in the United States. Mount Calvary is located at the corner of Madison and N. Eutaw St., just of MLL Boulevard  in downtown Baltimore, less than an hour from Washington, D.C. See our website for more details, at www.MountCalvary.com, or call 410-728-6140. 

New administrator announced for Mount Calvary, Baltimore

Fr. Scharbach at his First Solemn Mass at Mount Calvary,
November 16, 2013.

Mount Calvary is very pleased to announce the appointment of Father Albert Scharbach as its new permanent priest administrator. Fr. Carleton Jones, O.P. made the announcement publicly at the 10:00 am Mass on Sunday, March 9th. Fr. Scharbach will officially assume this assignment on Friday, March 14. A copy of the official letter of the announcement can be read at the parish web site.
Fr. Scharbach was ordained as a priest of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter on Friday, November 15, 2013, and celebrated his First Mass as a priest at Mount Calvary on the following morning. Fr. Scharbach currently serves as the Pastoral Associate to Auxiliary Bishop Denis Madden of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and previously served as the Curate of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, Pennsylvania while he was an Anglican priest...


For more on Fr. Scharbach and his appointment, please see the links on the parish web site.

Mass for the US Ordinariate's Feast of Title

Mount Calvary Church is pleased to announce that Fr. Albert Scharbach will be celebrating a special Mass in the Anglican Use on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, the Solemnity of Title of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, at 10:00am this Saturday, February 22 in the main church at Mount Calvary. There will be an opportunity for confessions at 9:30.

Fr. Scharbach, a new priest of the Ordinariate, celebrated his First Mass as a priest here at Mount Calvary after his ordination in November, and has been a frequent celebrant for daily Mass since then. Fr. Scharbach currently serves as Pastoral Associate to Bishop Denis J. Madden, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

We very much hope that you can all join us here at Mount Calvary for this special feast day for the Ordinariate, which takes place at the same  time as the Ordinariate's pilgrimage to Rome. For more information, please see our website at www.mountcalvary.com.

Events at Mt. Calvary Baltimore for November's opening days

Because All Saints Day, November 1, is a holy day of obligation for all Catholics, Mt. Calvary has added extra Masses for Friday. The calendar of events is as follows:

FRIDAY, November 1 (All Saints Day)
  8:00am - High Mass (Traditional Latin Mass) - St. Alphonsus Church
12:10pm - Low Mass (Novus Ordo)
  7:00pm - Solemn High Mass (Anglican Use) - Homily by Fr. James Moore, O.P.
                - Supper and Lecture by Fr. James Moore, O.P., immediately following the Mass

SATURDAY, November 2 (All Souls Day)
10:00am - High Mass of Requiem (Anglican Use)

SUNDAY, November 3 (XXIII Sunday after Trinity)
  8:00am - Low Mass (Anglican Use)
10:00am - High Mass (Anglican Use)
  1:00pm - Concert: Music for Horn and Soprano
  4:30pm - Evensong

Feast of St. Edward the Confessor

Mount Calvary Catholic Church will be celebrating a very special feast day in the Anglican Use Kalendar this Sunday, October 13 - the Feast of St. Edward the Confessor, second to last (some say the last) Anglo-Saxon King of England before the Norman Conquest, 1042-1066. Of St. Edward, the old (1911) Catholic Encyclopedia says this:

Being devoid of personal ambition, Edward's one aim was the welfare of his people. He remitted the odious "Danegelt", which had needlessly continued to be levied; and though profuse in alms to the poor and for religious purposes, he made his own royal patrimony suffice without imposing taxes. Such was the contentment caused by "the good St. Edward's laws", that their enactment was repeatedly demanded by later generations, when they felt themselves oppressed.

Yielding to the entreaty of his nobles, he accepted as his consort the virtuous Editha, Earl Godwin's daughter. Having, however, made a vow of chastity, he first required her agreement to live with him only as a sister. As he could not leave his kingdom without injury to his people, the making of a pilgrimage to St. Peter's tomb, to which he had bound himself, was commuted by the pope into the rebuilding at Westminster of St. Peter's abbey, the dedication of which took place but a week before his death, and in which he was buried. St. Edward was the first King of England to touch for the "king's evil", many sufferers from the disease were cured by him. He was canonized by Alexander III in 1161. His feast is kept on the 13th of October, his incorrupt body having been solemnly translated on that day in 1163 by St. Thomas of Canterbury in the presence of King Henry II.

Sunday's feast day High Mass will include selections of Medieval English music, including 13th century motets and a 14th century Ordinary, all British, in Latin, performed by the choir led by Choirmaster, Dr. Daniel Page. One of the motets is polytexted. There will also be the opportunity to venerate a relic of St. Edward. 

All interested are invited to join the congregation at 10:00 am for this special High Mass this Sunday. Solemn Evensong will be held at 4:30 pm as usual.

Fr. James Bradley to speak at Mount Calvary, Baltimore

Mount Calvary's First Fridays series continues on Oct. 4. Please join us for Adoration, Benediction, supper, and a special talk by Fr. James Bradley of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, The Anglican Use in Great Britain, entitled, "The Rock From Which You Were Hewn: the Foundation and Development of the Personal Ordinariate in the United Kingdom." 

