|
PARISH PROFILE
 Lake Gaston Catholics dedicate new church
Story and photos by Steve Neill
Of The Catholic Virginian
“Let us go rejoicing to the House of the Lord.”
The congregation of St. Peter the Apostle Church at Lake Gaston echoed this refrain over and over again as they entered the sanctuary of the new church at the dedication liturgy Dec. 15.
The new church, located 100 miles southwest of Richmond in the community of Ebony, is literally no more than 200 feet from the North Carolina state line. The parish maintenance building where supplies are kept is only 10 feet from that line.
 Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo presided at the dedication liturgy. Among the clergy present were Father Colomba Nnorom, pastor, who is originally from Nigeria; Father Dennis McAuliffe, former administrator who is now pastor of Holy Comforter Church in Charlottesville; and Deacons Edward Hanzlik and David Nemetz.
In his homily Bishop DiLorenzo was profuse in his thanks to the people of St. Peter’s for their making the new church a reality.
“Something like this doesn’t just happen,” the bishop said. “I thank all of you for your tremendous gift of time, talent and treasure.
“This is sacred space that houses you, the people of God which is the Church.”
 Bishop DiLorenzo spoke of the original purpose of any church building where the sacraments are celebrated.
“This is where you are formed as disciples…to go out and proclaim the Word of God to every man, woman and child who will listen,” he said.
The bishop noted the presence of people from other Christian denominations who were guests at the dedication liturgy and whose worship embraces the scriptures.
“We can learn from our neighbors,” he told Catholic parishioners. “We need to be thoroughly imbued in the scriptures.”
Bishop DiLorenzo emphasized that Jesus’ disciples who share the Eucharist and other sacraments will find their role challenging because community life has challenges by its very nature.
“You come here and you are formed in order to evangelize, proclaim the Good News to others,” he said. “You are not to force it down their throats, but to live it.”
 He encouraged St. Peter parishioners to reach out to inactive Catholics who may not know of the church’s existence, as well as to alienated Catholics who may be angry because of a disagreement with a priest.
St. Peter the Apostle, which serves a community who live largely in rural areas, has approximately 150 registered families, both full-time residents and those who come only on weekends and have their primary homes elsewhere.
Many of them live in North Carolina in territory which is part of the Diocese of Raleigh. The nearest Catholic church in the Raleigh diocese is St. John’s in Roanoke Rapids, 36 miles southeast of St. Peter’s.
The majority of parishioners at Lake Gaston are retired and have moved to the area from Northern Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. There are very few working families with young children in the parish.
 “We probably have 10 working families among the year-round parishioners,” said Chuck Youse, a member of St. Peter’s since 1984 when he and his wife, Marge, first bought property on which they later built a house. “Jobs are extremely scarce.”
“I’m a later transplant,” said Rose Gongla. “We were trying to get away from the congestion of city life. It’s a little more leisurely way of living here.”
Mr. Youse, who became a Catholic more than 25 years ago and moved full-time to the lake from Pennsylvania 11 years ago, has been a part of the Catholic community from its onset when local Catholics sought the help of Father Frank Wiggins who was then pastor of St. Richard Church in Emporia.
“I’ve been with the parish from day one when we first met in an abandoned building on Route 626,” he said.
“This has been an amazing experience for me,” Mr. Youse said of his journey with St. Peter the Apostle. “I previously was a Baptist and if anybody had told me 30 years ago that I’d be so involved in the Catholic Church, I would have said they were crazy.”
 Bishop Walter F. Sullivan approved the purchase of eight acres of land in Ebony for a future church building. St. Peter the Apostle officially became a parish Feb. 2, 1996 with Father Leo Cervantes named as pastor in addition to being pastor of St. Richard’s in Emporia.
By 1997 those attending the weekly Sunday Mass had exceeded the capacity of the “country store” church and a new building was dedicated March 29, 1998.
This building is now used as a fellowship hall and was the site of a reception following the dedication liturgy.
The cost of the new church building was $927,000. The architect was Surapon Sujjavanich, who is originally from Thailand.
 “Surapon had done a lot of work for Northampton and Halifax County,” Mr. Youse said, adding that he had made a presentation to the parish for a new church and was hired to design it.
The new church features refinished wood pews which were given by St. Andrew Catholic Church in Newtown, Pa., which had built a new facility.
“Members of the dedication committee did all the cleaning, waxed and buffed the floors and refinished the pews which were 25 years old,” Mr. Youse told The Catholic Virginian.
A new life-size statue of St. Peter the Apostle is placed prominently outside the church near the main entrance. It was donated by Thomas and Barbara Eddy in memory of his brother and sister-in-law who were killed in a plane crash in Alaska this past summer.
“The whole parish makes the church come alive,” Mr. Youse said. “They’re a remarkable group of people.”
Copyright © 2007 The Catholic Virginian Press. Articles from Catholic News Services, including Fr. Dietzen’s column, may not be reproduced due to copyright considerations.
The Catholic Virginian is a biweekly publication serving the people of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. This website includes some, but not all, of the articles from the print version of The Catholic Virginian.
For subscription information Contact Us.
|
