Embedded Files
Weekend Masses: 4PM Saturday @St. Peter at the Lake Center in McHenry & 9AM Sunday @the Church in Oakland. See our Updated Calendar WebPage & Bulletin
Installation Mass of Father Bill Keown as our Pastor, December 1, 2024
A Year in Review From the Staff of St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Parish
Father Bill arrived at St. Peter the Apostle as our Pastor on July 1, 2024. Many opportunities to welcome others and enhance our faith practice have taken place during his first year. We have added a daily Mass on Thursdays, relocated our weekday Masses to our historic church, increased opportunities for Adoration and confessions, welcomed many new parishioners and hosted numerous visiting seminarians, deacons and priests from throughout the Archdiocese and beyond, and much more! We are truly thankful and blessed for his ministry and leadership and we pray for many more opportunities for growth and blessings under his guidance in the future.
Thank you, Father Bill. May God continue to abundantly bless you!
Advent 2025
Dear St. Peter the Apostle Parish Family,
This weekend, we enter the beautiful and holy season of Advent. With so much happening at this time of year, it’s easy for us to let Advent slip by without receiving the attention it deserves. We can become so focused on Christmas that we don’t allow ourselves to enter this sacred season of preparation. Yet when we commit to living this season well, we open ourselves to deeper conversion and genuine transformation as Disciples of Christ.
Although the world around us, with its noise, busyness, and constant stream of advertising, may suggest otherwise, Advent is meant to be a time to pause and reset. It is an invitation to reflect, to reorder our priorities, and to turn our minds and hearts back to God while we still have the grace-filled opportunity. We do this not out of fear or guilt, but out of gratitude for Love Himself, who comes to us as a child lying in a manger.
Each person’s Advent journey will look a little different. Some may choose to spend more time with Sacred Scripture; others may visit the lonely or the sick; still others may feel called to share their resources with those in great need. Whatever form our charity takes this season, let us remember that it is not the size of the gift, but the love with which it is offered, that draws us closer to the heart of our Lord.
A special word of thanks to all who participated in last Sunday’s mini-retreat with Enkindle Catholic Ministries. It was a joy to see so many parishioners spending time together as a community of faith beyond our usual gatherings for Mass.
In Christ’s peace,
Fr. Bill
November 28, 2025
About Our Pastor, Father Bill Keown
About Father Bill Keown, Our Pastor
July 1, 2024
Fr. Bill was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Baltimore by Archbishop William Lori at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on June 23, 2018. A native of Kentucky, Fr. Bill served 20 years in the US Navy as a translator of Russian and Arabic languages. His assignments included duty aboard surface ships, submarines, and aircraft with tours in Japan, Bahrain, California, Georgia, Maryland, and Tennessee. His military career brought him to Maryland in 2007, and it was here that he began discerning the call to priesthood after his retirement from the Navy in 2009.
As a seminarian, he served in the parish communities of St. Paul in Ellicott City, the Catholic Community of South Baltimore, the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, St. Ignatius in Hickory, St. Philip Neri in Linthicum, Our Lady of the Fields in Millersville, the Baltimore Basilica, and he served his deacon year at St. Margaret in Bel Air. He attended seminary at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore where he received his Master of Divinity (MDiv) and Bachelor of Sacred Theology (STB) degrees.
Fr. Bill’s first assignment was as an associate pastor in the pastorate of St. Louis Parish in Clarksville and St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Fulton. Archbishop Lori appointed Fr. Bill as Pastor of Our Lady of Victory and Catholic Chaplain to UMBC on February 15, 2020.
In July 2022, Fr. Bill was appointed to serve as the Director of Deacon Formation for the Archdiocese of Baltimore while continuing to serve as Pastor of OLV.
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