The Catholic Church in Washington D.C.

by Kitty Felde

Is Our Lady of Refuge a real church? And what’s the history of the Catholic Church in Washington, D.C.

It was the Spanish Conquistadors who brought Catholicism to America. The first mass was said in 1565 in St. Augustine, Florida.

(image courtesy of Florida Memory)

But Catholicism was banned in nearly all of the thirteen American colonies, a tradition introduced in 1607 by Puritans fleeing religious persecution themselves. Maryland became a haven for Catholic colonists, though there were several periods where priests and religious practice was outlawed.

Washington DC was carved out of Maryland and Virginia in 1790. Four years later, Holy Trinity, the first Catholic church in what became Washington, was founded in 1794 on O Street Northwest in Georgetown. It’s the church where President Joe Biden attends mass.

Fina’s father isn’t the only Catholic in Congress. According to research from Pew, nearly one in three lawmakers are Catholic. That’s higher than the U.S. as a whole where one in five identify as Catholic.

The church that inspired Our Lady of Refuge was established in 1903. St. Vincent de Paul is a Romanesque Revival building of gray stone, located right down the street from Nat’s Park, where the Washington Nationals baseball team plays. (There’s even a Nats Mass before Sunday afternoon games during baseball season.)

(photo courtesy of Julie Bourbon, NCR)

As described by Fina and Gabby, the church has a few maintenance issues. The carpet is worn. There was a major water leak a few years ago. The parish has been raising money for repairs for a number of years.

The current pastor - and his predecessor - are both named Fr. Andrew. But writer Kitty Felde says the priest was actually modeled on another priest.

Fr. Luis Olivares turned his little church near Olvera Street in Los Angeles into a sanctuary for Central American refugees and regularly battled with church authorities over the decision.

Felde says there’s one description of the church that she got wrong. The stained glass window above the choir loft is not a rose. “But to Abuelita, that’s what it looks like.”

Listen to the fiction inspired by the facts:

In Episode 10 of Season 2 of The Fina Mendoza Mysteries, Abuelita insisted that the family attend mass at a new church. The building is a bit worse for the wear, but the spirit is strong:

GABBY (whispering): Hey, Fina. Check out the astroturf carpet. And I think they get their candles at the dollar store.

ABUELITA: Shh!

FINA (also whispering): Papa, what are all those brown marks under that window?

PAPA (also whispering): Water damage.

GABBY (whispering): It’s sure a protest kind of church. Posters about climate change in the lobby. And the barrel of groceries for the food bank.