Proof for recent WalletHub annual surveys that have found Germantown, Maryland, to be among the most diverse cities in the United States could be seen at the 50th anniversary Mass and reception on June 30, 2024 for Mother Seton Parish, which calls itself “the heart of Germantown.”
Mother Seton’s 50th anniversary Mass celebrated by Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory included prayers, readings and songs in several languages, with some parishioners wearing brightly colored native dress from their home countries. A reception that followed included parishioners’ home-cooked cuisine from five different continents and several dozen countries, and musical and dance performances by adults and youth representing different cultures.
In his homily at the Mass, Cardinal Gregory said the anniversary offered a time of prayerful thanksgiving for that diverse parish family.
“You are among our most diverse congregations, welcoming people from just about every continent of the globe. You speak and sing in many different languages, and your native attire represents many of the races and cultures of the human family,” the cardinal said. He added, “God has been exceptionally good to this special parish. You in turn must continue to strive to be faithful to God and to become even more loving and welcoming to one another.”
A 2023 survey by WalletHub, a personal finance website, found Germantown to be the most ethnically diverse city in the United States. Also making the top 10 in that list were several other Maryland communities within The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington: Gaithersburg (3), Silver Spring (4), and Rockville (8). WalletHub’s 2024 list of the most diverse cities in this country ranked Gaithersburg first, Silver Spring second, Germantown third and Rockville 15th.
A history booklet produced for the 50th anniversary noted that Mother Seton Parish was founded in 1974, one year before St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was canonized as the first American-born saint. As a widow with five children, she converted to Catholicism and later moved to Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 1809 and founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, the first community of religious women established in the United States. She started a school for children in 1810 that laid the foundation for Catholic education in the United States. A statue in the Germantown church by artist Timothy Schmalz depicts Mother Seton with three children.
The parish history also notes that Msgr. Leonard Hurley, Mother Seton’s founding pastor, celebrated the first parish Masses for 38 families in a Germantown farmhouse. Masses were later celebrated at Germantown Elementary School and Seneca Valley High School. The parish moved to its present location, in what had been a six-acre cornfield, in 1981. A parish center was blessed that year and later named for Msgr. Thomas Wells, a popular pastor there who was murdered in 2000. The new Mother Seton Church, featuring a dramatic octagonal window depicting the Holy Spirit as a dove, was dedicated in 2004.
Mother Seton Parish, which now has about 3,300 registered households in a growing suburban area, has weekend Masses in English and Spanish, in French for its large African community, and a monthly Mass in Vietnamese.
Concluding his homily, Cardinal Gregory noted, “As we celebrate 50 years today, and as we applaud your growth, may your hearts be open to the challenges and to the possibilities that lie ahead for this parish and for all of the Archdiocese of Washington. Let us not just take pride in yesterday, but open our hearts and our eyes to the future that the Lord Jesus wishes to provide for us. Happy birthday, Mother Seton Parish, now begin to prepare yourself for the tomorrows that God will surely place before you!”
Scripture readings at the Mass were proclaimed in French, Spanish and English. A prelude hymn was sung by the parish’s Vietnamese choir, and hymns and prayer responses led by the Mother Seton choir were sung in English, Spanish, French and Latin.
Before the congregation prayed the Creed together, Cardinal Gregory said, “The many languages spoken by the people of God here at Mother Seton profess one faith, uniting this entire community as one church.”
The 50th anniversary celebration for Mother Seton Parish included a party for adult parishioners on June 28, a carnival for families with children on June 29, and the anniversary Mass with the cardinal followed by a reception on June 30.
As the anniversary Mass concluded, Father Lee Fangmeyer – who has served as Mother Seton’s pastor for the past 11 years – noted, “We really are a place of this explosion of the light of Christ. Everybody who comes here contributes to it. We remember the 50 years and all we’ve been through, but what’s most important is right now… It’s always a new beginning with Christ… This is a moment to stop and see what the Lord has been doing (here).”
Reflecting on that helps Mother Seton’s parishioners continue to live and share their faith today and tomorrow, he said.
Parish groups there include the Africa Union 55, which is sponsoring the 10th annual Africa Day Mass and reception at Mother Seton on Aug. 18, starting at 12:30 p.m.
Mother Seton’s Quilting Angels ministry provides quilts to several area programs and institutions including the Rockville Pregnancy Center and Children’s National Hospital. Parish volunteers also serve at area soup kitchens and visit the homebound.
Mother Seton Parish groups include the Knights of Columbus, a Men’s prayer group, a Respect Life Ministry, and Legion of Mary groups in English, Spanish and French. This past year, nine participants in Mother Seton’s youth ministry program attended World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal.
