Church History

Our Parish History 

September 18, 1971, the Most Reverend Patrick A. O'Boyle, Archbishop of Washington, sent a letter to the Reverend Ernest T. Gatta, asking him to come to Bowie to establish St. Edward's Parish. When Father Gatta first arrived he took up residence in Pointer Ridge and eventually used Pointer Ridge School for Mass after the parish was carionically erected in 1972. Before that, Father Gatta's two car garage was transformed into a beautiful chapel where the Christmas Mass of 1971 was celebrated. Ground breaking for our church was started on July 12, 1975 by Archbishop William W. Baum, who came back on the feast of St. Edward's, October 13, 1976 to dedicate our church. Father Gatta served as pastor until June 1978, when he was transferred to St. Bernard's in Riverdale and the Reverend Patrick W. Kemp was assigned our pastor. Our parish began a building, improvement and maintenance collection the first Sunday of the month in 1981. After paying off out debt we began to save for our much needed expansion to accommodate our growing parish. With this money, we were able to expand our church in October of 1991.

Our Patron Saint