One of Baltimore's oldest Catholic churches will merge with another parish

One of Baltimore's oldest Catholic churches will merge with another parish in July 2025, Archbishop Rev. William Lori announced this week. 

St. Vincent de Paul parish will merge with St. Leo the Great parish, which is located in Baltimore's Little Italy neighborhood. 

Rev. Lori attributed the decision to merge the two parishes to several factors and said the decision was made with input from the members of the parishes. 

Reasons for merging 

According to Rev. Lori, the number of Catholic households within the boundaries of St. Vincent de Paul declined from 637 to 231 between 2004 and 2023, despite an increase in the population. 

Of those households, only six are currently registered at St. Vincent de Paul. 

The number of parishioners who attend Mass declined by 64% between 2004 and 2023. About 47% of Mass attendees in the last parish census were over 60 years old, and 22% were over the age of 70, limiting the number of volunteers who are available for activities and outreach efforts. 

Rev. Lori also pointed to a decline in the number of baptisms received at the parish, saying only four baptisms took place in 2024. 

St. Vincent de Paul and St. Leo the Great are located within .5 miles of each other, and St. Leo parish has the resources necessary to welcome the new parishioners, according to Rev. Lori. 

"...it is my opinion that left to itself, St. Vincent de Paul parish will only continue to decline with the resultant diminishing of pastoral ministry and sacramental life," Rev. Lori said in a statement. "Merging with St. Leo the Great parish will allow the greatest opportunity to continue and even strengthen the ministries." 

"Seek the City to Come" consolidation plan 

The merge comes months after the Archdiocese of Baltimore moved forward with its "Seek the City to Come" plan, which consolidated 61 parishes into 30 worship sites. 

Several parishes held a final Mass between November 2024 and January 2025. 

The initiative to downsize was in response to a decline in Baltimore's population. 

In the plan, officials detailed how the Archdiocese opened more than a dozen churches in Baltimore in the 1950s to accommodate the growing population. At that time, the city's population had increased to almost one million residents. 

Since then, the city's population has shrunk to less than 570,000 people. 

The final plan to downsize was announced in May 2024 after a two-year planning process. 

Following the initial plan, there were further discussions among the leaders at St. Vincent de Paul and St. Leo the Great parishes about the merger. 

Rev. Lori said members of both parishes met several times to discuss the proposal before it was presented to the Presbyteral Council and approved in February 2025. 

St. Vincent de Paul will merge with St. Leo the Great by July 1, 2025. 

Response to parish consolidations 

After the initial "Seek the City to Come" consolidation plan was announced in 2024, a group of parishioners from St. Ann's Catholic Church filed an appeal to save the church. 

"The archdiocese has merged congregations before and it's not been easy for two different congregations to come together," longtime member Ralph Moore told WJZ. "They have different rules they operate by. They have different leadership structures."

St. Ann's was built in the 1870s.

"It's part of my being, this is the church where I grew up," member Johnson-Stewart said.