North Baltimore parish has raised over two-thirds of its $15 million goal for student ministry center

A parish in north Baltimore, Maryland, is over two-thirds of the way to reaching its $15 million campaign to create a modern student ministry center with a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Bethlehem. 

Church of the Nativity Parish’s “Wonder” campaign reached $10.5 million during Lent, according to a May 28 report from the Catholic Review by Patricia Zapor. 

The vision, Zapor reported, is a 17,000-square-foot center that will provide more spaces for the small groups of the parish’s “Next Gen” youth programs, which have grown to more than 1,000 children and teens attending weekly. 

“Next Gen” Director Daniel Miller told the Review that the parish is aiming to break ground on the project in early 2027 and have it move-in ready within 15 months. 

Zapor reported that Next Gen participant James Lukish, a graduating high school senior who will study biology at MIT, expressed appreciation for Nativity Parish’s ministries. He said they taught him solid prayer habits and Mass attendance, which he wants to continue in college. In high school with Next Gen, he also helped mentor students preparing for Confirmation.

The new building, Lukish said, “will help a lot more students be involved.”

Miller and Father Michael White, the parish’s pastor, penned a message on the church’s website about the campaign, writing of its namesake that “Wonder is admiration for something unexpected and, often, beautiful. Wonder lifts our spirit…. Perhaps Jesus intended for us to recapture the twinkle in our eyes and wonder in our hearts when he instructed us to ‘turn and become like children’ (Matthew 18:3).”

Additionally, they highlighted, Psalm 78 exclaims, “Tell the next generation the wonders of the Lord!”

Noting how many students participate in the Gospel-centered Next Gen programs, the two reflected that the current facility is 50 years old and “stretched to its limits,” and its classrooms are outdated. 

“Imagine if, instead, we provided our youngest parishioners wide open, bright, colorful, safe spaces that evoked a sense of God’s wonder through interactive technology, adaptable furniture and design, and irresistible environments,” they wrote. “Our new building could communicate a sense of purpose and belonging to our young people before we utter a word.”

The premises would also feature a small outdoor amphitheater and a playground, and the space could also be used for parish activities and adult small groups as needed, they said. 

But at the heart of the project, they continued, is the new chapel.

“This sacred space will provide a place to give new generations a solid grounding in our Eucharistic Faith and Marian devotion,” they wrote. “At the same time it will serve the whole parish throughout the week as a sacred and elegant setting for daily Mass and Eucharistic Adoration.”

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