The Franciscan Sisters' Garden at St. Clement

 

 

The Franciscan Sisters' Garden at St. Clement

When I was the Pastor of St. Clement Mary Hofbauer Church, Rosedale, Baltimore County, Maryland (‘18-‘22), we undertook a project to build “security” fences between the church building and the parish center.  The beautiful space we created between the buildings was later dedicated as the “Franciscan Sisters’ Garden,” honoring those sisters who had previously dedicated many years of service to the parish.  The parish center was housed in the former convent. 

At the time I posted the following report on social media:

<<The last couple of days we’ve been working on a little “project” here at St. Clement.  This fence is “phase one” of a plan that will also include a similar fence at the back of the same yard between the church and the parish center (the former Franciscan Sisters convent).  We hope to make the enclosed space into a peaceful garden where various parish activities can happen.  It’s going to be a wonderful spot for church fellowship and prayer!  It will also make the yard more secure for those passing from the church to the parish offices.  Praise God!>>

Around the same time, we also completed a major renovation job on the parish food pantry, making vast improvements to the facility.  All the while, we were also (and very reasonably) spending large sums of money (paying day-laborers and renting large dumpsters) to remove all kinds of “junk” left inside our empty school building (in order to ready it for possible sale to a developer who hoped to renovate the building to create affordable housing for the elderly).  Additionally, and very economically, we renovated some rooms in the parish center (using materials from the former rectory) to create a usable guest space/small apartment and laundry room.  At the time, the parish council, parishioners, and others who needed to know, were kept apprised of these initiatives. 

 
Some people criticized us for “misappropriating parish funds” by building those fences, creating that garden, and the way we used parish resources on those other projects.  We did no such thing.  

I was happy to have initiated and completed those much needed initiatives.  

 

I know that to this day that they have served the parish well!

Praise God!