CHARLOTTE — The Diocese of Charlotte’s Sister Parish Program to help parishes in western North Carolina has reached a milestone.
Launched by Bishop Michael Martin in October, the program partners parishes and missions affected by Tropical Storm Helene with those in other parts of the diocese. Thirty-five “sister parishes” in the Charlotte diocese and beyond have been raising money and providing material and spiritual support to 20 parishes hit hard by the storm.
Through special collections, the sister parishes contributed to help affected parishes recoup lost offertory funds. Recently, the immediate fundraising goals were met, according to Matt Ferrante, the diocese’s chief financial officer.
“Based on the offertory trends from the impacted parishes and the remarkable contributions made by our sister parishes, we are pleased to report that we have raised sufficient funds to meet the needs of those parishes in the coming months,” Ferrante wrote in a December email to priests across the diocese. “In light of this, we will be pausing the second collections for the storm relief effective immediately.”
Despite the change, new relationships between parishes, forged through trauma, continue to grow as sister parishes plan new ways to remain engaged with on-the-ground and spiritual support.
“This is what Catholics do – we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and part of the same body, and when one of the members of the body is hurt, we kick into gear and help,” says Father Aaron Huber, who has played a key role in St. Mark’s partnership with St. John the Evangelist in Waynesville, near where he grew up.
He was heartbroken in October to see the destruction around his hometown: “The whole landscape was different…Houses I remember seeing while I was growing up had just washed away.”
Father Huber and St. Mark parish in Huntersville went into high gear to help, delivering supplies, offering Masses and sending up prayers for its new sister church – a spirit that continues today.
“We’re turning our focus back to the basic necessity of human dignity as given by God,” Huber says. “This partnership has been a beautiful witness. The Church has served as an instrument of God’s peace reaching out to people in need.”
Ferrante says the Sister Parish Program is a testament to the care and concern Catholics in the diocese have for each other.
It has enabled parishes at opposite ends of the diocese to develop strong ties. The assistance has taken on all forms, from prayers and special Masses said for the western parishes to volunteers trucking in material help and offering labor to those affected by the storm.
A church in one of the hardest hit areas has seen both the material and spiritual benefits of the program. St. Margaret Mary Church in Swannanoa was partnered with St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte and St. Pius X Church in Greensboro. While funds were helpful, other gestures meant a lot as well, says Claudia Graham, parish secretary.
“The pastor of St. Gabriel, Father Richard Sutter, came and celebrated Mass with us in the early days after the storm,” Graham says, “and we’ve received cards and notes of support from the parishioners at St. Pius X that have also been very heartwarming.”
St. Gabriel parishioners not only donated through financial collections, but also traveled to Swannanoa to help with home repairs, supplies and other efforts.
The Church ran a special Christmas Outreach for families in Swannanoa and Boone, assembling and distributing 60 gift baskets, delivering live Christmas trees and collecting more than 150 toys and gifts for children.
That outreach will continue, Father Sutter says: “Beyond the financial side and the prayers, “it’s been important to actually be there and offer hands, hearts and smiles.”
