German Catholic Parishes of Maryland and Pennsylvania portrays the German Catholic influence on American life from the 18th through the 21st century. The earliest large number of German Catholics entered the British North American colonies first in the early 1700’s through Philadelphia and later in the 1800’s through Baltimore.  The author captures the oft overlooked contribution of German Catholics to city neighborhoods and country villages by exploring the more than 40 Pennsylvania and Maryland parishes and missions. Parishes are chronicled in words and over 240 photographs and illustrations. 

The Redemptorist Fathers played a key role in ministering to German Catholics. The Redemptorists founded many parishes from their First American Province whose provincial headquarters were located at St. Alphonsus in Baltimore. Four of Baltimore’s German Catholic parishes are described in detail: St. Alphonsus, St. James, St. Michael’s (Wolfe St.), and Sacred Heart of Jesus (Highlandtown). The Redemptorists were responsible for bringing the School Sisters of Notre Dame into the area and helped form the parochial education system in the United States.

The book also includes a chapter on the rich history of Baltimore’s German communities highlighting the neighborhoods of Canton and Highlandtown!  Historians, genealogists, researchers, indeed, anyone interested in the assimilation of one of America’s largest ethnic groups, the Germans, will find this work an invaluable and entertaining resource.