Baltimore is known for its amazing historical landmarks and its value to arts and culture. But, only a few people may have known that the Charm City is also known for its value to several religious and pilgrimage activities. More than the locals’ preservation to arts, culture, and history, there is a much bigger space in the city.
If you’re planning to do a religious retreat in Baltimore, then this article written by Religious Travel Planning Guide could help you a lot in your quest for pilgrimage in the city. Read the entire article below to learn more.
Baltimore Religious Sites and Tours
Image Source: Religious Travel Planning Guide
Take a tour of the Baltimore Basilica, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as America’s first cathedral. A National Historic Landmark and National Shrine, it was built from 1806 to 1821. The neo-classical building has two towers and a dome. The Basilica Museum has hundred of artifacts and antiques that date back to the 17th century. Adjacent to the basilica is the fish-shaped Pope John Paul II Prayer Garden with a statue of the Holy Father with two children at its center.
First Unitarian Church was built in 1817 and is the oldest U.S. building housing a Unitarian congregation. The church’s front has a terra cotta “Angel of Truth,” with a scroll reading “To the One God” in Greek. The church features a glass mosaic of the Last Supper, stained-glass windows and two notable organs.
Lovely Lane United Methodist Church had its original meeting house built in 1774. The structure was designed in the style of Italian Byzantine-Romanesque basilicas and has a tower with a tiled roof.
Historic Zion Church of the City of Baltimore is the original German church. Founded in 1755, the church features Hanseatic architecture, stained- glass windows and a garden oasis. The oldest Catholic parish in Baltimore, St. Vincent de Paul Church, dates back to 1840 and gives tours after Mass.
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church came into existence by a group of African-Americans who walked out of a Methodist church because of segregated seating. The church is the oldest independent African-American church in the city. First Baptist Church was the first black Baptist church in Maryland and was founded in 1836 by Moses Clayton, a former slave and lay minister. The archives have manuscripts, articles, pictures and memorabilia that date back to the 1830s.
The Federal-style Mother Seton House & Historic Seminary Chapel dates back to 1808. Home of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American Catholic saint, the site is also the birthplace to the first African-American Catholic community. The grounds have the Historic Seminary Chapel, Mother Seton House and Spiritual Center. Tours are available.
Take a religious pilgrimage at St. Jude Shrine, a nationwide Center of St. Jude Devotions in operation since 1917. Pilgrims come for a blessing from St. Jude Thaddeus. The shrine receives petitions from all over the country for prayer at the Perpetual Novena Services. The shrine has a 150-year-old church and gift shop. Click here to read the rest of this post…
There are lots of religious sites in Baltimore, the majority of them are churches, both old and new can be a good place for prayers, pilgrimage, and other religious activities. Teens and millennials are encouraged to do pilgrimage in the city to learn more about the religious aspects of Baltimore; when and how it started and its contribution to Baltimore’s identity.
In an article written for CBS Baltimore, teen pilgrims are encouraged to do pilgrims to inspire young Catholics in Baltimore. Read the article below to learn more about this awesome advocacy
Teen Pilgrimage Designed To Inspire Young Catholics And Baltimore
Image Source: Orthodox Church in America
Teens across Maryland are stepping out on a special pilgrimage designed to bring hope and healing to Baltimore. It comes at one of the holiest times of the year for Catholics.
Their message is mercy, and a pilgrimage is how hundreds of Catholic teens are bringing it to Baltimore.
“People are going to see us today walking the streets of Baltimore and just really being able to show love and mercy to those we come in contact,” said Ashley Aronminski, St. Joseph’s youth minister.
They hit the city streets this weekend carrying a 10-foot cross in the 22nd annual Youth Pilgrimage.
It marks the start of the Christian Holy Week that leads up to Easter. The walk is a chance for the young pilgrims to learn more about themselves and their faith.
“I really want to become closer in the church and closer with god and really become more in touch with my spirituality,” said Mackenzie Melton, teen pilgrim.
