Our Lady of Perpetual Help

ELLICOT T CIT Y, MARYL ANDGoal: $1,800,000

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It has been an incredible blessing to serve here as your pastor since 2007 and witness the great goodness of the Lord in all that He has helped us accomplish. In our years together we have: • undertaken a major repair and renovation of our school and religious education building, • paid off all of the debt from that emergency project together with the longstanding debt from our Parish Center construction, • renovated the sanctuary and interior of our church, • seen our parish family grow both in number and in our sense of community through blessings like our Parish Family Dinner Nights, • provided for the future care of our parish by saving the funds needed for long-term maintenance projects, and • seen new ministries and activities grow and flourish, like our monthly Holy Hours with adoration and worship. All of this has been accomplished because of the Lord’s goodness to us and your great generosity in responding to our needs.

Now, I want to share with you what I hope will be another great accomplishment and blessing for our parish family: the construction of a new entrance and gathering space for our church, which will also house a new Eucharistic Adoration Chapel. We are undertaking this project as part of our parish’s participation in the Archdiocese’s Embracing our Mission - Shaping Our Future campaign, which is aimed at strengthening the Church’s ministry in our parishes, schools, charities and outreach.

The Lord has been so good to us here at OLPH and I look forward to seeing all that He still has in store for us. I have been so blessed in my years with you and hope that you will join me in this campaign to strengthen the mission of our parish and the Church here in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Thank you for generously supporting this good work!

Yours prayerfully in Christ,

Fr. Erik Arnold

Our HistoryFor over 120 years, Our Lady of Perpetual Help has been bringing the Good News of Jesus to the people of Ellicott City and responding to the spiritual needs of those in our community. Whether it was the opening of a one-room schoolhouse to serve the children of Ilchester, or the spiritual home the Redemptorists offered to Catholics who lived on this side of the hill in Ellicott City, our parish has tried faithfully to serve the spiritual needs of our community.

Our roots are with the Redemptorist priests who opened a seminary in 1868 and soon found themselves caring for the spiritual needs of Catholics in the local communities of Thistle, Gray’s Mills and Ilchester.

On September 14, 1879, the Redemptorists hung the portrait of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Ilchester chapel as part of their mission from Pope Pius IX to make the Blessed Mother, through the title Our Lady of Perpetual Help, known to the world. That same icon still adorns our church today, reminding us of Mary’s motherly care and perpetual help. On September 15 our first school opened: a one-room schoolhouse that served 24 children.

It was not until 1893 that Cardinal Gibbons officially established Our Lady of Perpetual Help as its own parish and in the years that followed,

the parish continued to grow, the school expanded, and a cemetery was added.

By the 1950’s, the parish had outgrown the seminary chapel at the base of Ilchester and our families began fundraising to purchase property about a mile from the original seminary chapel. Families in the parish were generous and a tract of land was purchased, so that in 1957 a new one-story brick school could be constructed, with a basement for a “temporary church.”

What we now know as “Harrison Hall” served as our parish church and place of worship until 1985, when the current church was constructed. Along the way, the school building expanded and the parish family continued to grow.

In the mid 1990’s the Redemptorists could no longer staff the parish and so it was transferred from the care of the Redemptorist order to the Archdiocese of Baltimore, to be served by parish priests of the Archdiocese.

Over the years, Our Lady of Perpetual Help has experienced tremendous growth, as has the rest of Ellicott City and surrounding Howard County communities. As the parish continues to grow, we look forward to a vibrant and faith-filled future!

Our Need & Our PlanOur parish has over 65 different ministries that generously serve the Gospel across a range of needs, including outreach to the needy, the education of our youth, faith formation for adults, and many other ministries and activities that build up and strengthen our parish family. We are blessed to name among our parish’s strengths our spirituality, our many programs for adult enrichment, our Catholic school and youth ministries, our sense of community, as well as our pastoral and professional staff, dedicated committees and councils, committed volunteers and our beautiful open campus.

