Saint Ambrose Roman Catholic Church - Baltimore MD - Roman Catholic Churches on Waymarking.com

From the church website below:

Parish History
Cardinal Gibbons assigned Father Philip Walsh, assistant at Saint Gregory Parish, the task of going into the Park Heights neighborhood to determine if a parish was needed. Father Walsh
stepped from the carriage in the latter part of 1906 and began his work. He first gathered the Catholic families in the ballroom of the Old Suburban Hotel which was usually vacant on Sunday morning. Other than the hotel and a few sprawling buildings the young priest saw little else in the neighborhood. Small houses and stores ran disconnected along Park Heights Avenue as it climbed its’ way to the Pimlico Race Track. Father Walsh was hopeful!

For the first year there was no rectory or church and the church owned no property. Father Walsh continued to live at St. Gregory’s rectory and commuted to the parish territory. Later he
found lodging at the corner of Wylie and Park Heights in the building which now houses a barber shop. He later lived in a rented house at 4773 Park Heights Avenue until he purchased a
house in 1909 at the corner of Wylie and Park Heights, the present site of our convent building.

Father Walsh decided to strike out into the deep, and with faith in God and in the people, few though they be, he was able to purchase property at the corner of Wylie and Park Heights
Avenue for the sum of $7,000. Soon a wooden frame church was built and dedicated to Saint Ambrose on June 30th, 1907. Father Walsh continued to walk from Park Heights and Virginia Avenues to the little frame church for daily mass. Later, in 1907, he sought help from the Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart who taught catechism to the children of the parish for the next twenty years.

In May of 1920 Father Walsh purchased the Old Suburban Hotel for school purposes. At the time, there were 245 children in the catechism classes of the parish. Father Walsh did not live to
see the school become a reality. He died suddenly on July 15, 1920 to the shock of many Catholics and non-Catholics.

In August 1920, Cardinal Gibbons appointed Father Reynolds as pastor of Saint Ambrose. Father Reynolds built an addition onto the parish rectory, enlarged the sacristy and renovated the
old hotel building into the school. Father Thomas McGuigan was the third pastor of Saint Ambrose when ground was broken for the current school On December 7, 1924, Archbishop Curley laid the cornerstone of the school. The school was dedicated on October 11, 1925 by Archbishop Curley and the School Sisters of Notre Dame came to teach the children of the parish. On June 17, 1928, during the pastorate of Monsignor Hugh Monahan, the cornerstone of the new church was laid and blessed by Archbishop
McNamara, and the following year on May 12, 1929, the beautiful new church was dedicated. On March 22, 1942, fire damaged the convent. In May, 1942, two homes were purchased on Wylie Avenue to use as a convent.

On December 7, 1944, a fire destroyed the old church and claimed the lives of six people. The parish Auditorium was dedicated on February 16, 1947 by Bishop McNamara. In 1955, the current rectory and convent buildings were finished. The full parish plan of church, rectory, convent, school and auditorium was complete.
With civil unrest and the creation of fair housing enforcement in the City of Baltimore in the mid 1960’s, the Park Heights neighborhood began to change. In 1968, Father Henry Zerhusen
became the eighth pastor of St. Ambrose and was most responsible for desegregating the parish and school. Father Henry made many of the newly arriving African American residents feel welcomed. In 1972, during Fr. Henry’s pastorate, Deacon Americus Roy, the first African American Deacon in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, began his ministry in the parish. Father Henry passed away on August 9, 2003.

In 1972 the Saint Ambrose Outreach Center opened under the directorship of Sr. Charmaine Krohe, SSND. The center provides services and hope to the Park Heights neighborhood and
beyond. With no resident pastor, the late 1980’s were a difficult time for the parish, thanks-be- to-God Deacon Watson Fulton and Sr. Charmaine Krohe, SSND were administrators and
pastored the people.

In 1992, the pastoral care of the parish was given over to the Capuchin Franciscan Friars of the Province of Saint Augustine and Father John Pfannenstiel, OFM Cap was named 12th pastor.
Father John served the parish for 12 years. In 2003, Fr. Michael Joyce, OFM Cap (Brother Mick) was named 13th pastor and in August, 2004, Fr. Paul Zaborowski, OFM Cap. was named 14th pastor. Saint Ambrose Rectory now has the added dimension of being a Capuchin Friary. Fathers Roman, Bill, John and Paul currently reside in the friary.

In August of 2005, the Oblate Sisters of Providence, through the ministry of Sister Mary Loretto Evans, OSP, as Sunday School Coordinator, returned to the parish. Oblate Sister Mary Stephen Beauford continues in that ministry. Soon after, Oblate Sister Philomena Chizea assisted with our ministry to the sick. In 2009, the School Sisters of Notre Dame returned with Sr. Ann

Marie Whalen as Minister to the Sick & Homebound and soon after Sr. Rita Bueche began her work with the RCIA Process.

We are blessed to have Deacons Seigfried Presberry and Steven Rubio assisting in the parish ministry. For the past eleven years, the Parish has been assisting as a placement for the Pastoral Theology Department of St. Mary’s Seminary & University and the past seven years the student friars from Capuchin College, Washington, DC have been assisting in the parish ministry as well. The Oblate Sisters of Providence Eva, Stella and Mary have assisted in the Religious Education program as well.

Founded in 1907, Saint Ambrose is a beacon of light in the Park Heights Community.

Type of Church: Church Status of Building: Actively in use for worship Date of organization: 01/01/1906 Date of building construction: 02/16/1947 Diocese: Archdiocese of Baltimore Maryland Address/Location: 4502 Park Heights Avenue Baltimore, MD United States 21215 Relvant Web Site: [Web Link] Dominant Architectural Style: Not listed Associated Shrines, Art, etc.: Not listed Archdiocese: Not listed

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