Unlike the other American colonies, Maryland had been settled by the 2nd Baron Baltimore, as a haven for Catholic refugees from Great Britain.

[7] On March 25, 1634, the first Catholic Mass in the English-speaking colonies was celebrated by Andrew White on St. Clement's Island in Maryland.

[14][15] The first Catholic Church in Washington, St. Patrick's, was established in 1794 to minister to the Irish immigrant stonemasons who were constructing the White House and US Capitol Building.

William Matthews, pastor of St. Patrick's, saved the church from burning down, then persuaded British Major General Robert Ross to preserve it from further harm.

[19] On July 22, 1939, recognizing the increased population of the District of Columbia, Pope Pius XII erected the new Archdiocese of Washington.

To replace O'Boyle, Paul VI named Bishop William Baum of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau as the next archbishop of Washington.

[27] Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop James Hickey from the Diocese of Cleveland as archbishop of Washington in 1980.

[28] Hickey's tenure in Washington D.C. oversaw a significant expansion of Catholic Charities, which became the region's largest private social service agency.

He also forced Georgetown University to stop DignityUSA, a national LBGTQ+ ministry organization, from celebrating Mass on campus in 1987.

[34] In late 2009, the Council of the District of Columbia was debating a bill that would prohibit discrimination against gay men and lesbians.

"[38] When the Council of DC passed the anti-discrimination bill in December 2009, Wuerl stated that it did not adequately protect religious liberty.

However, he said that the archdiocese would continue to serve the poor and hoped to be "working in partnership with the District of Columbia consistent with the mission of the Catholic Church.

[40][41] The agency also modified its employee health care benefits to avoid having to extend coverage to same-sex couples.

[46] By August 2018, Wuerl was facing increased criticism over his handling of sexual abuse cases against the clergy when he was bishop of Pittsburgh.

In December 2019, The Washington Post reported that McCarrick had given John Paul II $90,000 during the early 1990s and Benedict XVI $291,000 starting in 2005.

[59] In December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the archdiocese sued the city of Washington, objecting to an attendance cap of 50 parishioners per mass or other service to prevent the spread of infection.

Before the suit went to trial, the two parties settled, with the city raising the attendance cap to 250 attendees or one quarter of the church's allowed seating.

[61] The Archdiocese of Washington in December 2006 paid a $1.6 million settlement to 16 men with credible accusations of sexual abuse by archdiocesan clergy from 1962 to 1982.

[62] In September 2018, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) announced that it was investigating the archdiocese for reports of sex abuse by clergy.

[63] In October 2018, the archdiocese released the names of 31 archdiocesan clergy with credible accusations of sexually abusing minors since 1948.

[64][65][66] Reverend Urbano Vazquez from the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Columbia Heights was convicted in August 2019 of four counts of sexual abuse involving two girls.