The Story So Far...
In December of 2018 our Cathedral church purchased a 56 acre plot of farmland just North of Bel Air in Forest Hill, MD. We have the vision to build this into a campus that includes a cemetery, sports field, rectory, and church structure complete with administrative spaces, classrooms, gathering space, bell tower, and sanctuary.
After purchase, the bishop and rector’s council are moving full tilt into prayerful planning and countless hours of discussions, prayer, and meetings with potential site planners, architects, and builders. The parish is in prayerful support of the impending wave of action. Our new bishop has called the people of the church to pray in this first phase to discern how they may financially support the…Read More
A civil engineer is needed when planning a construction project of this scale, to design drainage and water management, clarify local codes, lay out a parking area, and countless other tasks. In early 2018, we selected David Taylor of David G. Taylor and Associates to engineer the entire project from steeple to storm drain. He has been in constant communication with our team, relaying and…Read More
The ground has been tested for county approval of building and drilling for wells. Dozens of small flags mark areas of interest. The ground is being rented for the time being to the farmer who sold it to the church. God is constantly providing means of grace to the project. He is good!
11 acres were sold to Forest Hill Presbyterian church on the far end of the 56 original acres. The pastor of the Presbyterian church, when praying about the purchase, travelled to Lancaster County, PA. Where he visited a small church pastored by an ancestral relative, only to discover a plaque stating that bishop Northwood’s ancestor also pastored at the same exact congregation in years distant…Read More
After interviewing 3-4 potential architects for the job facing the cathedral construction project, the rector’s council selected Walter Daniels of Daniels Architects. Since that beginning, Walter has been a driving force of vision and has displayed an easygoing temperament that has fit flawlessly with the church’s team. Walter has proven himself again and again to be a tremendous addition to the project and we are…Read More
2.7 seconds is the delay time estimated to be added to the wait time at the stop sign of Grafton Shop and Rt. 23 by the addition of the cathedral to the area. This would be on Sundays at service exit times. We have engaged and hired a company called traffic concepts to monitor and record traffic patterns in the area. The local community was…Read More
Who’d have thought? Over the past few months, the state has been in contact with the church regarding the possibility of resident bog turtles in the wetlands of the property. If there were to be discovered this endangered species, a large portion of the church’s property would become ineligible for construction or alteration of any sort. To date there have been no sightings in the…Read More
Bishop Rob Northwood, Deacon Mark Carico, and Avery Northwood have travelled to a catholic parish in New Castle Pennsylvania (5 hours distant), to finalize the purchase of an altar for the new cathedral. They personally loaded the altar, weighing a grand total of 30,000 lbs, in pieces onto a freight truck. The new Altar includes the main altar table, rear doss (which sits against the…Read More
Many of Reconciliation’s congregants are familiar with the fourteen images known commonly as the stations of the cross. In our original sanctuary in Bel Air, they hung in the form of wood framed 8×10 inch prints. The church has bid on and purchased fourteen new stations of the cross – a complete set, from a former convent located in Pennsylvania. Each of the 75 lb,…Read More
“Trees. There’s something beautiful in the planting of new life on ground set aside for the fostering of new life.” This is regarding to the process begun by the Cathedral Church of Reconciliation to reforest some sections of the church grounds with over 2,000 young trees. It is encouraging to see that even before the ground is broken for construction, people can already see the…Read More
This past Sunday our church family gathered at the Forest Hill property to hold a service of dedication and to break ground in the June heat. The breaking of the ground was unusual as there were no hard hats, no excavators waiting nearby, and no survey markers. This was not a beginning of construction, but rather a prophetic statement that we are taking this land…Read More
The process of permitting and bidding has gone on for literally years. Prices have changed and shifted so rapidly in and after Covid and the project cost has fluctuated accordingly. While the county required much time and consideration before approving initial designs for the entire project, they have been most willing to work with the church in the approval process required for Phase I groundbreaking.…Read More
Surveyor stakes are in the ground and heavy equipment for site work and digging is being shifted to the property in the coming weeks. Phase I is what we’re calling the construction of the interim sanctuary and the admin wing of the cathedral. We are moving now to break ground within the month of April and greatly anticipate the shifting of dirt. What we have…Read More
Cathedral Church of Reconciliation 128 N. Bond Street Bel Air, MD 21014
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