Every year, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori joins the teens on the walk.
“I’m always surprised, inspired and gratified by how much young people do understand how much they do want to have a real realtionship with the lord, how they pray, how they think about things,” Archbishop Lori said.
Throughout the pilgrimage, the teens made several stops throughout Baltimore, praying for city residents who are less than a month away from the one-year anniversary of the Freddie Gray riots. See full post here…
Teens and millennials in Baltimore are encouraged to do pilgrimage in various churches in Baltimore so that they will become spiritually aware and become better persons as they grow up. As mentioned earlier, there are several old and new churches, as well as designated pilgrimage areas around Baltimore that are worth looking for.
Ron Cassie and Lauren LaRocca of Baltimore Magazine have identified the most sacred spaces in Baltimore for spiritual reflection, pilgrimage, and other important religious activities. Check out these amazing places.
Seven Local Sites That Act As Spiritual Pilgrimage Destinations
In an ever more digitally connected world—one in which we check our phones and email while still in bed each morning—it has become increasingly necessary to reconnect to ourselves, to our spirituality, and to nature. Baltimore’s churches, synagogues, and temples—the anchor institutions of the historic immigrant and migrant neighborhoods—have traditionally been the places where people pray, reflect, and take refuge. Today, many serve as venues for 12-step programs and community gardens in addition to religious services.
“But they are also more than their function,” says Bob Jaeger, author of Sacred Places in Transition and co-founder of Partners for Sacred Places. “The gothic architecture, high ceilings, art, light, and colorful imagery—there is a different dimension to these buildings that lifts us.”
While religious attendance remains the conventional source of spiritual sustenance, pilgrimage—whether to a favorite hiking trail, garden, art museum, cemetery, stupa, or meditation center—also endures as a vehicle of spiritual nourishment.
The TKF Foundation, an Annapolis-based nonprofit, helps communities create intentional green spaces, which research shows helps improve mental health of nearby residents. They’ve installed
more than two dozen in the Baltimore area (most notably perhaps, the Thanksgiving Place labyrinth on the former site of Memorial Stadium), and each space includes a bench with weather-protected journals for reflection. “The point is not to escape or flee [from everyday life], but to connect to nature for wellness and healing,” says executive director Erin Robertson. “And carry that with you.”
Frederick Douglass Tree West Hill and Sharp streets
Image Source: Baltimore Magazine
Standing dignified and opened-armed in Sharp-Leadenhall is an English elm believed by some to have been planted by Frederick Douglass, who sang in the choir at the nearby Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church before he escaped from slavery in 1838. Not in doubt is that Douglass, who returned many times to the city and built a handful of rowhouses in Fells Point, delivered a speech in the shade of the massive tree some 40 years later.
Baltimore is also home to dozens of other notable trees, including a descendant of the deceased 450-year-old Eastern Shore Wye Oak at the Cylburn Arboretum and a collection of oak trees known as the Grove of Remembrance in Druid Hill Park that honors those who fought in World War I.
Meditation Chapel 800 Key Highway
Image Source: Baltimore Magazine
Beyond the wonders inside the American Visionary Art Museum’s three buildings lies an outdoor installation constructed entirely with found wood: the Meditation Chapel, made by eco-conscious wood sculptor Ben Wilson about 15 years ago. It was designed so passersby can literally climb inside the work of art and use it as a meditation hut.
When outsider artist Gerald Hawkes passed away, a large ceremony brought busloads of family and friends to the Meditation Chapel for a ceremony to spread his ashes there. He was the first person to ever walk through the museum doors on its grand opening in 1995 and exhibited his matchstick sculptures there. “Several other people have contacted us, wanting their ashes here, too,” says AVAM founding director Rebecca Hoffberger. The chapel is closed this winter for repairs but will reopen to visitors sometime next year.
There are certainly lots of landmarks in Baltimore that are places for spiritual reflections, pilgrimage, and other religious activities. These places are actually not noticeable in a first glance but are amazing places to meditate and do pilgrimage.
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