The roots of the Epiphany Community date back to 1970 and the Jesuit retreat house of Manresa in Annapolis, Maryland. The director of the retreat house welcomed people from the surrounding area to participate in the Sunday Masses. People were attracted by the inspiring liturgies and excellent homilies since Vatican II had stirred up their expectations.
This continued until 1973 when a new director made the decision to close the Sunday liturgies to the general public. By this time, the people who had been attending weekly Mass at Manresa, about 65 families, thought of themselves as a community. They decided that they would stay together and find a new meeting place. Several Jesuits from Manresa agreed to celebrate Mass for them.
The first meetings of the group were held in members' homes and later in St. Margaret's Episcopal Church hall. Their first Mass was held on Epiphany Sunday 1973, so they took the name "Epiphany". Besides the priest from Manresa, other priests began to minister to them on a rotating basis. They carried on this way until 1977, when a new director took over Manresa and welcomed the community back. Epiphany and Manresa enjoyed a mutually supportive relationship for the next 16 years.
Eventually, for a variety of reasons, the Jesuits decided they could no longer afford to keep it open, and Manresa was closed in 1993. Once again Epiphany was "homeless". But again the community decided to stay together. We organized committees to find a new place to worship, and to find priests to celebrate the liturgies. Manresa generously gave the community many basic things to get restarted: altar furnishings, vestments, music books, and so on. When the search was complete, Epiphany selected the clubhouse at Cape St. Claire as the best place for Sunday liturgies. We are fortunate to have the services of a great group of priests, many of whom are studying or teaching in the Washington/Baltimore area and are free from regular parish duties.
This continued until 1973 when a new director made the decision to close the Sunday liturgies to the general public. By this time, the people who had been attending weekly Mass at Manresa, about 65 families, thought of themselves as a community. They decided that they would stay together and find a new meeting place. Several Jesuits from Manresa agreed to celebrate Mass for them.
The first meetings of the group were held in members' homes and later in St. Margaret's Episcopal Church hall. Their first Mass was held on Epiphany Sunday 1973, so they took the name "Epiphany". Besides the priest from Manresa, other priests began to minister to them on a rotating basis. They carried on this way until 1977, when a new director took over Manresa and welcomed the community back. Epiphany and Manresa enjoyed a mutually supportive relationship for the next 16 years.
Eventually, for a variety of reasons, the Jesuits decided they could no longer afford to keep it open, and Manresa was closed in 1993. Once again Epiphany was "homeless". But again the community decided to stay together. We organized committees to find a new place to worship, and to find priests to celebrate the liturgies. Manresa generously gave the community many basic things to get restarted: altar furnishings, vestments, music books, and so on. When the search was complete, Epiphany selected the clubhouse at Cape St. Claire as the best place for Sunday liturgies. We are fortunate to have the services of a great group of priests, many of whom are studying or teaching in the Washington/Baltimore area and are free from regular parish duties.