Due to the pandemic, the certificate that accompanies the award was presented on February 12 at Holy Redeemer Parish. Pictured above is Fr. Mark (left) receiving the award presented by Dinis Camara '91 (right) on behalf of St. Mary's Parish.
Fr. Mark Smith is truly humbled to receive the Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award for 2021. He jokes that in his early days at St. Mary’s, he distinguished himself only by low grades and poor behavior. But all that drastically changed, which he sees as living proof of the grace and goodness of God.
Fr. Mark's Bio
Fr. Mark Smith is truly humbled to receive the Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award for 2021. He jokes that in his early days at St. Mary’s, he distinguished himself only by low grades and poor behavior. But all that drastically changed, which he sees as living proof of the grace and goodness of God.
After he graduated from St. Mary’s in 1979, he went to Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, and then earned a degree in Business Administration from Towson State University. Some years after college, Mark started and operated a small fitness training company in the Bethesda area. At the same time, he helped start a young adult group at St. Martin of Tours Parish in Gaithersburg with a few friends and with the help of Fr. E.J. Fliardi, who encouraged him to consider the priesthood. Fr. John Myslinski, while still a new pastor at St. Mary’s, had a strong influence and offered Mark much counsel and direction. With the strong example of many good priests and faithful people, Mark discerned and entered the seminary in 1999.
In preparation for the priesthood, Mark began studying Philosophy at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. On Saturday, May 29, 2004, Mark was ordained a transitional deacon, not at the Cathedral as usual, but at a regular parish Mass at his home parish of St. Mary’s.
Mark completed his priestly formation and Theological studies at Immaculate Conception Seminary, Seton Hall University. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Washington on May 28, 2005. That very night he gathered family and friends in Our Lady’s Chapel and celebrated a Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving, his first as a priest.
Fr. Mark first served as Parochial Vicar of Holy Redeemer Parish in Kensington. During that time, he also served as Assistant Vocation Director of the Archdiocese of Washington. He was then assigned to serve as Pastor of historic St. Joseph’s Parish in Pomfret; overseeing the parish’s 250th anniversary. He now serves as Pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish in College Park and as an adjunct faculty member at Saint John Paul II Seminary in Washington, D.C.
St. Mary’s has always played an important role in the life of Fr. Mark and his family. They grew up close to the parish, and he fondly recalls walking with his family to Mass every Sunday. His parents, Leo and Nancy Smith, highly valued a Catholic education, sending not only Mark to St. Mary’s, but his 10 older brothers and sisters before him. He is deeply grateful for the love and wonderful example of his parents. They remain, in his mind, the most distinguished and even more deserving of an award and recognition. They certainly had a strong love and devotion for St. Mary’s Parish.
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