WINSTON-SALEM — “We are one, we are one. In the name of Jesus, we are one.” “Somos uno, somos uno. Somos unos. En el nombre de Jesus, somos uno. Aleluya!”
That was the rallying song of parishioners at St. Benedict the Moor Church, who together with their new pastor Father Basile Sede celebrated the church’s 75th anniversary Oct. 22. Bishop Peter Jugis was on hand to celebrate the anniversary Mass and to install Father Sede officially as pastor.
The joyful bilingual celebration drew long-time, new and former parishioners, including African-American families from the historically black parish, young Latino families and parishioners of neighboring churches in the Winston-Salem area. Former pastors Father Francis O’Rourke and Jesuit Father Thomas Gaunt were among the priests concelebrating the Mass.
Oct. 22, the feast of St. John Paul II, was “an auspicious day,” Bishop Jugis noted in his homily. The day commemorates the start of the late pontiff’s 26-year pastorate over the universal Church. Similarly, Bishop Jugis continued with a grin, the day marked the start of Father Sede’s pastorate.
“What does the Lord have in mind for your pastor here?” he asked the congregation, who laughed and looked over at a smiling Father Sede.
In his homily, Bishop Jugis also reminded the faithful why a church is so important to the faith life of its people. A church is a place for people to worship and glorify God, to be sanctified by the sacraments so that they may attain heaven, and to be a beacon of Christian witness to the wider community.
St. Benedict the Moor Church has been doing just that in East Winston since it was built in 1941. The parish was erected in 1940 by Raleigh Bishop Eugene McGuinness, and he dedicated the church on Sept. 7, 1941.
Parishioners of St. Benedict the Moor Church celebrated the church’s 75th anniversary Oct. 22 during a Mass offered by Bishop Peter Jugis. Concelebrants included Father Basile Sede, pastor, and former pastors Father Francis O’Rourke and Jesuit Father Thomas Gaunt. (Photos by Patricia L. Guilfoyle | Catholic News Herald)Over the past 75 years, the parish history notes, “The spirit of St. Benedict the Moor is the source of parishioners’ identity and purpose, and they hold to the sacred hospitality personified in their parish’s patron saint, with their African American heritage, European heritage, Latin American heritage and African heritage as a community of Catholics that gives honor to God in different languages and cultures.”
Bishop Jugis thanked parishioners for their Christian witness. “I am very proud and grateful as your bishop for everything that everyone does to contribute to the parish mission.”
“It has been a joy. We are truly blessed,” said Theresa Watkins about her 43 years attending “St. Ben’s.” Her 12-year-old grandson Xavier Shepard and her great-grandsons Jhonathan and Joshua Bass, 9 and 7, served at the anniversary Mass – another generation of the family growing up at the church on East 12th Street.
A luncheon program after the Mass honored the “St. Ben Jewels,” people who have served the parish with exceptional dedication for many years: Mary Turner, Irma Gadson and Willie King. Father O’Rourke, Father Gaunt and Mercy Sister Larretta Rivera-Williams also gave reflections about their ministry at the parish.
“The program ended with a digital parish history presentation featuring photos from the 1940s to 2016 with video oral histories from church members with their fondest memories of St. Ben,” said Gloria Wilson, who helped organize the celebration. “The audience enjoyed the presentation so much they gave it a standing ovation for two minutes!”
Father Sede thanked parishioners for all the hard work in planning the anniversary celebration, and he praised the diverse congregation for their commitment to sharing the light of the Gospel with others.
“This light should continue to shine in order to diffuse the darkness in our society today,” he said, and that can happen as long as the parish remains united in faith.
“We are all one big family,” he said. “We are one!”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, Editor
The history of St. Benedict the Moor Parish
WINSTON-SALEM — St. Benedict the Moor Church was established in 1940 to serve African-American Catholics living in Winston-Salem's East Winston community.
The church was named in honor of St. Benedict the Moor, a Franciscan friar who lived a holy life of prayer and charity. The saint is also the patron saint of African-Americans.
The parish was founded by Raleigh Bishop Eugene McGuiness and placed under the direction of the Order of Friars Minor, better known as the Franciscans. The bishop welcomed Franciscan Father Ronald Scott as the founding pastor.
A local attorney and his wife, Mr. & Mrs. Hosea V. Price, and approximately 11 black Catholics assisted Father Scott in establishing the parish. The first Masses were celebrated in the Prices' home, and as the congregation grew the Masses were moved to Robinson Funeral Home. The first Mass was celebrated at the funeral home on Nov. 24, 1940.
Parishioners worked closely with Father Scott to search for a site to build a church. The search found property for sale at the corner of 12th Street and Hattie Avenue for a parish hall and rectory. The property was purchased from the estate of Bishop Kyles of the A.M.E. Zion Church on April 26, 1940.
Bishop McGuiness dedicated the church on Sept. 7, 1941, and by August 1943 Father Scott was joined by Father Francis Gorman to assist in ministering to the growing congregation. The parishioners found spiritual and social opportunities within several parish groups including the Legion of Mary, Third Order of St. Francis, St. Monica’s Guild and St. Benedict’s Men’s Club. Altar servers as boys were trained to assist during Holy Mass and a choir was founded to add to the solemnity of the sacred rites.
Early inscriptions in the baptismal registry of families include: Ellis, Guest, Maxwell, Pledge, Crew, Baltimore, Grier, Bitting, Scales, Tucker, Jones and Barons. After eight years the number of parishioners had grown to over 100.
