Sacred Heart Church (Bowie, Maryland)

Sacred Heart Church in Bowie, Maryland is a Catholic Church established in 1729.

Historical Background

Sacred Heart Church has been better known as "White Marsh" after the long stretch of sandy loam between the Church and the Patuxent River and marsh. This soil contains a significant amount of mica which show up a sparkling white.Citation
last =Hogan
first =Reverend John F.
title =Sacred Heart Chapel
place=Bowie, Maryland
publisher =Sacred Heart Church
year =1975
page= 1-6]

Beginning with the Protestant Revolution in Maryland in 1689, Catholics were prohibited to worship publicly and the church (or churches) was not allowed to own land.cite book
last = Virta
first =Alan
title =Prince George's County: A Pictorial History
publisher =The Donning Company
date =1984
location =Norfolk, Virginia
pages =53]

The original patent to the "White Marsh" property was granted by the authority of Charles Calvert II in 1722 to James Carroll.Citation
last =Hogan
first =Reverend John F.
title =Sacred Heart Chapel
place=Bowie, Maryland
publisher =Sacred Heart Church
year =1975
page= 1] On February 12, 1728, Carroll bequeathed convert|2000|acre|km2 of White Marsh, then known as "Carroll's Burgh" to the Jesuits at St Thomas Manor in the vicinity of Port Tobacco, Maryland.

During this time, while Catholics could not worship publicly, they could do so privately and were able to build private chapels on privately held land. To facilitate the construction of a church, Carroll left the land to the individual Jesuits. That allowed them to construct the "Mission of Saint Francis Borgia" on the property which is considered the founding of Sacred Heart Church although the Jesuits did not take up permanent residence at White Marsh until about 1741 when a chapel was constructed.

The chapel and church building

The current church consists of that chapel, originally built around 1741, destroyed by fire in 1853, rebuilt in 1856, and modified to include a bell tower in 1876, and a much larger, modern church, built in 1969 to accommodate the growth of Bowie due to the Levitt and Sons development, "Belair at Bowie" where most of its current congregants live.cite web
title =Sacred Heart Church - The Parish with Colonial Roots - since 1728
publisher =Sacred Heart Church
url =http://www.sacredheartbowie.org/history.php
accessdate = 2007-06-14 ]

General Chapters organizing the Catholic Church in the US

After the American revolution, Catholics in the newly created United States enjoyed freedom to worship. The Jesuit Fathers, led by John Carroll and five other priests, began a series of meetings at White Marsh beginning on 27 June, 1783 called the General Chapters that organized the Catholic Church in the United States.cite encyclopedia
title = John Carroll
encyclopedia =Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)
volume =
pages =
publisher =
date =1913
url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_%281913%29/John_Carroll?oldid=338500
id =
accessdate = 2007-10-03 ]

They held a second meeting 6 November, 1783, and a third on 11 October, 1784, at the same place, when they formulated the draft of the regulations binding all the clergy of Maryland. It was decided at these meetings every priest was maintained and given thirty pounds a year, and each priest agreed to offer ten Masses for every priest who died there.

References

External links

* [http://www.sacredheartbowie.org Parish Web Site]