A major component of the Archdiocesan Embracing Our Mission, Shaping Our Future campaign is to help address the local needs of parishes like our own. Therefore, a formula has been developed that will allow all parishes to support the broader needs of the Archdiocese and the charities, schools and programs it supports, while retaining a portion of the overall funds raised to address critical parish needs.

Our parish has a total campaign goal of $1,800,000 of which we will receive $635,500. This would allow us to begin plans to construct a new narthex and gathering space that would also include a new Eucharistic Adoration Chapel.

As you can see from the enclosed drawings, the new Narthex will offer a larger, more inviting space: • To welcome our parishioners and guests as they come to Mass;• For our parish ministries to engage parishioners with current activities and offerings;• For parishioners to gather after Mass, allowing the church to remain dedicated for those wanting to spend a few minutes in prayer before and after Mass;• For our parents with young children, who need more space and a better environment than the current cry room offers;• For additional meeting space during the week when our regular meeting rooms are occupied.The new Eucharistic Adoration Chapel will offer:• Parishioners and visitors a dedicated space for prayer, accessible throughout the day and evening;• The opportunity to highlight the centrality of the gift of the Eucharist and to encourage parishioners to spend time with the Lord in prayer;• The potential for expanding our weekly Friday Eucharistic Adoration into Perpetual Adoration, 24/7.The exterior design of the new Narthex will offer:• A more visibly sacred appearance to mark our church and campus as a place of prayer and faith in our community;• A more efficient and effective way to comfortably heat and cool the gathering space than our current narthex.Our parish family has always responded generously in the past for important initiatives and I am confident we will be able to achieve all we are hoping to in this new project, as we bring others to share our excitement and sense of purpose.

Campaign Goal: $1,800,000

Together with the Archdiocese of Baltimore, we are embarking on an exciting journey to meet the needs of our parishioners, while still serving those in need across the Archdiocese. We know the tools necessary to continue our ministry and service require additional financial resources. Therefore, we are inviting you to move forward with us in prayer and sacrifice with a special initiative, called Embracing Our Mission ~ Shaping Our Future. This fundraising program will allow us to support the people of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, while fulfilling our duty as Christians to serve the poor, the needy, the aging, our retired clergy and children across our state.

Here in our own parish we are excited to undertake a project to construct a New Narthex and Gathering Space, including a New Eucharistic Adoration Chapel.

Through your generosity, we will successfully complete this program that will have a positive impact on every aspect of our parish community. Please pray and reflect on how you can participate in this special sacrificial effort.

RENDERINGS

$100 Million

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Archdiocesan Schools

Parishes

Char

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Clergy Cathedral Fund

Archdiocesan Schools – $50 Million One of the primary objectives of this program is to assert our place as a national leader in education and realize the goals established by the Blue Ribbon Committee on Catholic

Schools.

Parishes – $20 Million The Archdiocese recognizes the central role our parishes play in the daily life of the Church.

Catholic Charities – $10 Million With 80 programs serving more than 160,000 people annually and as the largest private provider of human services in Maryland, Catholic Charities is the face of care and compassion for those who are truly in need of our help.

Vocations and Retired Clergy – $10 Million It is our responsibility to ensure the future of our Faith by providing the financial resources to care for our retired clergy, as well as funds to ensure we can actively attract and support seminarians.

Cathedral Fund – $7 Million We are entrusted with a special responsibility of preserving these rich treasures for future generations of Catholics and the community at-large.

Evangelization – $3 Million Sharing the truth of God’s love and life with our children, as well as those who may be struggling with their relationship with God is central to the growth of our Faith.

The Embracing Our Mission ~ Shaping Our Future capital campaign has been initiated to ensure lasting service to the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the community we serve.

Archdiocese of Baltimore320 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201410-547-5356 Fax 410-625-8485 www.archbalt.org/giving