Why should we save St. Patrick?

· It is the second oldest Catholic worship site in Cecil County, Maryland

· Built in 1819, the chapel is a testimonial to the impact of the Bill of Rights and the American Constitution. This chapel was built by Irish immigrants working on the Susquehanna canals and the local lumbering industry. In Ireland, the Penal Laws denied suffrage to Catholics. They were not allowed to have schools and the ownership of property was carefully restricted. Rentals and taxes were designed to drive Catholics off the land. In their new country, they had the freedom to worship, and to build their own church, rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. It is note worthy that these immigrants, who certainly were not wealthy, used their meager savings to build a worship site, an investment that as Americans they felt secure enough to do.

· It is one of the oldest public buildings in Cecil County and is part of the heritage and history of the county as well as the state of Maryland.

· In 1978 the site was considered valuable enough by the state of Maryland to be placed on the register of the Maryland Historic Trust as a historic site.

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