After the anniversary Mass, longtime parishioners and members of Mother Seton serving ethnic food at the reception reflected on what the parish means to them.
Joan Gerard, a Mother Seton parishioner for the past 48 years who helped bring up the offertory gifts at the Mass, praised the founding parish’s founding pastor, Msgr. Hurley. She noted how in Mother Seton’s early days, Masses were held in an upstairs chapel in the priest’s home, with people crowded along the stairway and in the kitchen, living room and dining room.
Msgr. Hurley, who served at Mother Seton from 1974 until 1987, was known for bringing members of the community together for outreach programs, ecumenical gatherings, civic activities and social events. In 1988, Father Hurley Boulevard in Germantown was dedicated in his honor, and this May, a plaque recognizing his contributions to the parish and community was placed near the entrance of Mother Seton Church. The priest died in 2015.
“He felt he was responsible for every soul in Germantown. It wasn’t just our parish, it was the community,” Gerard said, adding, “He was all-in!”
Gerard, who formerly worked as the director of religious education at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Derwood, volunteers as a Eucharistic minister and helps with the flower arrangements at Mother Seton Church. “I love the parish. I love all the pastors who’ve been here,” she said.
Asked about how Mother Seton Parish has changed over the years, Gerard said, “It’s so much more diverse now, and it’s beautiful to see.”
All four of her grandparents have roots in Italy, so for Mother Seton’s anniversary reception, Gerard prepared farfalle pasta with pesto, Italian sausage, mozzarella and tomato skewers, and mozzarella and salami skewers.
Also bringing up the offertory gifts at the anniversary Mass was Katie Forbrich, a Mother Seton parishioner for the past 40 years. Over the years, she taught religious education classes there, has served on the flower committee and with the Martha’s Ministry that hosts funeral receptions. For 36 years, she taught second grade at Lake Seneca Elementary School in Germantown.
Forbrich said Msgr. Hurley’s legacy was building a community there. “It is a community that invites people in, because nobody is from here, and you find your shared faith makes you the Mother Seton family.” Noting the parish’s 50th anniversary theme, she said, “Mother Seton is the heart of Germantown.”
Anne Clow, a native of Vietnam who is a retired accountant, joined parishioners serving ethnic cuisine at the anniversary reception. The Vietnamese food included banh mi, egg rolls and shrimp cake.
“It’s like a second family for me,” said Clow, a parishioner at Mother Seton since 1985 who sings with the Vietnamese choir there. She wore a traditional bright blue silk dress with floral patterns.
Also serving Asian food at the reception was Marilou Padama, a native of the Philippines who was serving Filipino pork adobo and chicken adobo.
“Everybody is welcoming here. We help each other. It’s an amazing parish,” said Padama, who works as a program manager for the Montgomery County Police Department.
In another part of the parish center, Adanna Ukachi, a native of Nigeria, was serving jollof, a rice dish. She joked that there is a running competition among African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Liberia and Senegal, about who makes the best jollof.
Ukachi, a finance director for an international organization, has been a Mother Seton parishioner for 23 years. “It’s a very diverse community, where everybody feels at home,” she said.
She and several of the African women there wore traditional cotton Ankara dresses with colorful patterns, and some of the women wore matching head ties.
Shirley Uyakonwu, a native of Nigeria who is a leader in the parish’s Africa Union 55 group that organizes the annual Africa Day celebration there, said people who come to Mother Seton Parish from other countries “find a community here to accept you.”
“We’re free to express ourselves and our culture,” said Uyakonwu, who works for Montgomery County’s government.
Claudia Castro, a native of Peru who works as a project manager for a company that does clinical research in cancer studies, has been a Mother Seton parishioner since 2012, joined by her husband, Pablo Mora, who is from Costa Rica, and their three children.
“It’s a wonderful community. It’s always looking for ways to bring the community together… not just in prayer, but in events like this,” said Castro, who made and served beef and chicken empanadas for the anniversary celebration.
In an interview, Father Fangmeyer said the Mother Seton parishioners from around the world have strong faith. “It’s a lived faith… It’s still so much a part of their identity, in every aspect of their life.”
At each Africa Day celebration, Father Fangmeyer is presented with a traditional African robe from a different country, which he wears that afternoon.
After about 900 people attended Mother Seton’s 50th anniversary Mass, the parishioners then gathered together to sample the home-cooked cuisine from five continents and enjoy music and dances from different cultures. As the priest made his way through the crowded parish center, he said, “This is what brings us together. They love their faith, and they love the Church.”
