Our Heritage

Our parish St. Francis de Sales, grew out of a mission of St. Ignatius in Hickory. Father James Gibbons (later Cardinal) laid the cornerstone of the new church on July 12, 1866. The new mission would later be named after St. Francis de Sales, and in May, 1964, it was established as a separate parish. Father Maurice Wolf, who succeeded Father Clements at St. Francis de Sales Parish in 1960, broke the ground for the new parish center in September, 1970. By November of the following year, the building opened its doors. In February of 1985, Father Thomas Phillips was assigned to St. Francis. Within weeks of his arrival, the first Parish Council was formed. The council determined there was a need for a larger church. In 1987, the council initiated a capital campaign designated to raise funds for this project. The finishing touches to the new structure were made and on Passion Sunday, April 12, 1992, the new Worship Center officially opened its doors. On September 19, 1992, Archbishop William Keeler, dedicated the new Worship Center at St. Francis de Sales as “The Church on the Hill." In May of 1998, Msgr. G. Michael Schleupner became the third pastor of St. Francis de Sales. Msgr. Schleupner and the pastoral council initiated a capital campaign to raise funds for the construction of a new Religious Education building. An effort also began to construct a Eucharistic chapel off of the nave of the Worship Center. This chapel would be the space where the Holy Eucharist would be reserved on the weekends. Funding for the chapel was raised through the gifts of many generous people and was dedicated on December 1, 2001. The Religious Education building was dedicated on October 12, 2002 by Cardinal Keeler. In 2006, Rev. Charles M. Wible came to St. Francis de Sales as its fourth pastor. Father Wible and the parishioners of St. Francis de Sales have developed a Unified Campus Plan that will enhance life at the parish for years to come.

Our Need

Although much has been accomplished over the years at our parish, there are still significant challenges and opportunities ahead. St. Francis de Sales has worked diligently to identify our needs and create a plan to address them. The Unified Campus Plan has been completed, which identifies our needs in a 10 year plan consisting of two phases. These phases include the following parish enhancements: New access road to rearrange vehicular traffic to single direction through campus while maximizing efficiency of parking areas New administration building and a centralized place for our St. Vincent de Paul and service ministries  Multipurpose spaces distributed across campus to support diverse functions Just as our parish has created a Unified Campus Plan for the future, the Archdiocese of Baltimore recently conducted a full-scale review of all of its programs, staffing and accountability policies with extensive input from lay and clergy leaders. As a result of this examination, the Archdiocese has determined that in order to fulfill its mission and the communities it serves, it must embark on a major capital and endowment funds program. The effort, called Embracing Our Mission ~ Shaping Our Future, will be a $100,000,000 project to meet the critical needs of our broader community as well as the needs of its parishes. In order to fulfill our role as a parish of the Archdiocese, we have elected to combine our local needs with those of the Archdiocese and conduct a special effort designed to address both programs. The goal for St. Francis de Sales’ campaign is $1,600,000. Mindful of our Christian obligations to the larger community of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, in addition to the needs of our parish, we eagerly accept the challenges that face us as we become involved in this campaign. Our need is great, but so are our people. We invite you to join us in this philanthropic endeavor and help us make an impact in this historic undertaking.

Our Goal: $1,600,000

Capital Campaign Information and Updates

1. Make all pledge checks payable  to EMBRACING OUR MISSION and notate St. Francis de Sales in the memo section of the check.  Please include tear-off portion of your Archdiocesan statement when submitting payments. 2.  Submit payments using any of these 5 options:      a.  Mail payments directly to campaign at EMBRACING OUR      MISSION,320 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201.      b.  Electronic Funds Transfer thru SFDS.  To add this to your      current EFT, please send an email to bmarchiano@archbalt.org or a      note to the office (attn: Beth Marchiano) authorizing us to make      that addition.  To create a new EFT account with us, click the      forms link to the left and follow the link to print out the application.      All payments will be processed on the 15th of each month or next      business day.      c.  On-line bill pay thru your online banking institution and using the      information in the first option as the biller.      d.  Mail your check to the parish office clearly labeled that the      enclosed check is for EMBRACING OUR MISSION.      e.  Drop your check off in the collection basket but clearly labeling      an envelope that the encoced check is for EMBRACING OUR      MISSION.  3.  Please note that any payments submitted to SFDS will be processed monthly on the 15th or the next business day.  We will hold all payments until the 15th of the month or next business day for processing.  The Archdiocese will receive your payment approximately 7 business days after SFDS submission and payments may not be applied to mailings sent from the Archdiocese within those dates.  If you want to ensure that payments are processed and applied to your account in a timely manner, please mail directly to the Archdiocese. 4.  Statements regarding your pledge will be mailed from the Archdiocese within the next few weeks and will become a regular mailing.  These statements will breakdown payments made as well as reminders for payments coming due.  A tax letter will be generated from the Archdiocese annually. Any questions, please call Beth Marchiano at 410-676-5119 x 114