BALTIMORE — Deborah Campion has attended St. Joseph's Monastery Church her whole life; she was baptized there.
"I physically got sick," Campion recalled to WMAR after she had learned the church might close, "I felt sick to my stomach, I didn't understand it. They've closed a lot of parishes in the area."
Billowing bells played 'God Bless America' on Tuesday night in Southwest Baltimore's Irvington neighborhood as parishioners poured into the parking lot to learn about what's next at an evening meeting. News cameras were not allowed inside.
Father Mike Murphy, pastor for the church, answered questions and told congregants about 'Seek the City to Come' - the Archdiocese's plan which would consolidate parishes and redirect their worshippers to one church in the area, citing lower mass attendance and deferred maintenance. 40 churches in Baltimore City and County might close.
READ MORE: Archdiocese of Baltimore proposes mass church closures as part of Citywide merger plan
One of the casualties of the current plan would be St. Joseph's.
"I'm reminding [parishioners] that this is not necessarily a bad thing - it is for some parishes who have to close. But our story is one that, we don't feel like we should close, because we're doing exactly what we should be doing in the city. Growing congregation, growing finances. People travel here from the county, all of our parishioners, mostly, because they care about the city," Fr. Murphy told WMAR.
"All things in charity - let's not talk bad about each other," Fr. Murphy added. "There are good people trying to do a difficult thing. We just disagree with the proposal, so we're just pushing back in a good way."
On a Frequently-Asked-Questions page about the plan, the Archdiocese itself said "...we could not consider ourselves to be good stewards if we did not take bold steps to ensure a brighter future, not just for tomorrow, but for years to come."
It said the plan does not have to do with Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization following sexual abuse lawsuits.
"There are other churches around," said Kenneth Horvitz, a Catonsville resident and St. Joseph's congregant, "but when you have such a wonderful church like this, I can't believe they would even consider closing the church."
The plan is not final; parishioners who want to give the Archdiocese feedback can join two public meetings; first, on April 25 at Archbishop Curley High School, and on April 30 at Mount St. Joseph High School. Both start at 6:30pm.
The Archdiocese expects to have a final plan in the coming months.