Fr. Bradley was ordained as a priest for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham by Bishop Alan Hopes, at St Patrick’s, Soho Square, and has served as Communications Officer for the Personal Ordinariate and as Private Secretary to the Ordinary, Msgr Keith Newton. Currently living in Washington, D.C., where he is studying for a Licentiate in Canon Law at the Catholic University of America. 

Fr. Bradley is well known for his blog, Thine Own Service. 

Adoration and Confessions will begin at 5:00 pm; First Fridays Devotions and Benediction will follow at 6:30 pm; Supper and Lecture by Fr. Bradley at 7:00 pm. For more information and directions, see the church's website at MountCalvary.com.

Assumption at Mount Calvary

Springtime Feast Days at Mount Calvary Church, Baltimore, Maryland

DC Ordinations for the Ordinariate

Monsignor Steenson is shown with three newly ordained priests for the Ordinariate in the D.C. area along with "veterans" from Baltimore ordained earlier in June.

From left to right: Rev. Rick Kramer, Rev. Anthony Vidal, Rev. Ed Meeks, Msgr. Steenson, Rev. Jason Catania, Rev Mark Lewis.

Photo from the Facebook page of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Charm City has 3 new priests

(From right to left) Frs. Jason Catania, Anthony Vidal, and David Reamsnyder, ordained for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter on June 9, 2012.

Seven priests to be ordained in the Archdiocese of Baltimore

By Elizabeth Lowe

Deacon Steven Roth remembers being 5 years old, coming home from school and retreating to his room to celebrate Mass – using his desk as an altar and Necco wafers as Communion.

His childhood dream of becoming a priest will come to life June 9 when Archbishop William E. Lori ordains Deacon Roth and three others to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The 10 a.m. ordination Mass will be celebrated at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland...

Deacon Stephen Cotter, Deacon Issac Makovo and Deacon Jaime Garcia-Vasquez will also be ordained to the priesthood during the special liturgy. All were ordained to the transitional diaconate May 21, 2011, by Cardinal Edwin F. O’Brien – their final step before becoming priests...

During the June 9 Mass, Deacon Jason Catania, a former Anglican priest who was ordained to the Catholic transitional diaconate May 12, will be ordained a Catholic priest by Archbishop Lori for the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter – a jurisdiction established by Pope Benedict XVI to minister to former Anglicans.

Deacons Anthony Vidal and David Reamsnyder, also former Anglican priests, will be ordained Catholic transitional deacons June 2 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and ordained as priests for the ordinariate during the June 9 liturgy.

Deacons Catania, Vidal and Reamsnyder previously served as Anglican clergy at Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore, a former Anglican parish that was received into the Catholic Church in January.

“I think the moment when the archbishop lays his hands on my head will be a very powerful thing,” said Deacon
Catania, 40...

Read the whole story at the web site of The Catholic Review.

Hat tip to Daniel Page.

Lenten Exercises in Baltimore

The Journey of Mount Calvary

Jason Catania tells the story of a parish going home

The story of the decision by Mount Calvary Church, Baltimore to accept the Holy Father’s generous offer in Anglicanorum Coetibus is not yet at an end. Nonetheless, I am pleased to have this opportunity to relate how we have reached this historic moment.

The story begins not with the publication of the apostolic constitution itself, nor with any of the various departures from historic Catholic belief and practice by the Episcopal Church, though these are indeed significant aspects in the tale. Rather, the story begins early in the parish’s 170-year history.

Founded under Tractarian principles in 1842, Mount Calvary soon became known as a center of advanced Anglo- Catholicism. In his discussion of the anti-ritualist 1871 General Convention in his book The Catholic Movement in the Episcopal Church, Canon George E. DeMille writes: "For a decade, Mount Calvary Church, Baltimore, had been a center of Catholic teaching and of ritualistic practice..."

From High Church to Anglo-Catholic
Indeed, under the rectorship of Father Alfred Curtis, Mount Calvary made the transition from High Church to full-blown Anglo-Catholicism (including the first daily Mass in the Episcopal Church in 1868) and it was likely during his time at Mount Calvary that confessional boxes were installed in the church...

Read the rest at Anglican Patrimony.

Hat tip to The Cavalier's Commonplace Book.

Shorter version of Mass of Reception and Baptism at Mt Calvary

The movie I uploaded last week of the Mass at Mount Calvary was over an hour, a long time to watch online. Here's a shorter video that has selections from the Mass, with different angles.

Hat tip to Daniel Page

Evensong at Mount Calvary Baltimore, Sunday, January 22, 2012

Here's the final video from last weekend's hat trick of Anglican Use Liturgies in Washington and Baltimore. Mount Calvary, which regularly celebrates Evensong & Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at 4:30 on Sundays, hosted members of the St. Thomas More Society from Scranton, PA, as well as other well-wishers like myself on the Eve of the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. Fr. Dwight Longenecker, of Our Lady of the Rosary Parish in Greenville, South Carolina was the preacher, and focused on Newman's retreat to Littlemore. The music, like that of the earlier Mass and the evensong of the day before in D.C. was superb and uplifting.