For years, the pews at St. Bernardine Catholic Church in West Baltimore were sparsely filled. Parishioners had left the church, moved from the area or died.

At most, St. Bernardine could have 250 people on Christmas Eve. The ushers count every Mass. But this Sunday, more than 360 people attended the 10:30 a.m. service marking the start of Advent, the religious season leading up to Christmas.

Parishioners of St. Bernardine Roman Catholic Church pray during mass on December 1, 2024 in Baltimore, Md.
Parishioners pray during Mass on Sunday. (Eric Thompson for The Baltimore Banner)
Parishioners exit St. Bernardine Roman Catholic Church in Baltimore, Md., following the first mass combining parishes around the city on December 1, 2024.
Parishioners exit St. Bernardine's following the first Mass combining parishes. (Eric Thompson for The Baltimore Banner)

As the choir sang gospel and church ushers passed a basket for donations, Mass had taken a new form.

“The church is full,” said Patricia Stokes, vice president of the parish council, raising her hands and swaying to the left and the right, dancing in praise.

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This Mass was six months in the making, said head usher Lori Weinder, marking the merger of five parishes into one congregation. Under the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Seek the City plan to consolidate its churches, the total number of parishes in Baltimore and surrounding areas dropped from 61 to 23, while closing half of 59 worship sites.

A crucifix that hangs above the altar at St. Bernardine Roman Catholic Church as seen through the church doors on December 1, 2024, in Baltimore, Md.
A crucifix that hangs above the altar at St. Bernardine's. (Eric Thompson for The Baltimore Banner)
A statue of Mary outside of St. Bernardine Roman Catholic Church on Dec. 1, 2024 in Baltimore, Md.
A statue of Mary outside the church overlooks the city skyline. (Eric Thompson for The Baltimore Banner)

St. Bernardine’s became St. Bernardine’s With Historic St. Peter Claver, to include a church that’s now known as an additional worship site within the same parish community. Also merged into St. Bernardine’s were St. Edward, St. Gregory the Great and St. Pius V.

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When the archdiocese asked newly formed parishes to plan to hold the Advent Mass together, the Rev. Rich Bozzelli preached for change at St. Bernardine’s, Weinder said. He asked the ushers to keep in mind that the congregation was going to receive people dealing with loss. The ushers, Bozzelli said, were to welcome them and were to make the new parishioners feel embraced, no matter what.

Bozzelli also told the ushers to revive the greeting ministry, said usher Renard Gardner. Greeters, who had stopped being a presence in the church in recent years, escort parishioners to the pews. They bid them goodbye and give them bulletins. They tell parishioners they hope they come back. The ushers recruited greeters, some who visited the other churches before they closed so they were familiar faces.

Reverend Richard Bozzelli presides over the first mass after parishes across Baltimore City were combined, held on Dec. 1, 2024 at St. Bernardine Roman Catholic Church in Baltimore, Md.
The Rev. Richard Bozzelli presides over the first Mass after parishes across Baltimore City were combined. (Eric Thompson for The Baltimore Banner)

Gardner had attended St. Peter Claver. Shenia Young, another usher, was raised at St. Gregory the Great, and her grandparents had leadership roles there. They are both familiar with the sense of loss that comes when churches close. But Young reframes the merging of the parishes as a rebirth.

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“It’s still one church, one God,” she said.

“You don’t worship Saint Bernardine,” Weinder added. “We worship God.”

Keishauna Banks, who has been part of the St. Bernardine’s congregation for more than a decade, understood the grief. Churches become home to people. She had felt a sense of loss when her former parish merged with another community in the 1990s.

Keishauna Banks prays alongside her children at the offertory during mass at St. Bernardine Roman Catholic Church in Baltimore, Md., on December 1, 2024.
Keishauna Banks prays alongside her children at the offertory during Mass at St. Bernardine's. (Eric Thompson for The Baltimore Banner)

She reflected on it all during Mass. The service was different. They had two officiants. New voices in the choir, new faces in the pews, more deacons. She could dwell on the changes or focus on what led her choose this congregation.

“Once they [the new parishioners] feel the love, the community and the faith in the spirit of a fellowship, I think that they will come as well,” she said. “Just got to give it a chance and open mind.”