Parish History

By 2006, the year of the 130th anniversary of the construction of the Country Church in Urbana, St. Ignatius Parish numbered 1,227 families.  We embarked on two capital campaigns for the building of a Multi-Purpose Center which would provide the parish with much-needed classrooms, meeting and office space.   Construction was completed in late summer of 2010 and the building was dedicated by Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien on September 19, 2010. 

In 1999 construction began on our Church in Ijamsville.  On September 15, 2000 parishioners joyfully gathered as Cardinal William H. Keeler dedicated our new church.  By 2003, the parish had grown to almost 700 families.

During the mid 1990’s our parish community completed two successful three year capital campaigns and the Archdiocese of Baltimore granted approval for the construction of a new church and parish center on the ljamsville property. At that time our community numbered some 415 families.

By the mid 1980’s our church membership was some 250 families and growing steadily. Weekend liturgies continued to be celebrated in the cafeteria of Urbana Elementary School and at the Country Church. As the parish grew, the pastor’s residence above the small parish office and parish center facilities in Urbana on Route 355 became inadequate. In the early 1990’s a house in Monrovia was purchased for the pastor’s residence.  This house still serves as the rectory.

In 1983, St. Ignatius became an independent mission of St. Joseph’s in Buckeystown and continued to thrive under the guidance of Deacon Skip Manley. Parish status was gained in 1986 and Father Thomas T. Polk was named the first pastor.

By the late 1970’s, the number of worshipers was outgrowing the capacity of the Country Church.  As a solution, weekend liturgies began to be celebrated in the cafeteria at Urbana Elementary School in addition to Masses held at the  Country Church.  In 1981, a 12 acre site at Route 80 and Prices Distillery Road in Ijamsville was purchased for the future construction of a new larger church.

St. Ignatius of Loyola Church in Urbana (now called the Country Church) was solemnly dedicated on July 15, 1876.  Ten years later, the Country Church was enlarged under the direction of Father Stephen B. McCabe.

During this time, Father Gaffney purchased a one-acre tract of land in Urbana, Maryland for the sum of $130 from Ann Rebecca and Charles Droneburg.  In 1876, Ignatius Toodle, a Catholic of color, worked with his fellow Catholics to raise the funds to build a church. Construction was started on February 10, 1876.

At the end of the Civil War in 1865 Father John B. Gaffney, S.J. became the pastor of St. Joseph’s Church. He was an energetic priest who also served the Catholic communities near Liberty, Poolesville and Middletown, Maryland. Father Gaffney traveled on his pony “Harry” from place to place.   

Years later under the spiritual guidance of Father Francis J. Maleve, a church was constructed on the tract of land known as Carrollton and was dedicated in 1820 as St. Joseph on Carrollton Manor.

In 1764, Charles Carroll, a patriot and later to become the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence, moved to Carrollton Manor, a ten thousand-acre plantation in Buckeystown, Maryland.  He established a chapel for the celebration of Mass in his home. Catholics were welcomed to the area and found a safe-haven of worship in Carroll’s chapel.