WAXHAW — The Catholic Community of Waxhaw gathered at a historic site Saturday as it wrote the next chapter in its own history.
More than 210 people gathered at The Museum of the Waxhaws to sign a petition formally asking Bishop Michael T. Martin to establish a new parish.
The petition was signed in front of the Dillon Wellhouse, where on May 29, 1840, delegates from Mecklenburg and Anson counties came together to ask North Carolina’s governor to establish Union County.
“Once I heard this story, I said, ‘You mean there’s a spot right here that symbolizes where a group of people from this area wrote to a higher authority asking for establishment of something?’” said Father Benjamin Roberts, priest-in-charge for the community. “I said this is exactly where we need to do the petition for the parish.”
Although this step might not have been technically necessary to establish a parish in Waxhaw – members of St. Matthew Parish in Charlotte had already signed the initial petition to carve out a new parish from its territory, which includes Waxhaw – Father Roberts said the process itself was important.
“This community needs to do this,” he said, noting that the effort had helped bring people together. “It’s just a beautiful new beginning,” agreed St. Matthew parishioner Carissa Scibor, who brought her family to sign the petition. “I think our churches should be a place where we go out and we spread.”
As the petition noted, “With our signatures on the attached pages, we pledge our commitment to building up the Church in this community.”
For Ann Whipp, who has been attending church in Waxhaw since she moved there from Lake Norman two months ago, it was important to be present to add her signature.
“I think it’s very important to build God’s kingdom and to be part of the community, and I wanted to be part of the community in Waxhaw,” she said. “It is the center of my life focused on Christ, and wherever He is we will go.”
— Catholic News Herald, Photos by Troy C. Hull
