About St. Veronica · Baltimore, Maryland
St. Veronica Roman Catholic Congregation is a small African-American Catholic parish located at 806 Cherry Hill Road in the Cherry Hill neighborhood of South Baltimore. Founded in 1945 and staffed since its beginning by the Josephite Fathers and Brothers (St. Joseph's Society of the Sacred Heart), the parish serves roughly 230 registered families drawn from Cherry Hill, West Port, Curtis Bay, Brooklyn, and Port Covington. The current pastor is Rev. Fr. Godwin Ani, SSJ, supported by Deacon Jhan Harris and a small lay staff, with the parish running an active food pantry, thrift store, and other outreach ministries from the church basement known as the Damascus Center.
- Established
- 1945
- Patron
- St. Veronica
- Rector
- Rev. Fr. Godwin Ani, SSJ
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Baltimore (Metropolitan Archdiocese)
Why belong here
St. Veronica's is a small, close-knit Josephite parish that puts its faith into visible action in one of Baltimore's historically African-American neighborhoods. Worship is rooted in a Sunday Gospel Choir Mass, weekday Masses, daily Confession, and a Tuesday Miraculous Medal Novena; that liturgical life is matched by a real outreach footprint — a twice-weekly food pantry, a thrift store, healthy-cooking classes, summer camp, eviction-prevention help, and holiday giving, all run largely by parishioner volunteers and supported by a sister parish in Ellicott City. For Catholics in Cherry Hill, Brooklyn, Curtis Bay, West Port, and Port Covington, it is a parish that takes seriously both the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
Mass times at St. Veronica
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday: 8:30 AM
- Tuesday: 6:00 PM
- Wednesday: 7:30 AM
- Thursday: 7:30 AM
- Friday: 7:30 AM
- Saturday: 7:30 AM
Parish Identity & Josephite Heritage
St. Veronica is one of the historic African-American national parishes of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. It was established in 1945 in the Cherry Hill neighborhood of South Baltimore and has been continuously served by the Josephite Fathers and Brothers (St. Joseph's Society of the Sacred Heart) — the same religious community Pope Pius IX first sent to the United States in 1871 to minister to African Americans, and which has worked in Baltimore since the 1890s.
- Founded 1945 in Cherry Hill, South Baltimore
- Staffed by the Josephites (St. Joseph's Society of the Sacred Heart, SSJ) since its founding
- Sister parishes: St. Francis Xavier, St. Peter Claver, and the former St. Monica — the other Josephite African-American parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore
- Listed as an African-American National Parish in the Archdiocese of Baltimore's official directory
Cherry Hill & the Civil Rights Era
Cherry Hill was a heavily segregated area in mid-20th-century Baltimore, and the Josephite presence at St. Veronica put the parish at the center of the community's fight for fair housing, desegregated schools, and an end to discrimination. Josephite priests from St. Veronica, including Fr. Richard Wagner, SSJ, were actively involved in marches and organizing in the neighborhood.
- St. Veronica was a hub for Josephite civil rights organizing in South Baltimore
- Fr. Richard Wagner, SSJ, served the Cherry Hill community from the parish
- The parish's outreach mission — meeting both spiritual and material needs — grew directly out of this period
Worship & Sacraments
The parish offers Sunday Mass with a Gospel Choir, a Tuesday evening Mass preceded by the Miraculous Medal Novena, and a simple daily Mass Monday through Saturday. Confession is heard every day, generally a half-hour before weekday Masses and before the Sunday liturgy.
- Sunday Mass: 9:00 AM (Gospel Choir)
- Tuesday Mass: 6:30 PM (Miraculous Medal Novena)
- Wednesday–Saturday Mass: 8:00 AM
- Holy Day Masses: 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM
- Confession: 30 minutes before each Mass, every day
Music & Liturgy
Music is a defining feature of Sunday worship at St. Veronica. The parish's Gospel Choir leads the music at the 9:00 AM Sunday Mass, giving the principal liturgy a strong African-American Catholic musical character rooted in the parish's identity.
- Gospel Choir leads the Sunday 9:00 AM Mass
- Miraculous Medal Novena devotion observed weekly on Tuesday
Parish Staff & Leadership
The parish is small and lean, with no full-time paid administrative staff beyond the secretary and hall manager; nearly half the registered families serve in ministry, management, or outreach roles.
- Rev. Fr. Godwin Ani, SSJ — Pastor
- Deacon Jhan Harris
- Denise Brogden — Parish Secretary (410-355-7466; [email protected])
- Lamont Harmon — Hall Manager (443-842-1237)
- Joan Neal — Site Manager, St. Veronica's Food Bank & Thrift Store (410-355-5999)
Outreach & Social Ministry
Outreach is central to St. Veronica's mission. The parish runs a twice-weekly food pantry, a low-cost thrift store, and supports on-site career and adult-literacy services, along with seasonal programs for the wider Cherry Hill community. Parishioners frame this work in Gospel terms: "We have always felt it was our responsibility to care for the corporal and spiritual needs of our community."
- Food Pantry — Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 AM–1:30 PM, in the back of the church (operated with St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore; clients from the 21225 zip code with a DSS food voucher)
- Thrift Store — Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 AM–1:30 PM, in the Damascus Center (basement of the church), 804B Cherry Hill Road; small fee for items, donations accepted during program hours
- Damascus Career Center — on-site at 806 Cherry Hill Rd.; career counseling, job training, computer training, resume help, job search/placement, adult literacy, GED preparation (ages 18+)
- Healthy cooking classes
- Summer camp for local youth
- Eviction-prevention services
- Holiday outreach to families in need
Damascus Center
The Damascus Center, in the basement of the church, is the hub for the parish's charitable and educational outreach. It houses the Thrift Store and serves as the base for the Damascus Career Center, which provides job-readiness and adult-education programming to neighborhood adults.
- Thrift store for clothing, shoes, and small household goods
- Career counseling, computer training, and GED prep for ages 18+
- Site of the parish's Healthy Cooking Classes
Building, Roof, and 'Raise the Roof' Campaign
St. Veronica's red-brick church, with its façade statue of St. Veronica assisting Christ, was built in the early 1950s; the original roof was installed in 1954. By the late 2010s the roof was failing, and the parish organized a 'Raise the Roof' campaign that became a model of small-parish capital stewardship — drawing gifts from parishioners, alumni, the sister parish, and the Knott Foundation, and even being bolstered by COVID-19 stimulus payments redirected by individual parishioners.
- Original roof installed 1954
- Raise the Roof campaign raised over $150,000
- Sister parish Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Ellicott City) contributed
- Knott Foundation Catholic Activities grant supported the project
- Roofing contractor paired the job with a nearby project to buy lumber at bulk rates during the pandemic
Sister Parish & Wider Network
St. Veronica is twinned with Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City, and that relationship has been a practical lifeline — most visibly during the Raise the Roof campaign, when the sister parish contributed significant financial support.
- Sister parish: Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Ellicott City, MD
- Part of the network of Josephite African-American parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Fr. Richard Wagner, SSJ
Josephite priest active in the Cherry Hill neighborhood and the civil rights / fair-housing movement, working from St. Veronica.
- Rev. Fr. Stephen Ositimehin, SSJ
Pastor in the early 2020s, quoted in the 2021 Knott Foundation profile on the parish's community life and the Raise the Roof campaign.
- Rev. Fr. Donald Fest, SSJ
Longtime pastor of St. Veronica; later assigned as pastor of St. Joseph in Alexandria, Virginia.
- Rev. Fr. Godwin Ani, SSJ
Current pastor (as published on the parish and archdiocesan pages).