St, Mary's Church - Charlotte Hall (Final)

Here are the final set of photos.  If you are down that way, I hope you do visit.  

Please keep those who have died in your daily prayers.

St. Mary's Church - Charlotte Hall (Part III)

I did not realize that St. Mary's Church had a cemetery associated with it.  However, I should have.  It is run by the Archdiocese.

St. Mary's Church - Charlotte Hall, MD (Part II)

Here are some photos of the old church.

 

 

St. Mary's Church - Charlotte Hall, MD (Part I)

I was down on some personal business in Southern Maryland, and came upon St. Mary's Church in Charlotte Hall.   Someone told me that this was the poorist parish in the entire Archdiocese.   

As most Catholics in this Archdiocese never get down this way, I thought that I would share some photos with you.

Here are some photos of the current church.

 

 

 

Some Background on Fr. Briese

When the story about Fr. Briese broke, there was a huge amount of hate directed to him.  However, what most do not know is about the good that he has done in the community.  

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The Rev. Michael Briese makes his daily rounds going out to various apartments, hotels and homeless encampments in the area delivering food to those in need. 

The Saint Mary Catholic Church, Newport priest attempts to learn about the people he meets; finding out their name and phone number, how many people are in their family and how they got to where they are now in an effort to form a relationship with them and in turn be some kind of encouragement to help them get back on their feet.

To read more, go here. 

St. Mary's in Charlotte Hall, MD: Is there more to the story? I bet there is.

The Archdiocese of Washington is issuing a formal letter of apology to the family of a deceased woman whose funeral attendees Wednesday morning were abruptly evicted from a Charlotte Hall Catholic church by the priest, the Rev. Michael Briese, who was to preside over a Mass of Christian Burial.

In a letter shared with The Enterprise, the Rev. Michael Fisher, secretary for ministerial leadership, wrote to the deceased woman’s daughter: “What occurred at Saint Mary’s Parish [Wednesday] morning does not reflect the Catholic Church’s fundamental calling to respect and uplift the God-given dignity of every person nor does that incident represent the pastoral approach the priests of the Archdiocese of Washington commit to undertake every day in their ministry.”

Ed McFadden, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the incident remains under investigation and that he expects further conversations and developments as the archdiocese continues to investigate.

For more, click here.  

I have had the opportunity to get to know Fr. Briese and speak with him on a number occasions, both in public and privately.   This does not seem to be the Fr. Briese I had gotten to know.

My guess, is that there is something more here than meets the eye.  

For example, they say that she was baptized there, but was she a practicing Catholic?  If she was not a practicing Catholic, did he feel bullied to provide here with a funeral Mass by the family?   As this seems to have been the viewing before the Mass, were they being disrespectful in the church.  

I don't know but I get a very strange feeling that there is much more to this story than we are being told.  

If anyone has the inside story on this, and I mean the real story, not the rumors, you can contact me at awashingtondccatholic@gmail.com.