— Christina Lee Knauss
Sister Parishes
1. Church of the Epiphany, Blowing Rock
Sister parishes: Our Lady of the Annunciation (Albemarle), St. Joseph (Newton)
2. Immaculate Conception, Hendersonville
Sister parishes: St. James the Greater (Concord), Christ the King (High Point)
3. Immaculate Conception, Canton
Sister parish: Christ the King (Kings Mountain)
4. Our Lady of Guadalupe, Cherokee
Sister parish: Immaculate Heart of Mary (Hayesville)
5. Sacred Heart, Brevard
Sister parishes: Our Lady of Lourdes (Monroe), St. Peter (Charlotte)
6. Sacred Heart, Burnsville
Sister parishes: Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral (Raleigh), Holy Family (Clemmons)
7. St. Andrew the Apostle, Mars Hill
Sister parishes: Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral (Raleigh), St. Mary’s (Greensboro)
8. St. Barnabas, Arden
Sister parish: St. Paul the Apostle (Greensboro)
9. St. Bernadette, Linville
Sister parishes: St. Mark (Charlotte), St. Philip
the Apostle (Statesville)
10. St. Elizabeth, Boone
Sister parishes: St. Gabriel (Charlotte),
Sacred Heart (Salisbury)
11. St. Eugene, Asheville
Sister parishes: St. Matthew (Charlotte), St. Leo the Great (Winston-Salem)
12. St. Frances of Rome, Sparta
Sister parishes: St. Joseph (Asheboro),
Holy Infant (Reidsville)
13. St. Francis of Assisi, Jefferson
Sister parishes: Our Lady of Mercy (Winston-Salem), Our Lady of Fatima (Winston-Salem)
14. St. Joan of Arc, Candler
Sister parishes: St. John Baptist de La Salle (North Wilkesboro), Queen of the Apostles (Belmont), St. Aloysius (Hickory)
15. St. John the Evangelist, Waynesville
Sister parishes: St. Mark (Huntersville), St. Joseph (Kannapolis)
16. St. Joseph, Bryson City
Sister parishes: St. John Neumann (Charlotte),
St. William (Murphy)
17. St. Lucien, Spruce Pine
Sister parishes: St. Ann (Charlotte), St. Mary Help of Christians (Shelby)
18. St. Margaret Mary, Swannanoa
Sister parishes: St. Gabriel (Charlotte), St. Pius X (Greensboro)
19. St. Margaret of Scotland, Maggie Valley
Sister parishes: Holy Cross (Kernersville), St. Dorothy (Lincolnton)
20. St. Mary, Mother of God, Sylva
Sister parishes: St. Patrick Cathedral (Charlotte), St. Thomas Aquinas/St. Basil (Charlotte)
21. Immaculate Conception, Forest City
Sister parish: St. Michael (Gastonia)
‘You are not alone’
WAYNESVILLE — Utilities are coming back online and cleanup is underway in Waynesville this week, after Helene’s catastrophic rainfall caused Richland Creek to flood the town’s Frog Level Historic District – so called because of its low-lying location (“frog level”) during floods.
Just up the hill from Frog Level sits St. John the Evangelist Church, where on Sunday parishioners gathered for Mass and organized relief supplies in the church basement they have turned into an aid distribution site.
Parishioners have organized online sign-ups to pick up, sort and deliver aid to homebound and still-inaccessible neighbors in need. On Sunday, they were unloading another truckload of donations and packing aid boxes into cars for delivery.
More than 10 families in the small parish that also encompasses the towns of Clyde and Canton were “catastrophically affected” by the storm, reports pastor Father Paul McNulty – suffering everything from minor damage to five who lost their homes and others who lost businesses.
Amid the activity, Bishop Michael Martin visited the parish to celebrate Mass and offer a message of encouragement.
“You’re not alone,” he told congregants at the English and Spanish Masses. “Know that the rest of the world is very much with you.”
“There are people all over our diocese, all over our country and all over the world who are reaching out now to let all of you know that you are not alone,” he said.
The devastation from Helene “may seem overwhelming,” Bishop Martin said, yet “that is never beyond the scope of the power of the Holy Spirit to transform into something greater.”
Western North Carolina’s scenic mountain streams like Richland Creek turned into “raging rivers of destruction,” he said, yet the Lord is always present – and that is a hopeful message for the world.
“The Lord is at the heart of everything that we do – in joy and in sorrow,” he said.
“No evil, no difficulty, no hurricane,” he said, “can stop the grace of God from taking that tragedy and raising it up to new life.
“That is the heart of the Good News,” he said. “Take that hope out into this community.”
“The Holy Spirit is powerful. Let’s blow the doors out, let’s get out there and bring that message of Jesus out into the world.”
“So many people over the last few days who have heard of North Carolina will know that because of you – more than for just a storm, but … because you will take this moment of tragedy and difficulty, and you will let the Holy Spirit raise it up.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle. Photos by Gabriel Swinney and Patricia L. Guilfoyle.
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