Responding to the need and to enhance the educational aspect of the faith, the Sisters of St. Francis of Allegany, N.Y., arrived in Winston-Salem to open an academy. They purchased property at the corner of 14th Street and Hattie Avenue and began preparing the buildings to serve as classrooms and dormitories. On Sept. 7, 1946, St. Anne’s Academy was opened. Bishop Waters dedicated the academy, convent and the residence for the girls on Sept. 29, 1946.
In September 1950 under the direction of the Franciscan sisters, St. Benedict Grammar School was opened with 116 students. By 1958, 250 students were enrolled in a program that worked toward academic excellence in an environment that called them to a Christian way of life. Parishioners and neighbors recall the beautiful May Processions, plays, carnivals, championship basketball teams of the 1950s, '60s and '70s. The school closed in 1979 because of dwindling enrollment and the increasing cost of offering a quality education.
In 1969 St. Benedict the Moor assumed responsibility for its first mission. Our Lady of Fatima Chapel was opened in downtown Winston-Salem as a “chapel of ease." (Our Lady of Fatima Chapel is now a mission of Our Lady of Mercy Church in Winston-Salem.)
In 1970 Catholics to the east in Kernersville became the second mission of St. Benedict the Moor until 1973, when the faith community was raised to the status of a parish and became Holy Cross Church.
In August 1987, Jesuit Father Thomas Gaunt was named pastor of St. Benedict the Moor Church in Winston-Salem and Good Shepherd Church became a mission church of the parish.
In 1990 the church observed its 50th anniversary with a Nov. 3 banquet and a Nov. 4 Mass which was celebrated by then-Bishop John F. Donoghue. Among the celebrants were the pastor Jesuit Father Lawrence Hunt and former pastors Father Francis O’Rourke and Father Thomas Gaunt.
In 1990 the support to the Hispanic community started. Called the "migrant ministry," referring to the Yadkin County migrant population who worked the tobacco farms and agricultural seasonal work, the ministry distributed food and clothing to the families as well as aided them with immigration assistance. In 1999 the first Mass was celebrated for the Latino community under Father Larry Hunt.
In December 2000 the parish celebrated its 60th anniversary with a retreat, spring picnic, fall festival and dinner for 150 parish families.
The church has always been committed to serving the community. When St. Anne’s Academy and St. Benedict Grammar School closed, the facilities were retooled to provide services to the community. The Kyle Heights Apartments is on the former site of St. Anne’s Academy and Convent and the St. Benedict Grammar School became the Franciscans Day Care Center.
The St. Benedict the Moor Resurrection Summer Day Camp partnered with St. Stephen’s Episcopal and Dellabrook Presbyterian to offer a four-to five-week program of activities for children in the community with the purpose of have positive fun activities during the summer for children.
In the summer of 2004 the Community Knowledge Center was established at the church. Sponsored by Winston-Salem State University, it offered computer classes for senior citizens, tutoring for middle school students and income tax service for the Hispanic community.
The parish also placed a high commitment with its community involvement with volunteering at Crisis Control Ministry, Red Cross Donor Program, Samaritan Soup Kitchen, Narcotic Anonymous and Community Watch Meetings, Food Pantry and Computer Lab.
The present-day faith community remains involved in several commissions that serve the parish: Liturgy & Worship, Education & Formation, Parish Life, Communication & Evangelism, Community Outreach, Buildings & Facilities and Finance Council.
The church celebrated 75 years of dedicated service to the spiritual development of Catholic children and adults with a Mass and banquet on Oct. 22, 2016, with the theme “We Come This Far by Faith."
The spirit of St. Benedict the Moor is the source of parishioners' identity and purpose, and they hold to the sacred hospitality personified in their parish's patron saint, with their African American heritage, European heritage, Latin American heritage and African heritage as a community of Catholics that gives honor to God in different languages and cultures.
— St. Benedict the Moor Parish history
Pastors
Franciscan Fr. Ronald Scott 1940-1943
Franciscan Fr. Martin Collins 1943-1952
Franciscan Fr. Cajetan Foley 1952-1954
Franciscan Fr. Francis Gorman 1954-1961
Franciscan Fr. Brendan Pyle 1961-1964
Franciscan Fr. Kevin Farrell 1964-1966
Fr. Francis Moeslein 1966-1969
Fr. William Pharr 1969-1971
Fr. Edward Beatty 1971-1975
Redemptorist Fr. Vincent Douglas 1975-1978
Fr. Francis O’Rourke 1978-1981
Fr. Morris Boyd 1981-1987
Jesuit Fr. Thomas Gaunt 1987-1990
Jesuit Fr. Lawrence Hunt 1990-2004
Fr. Lawrence Heiney 2004-2012
Fr. Lucas Rossi 2012-2013
Fr. Anthony Forte 2013-2015
Fr. Basile Sede 2015-current
CHARLOTTE — Jesuit Father Peter Neeley, assistant director of education for the Kino Border Initiative, located along the Arizona-Mexico border, visited St. Peter Church in Charlotte the weekend of Nov. 20.
Father Neeley, who preached at all the weekend Masses there, said the main reason for his visit was to “humanize the talk about immigration.”
The Kino Border Initiative is a binational humanitarian organization that works with migrants in Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, Mexico. Its mission is to promote U.S.-Mexico border immigration policies that affirm the dignity of the human person.
The heart of Father Neeley’s message was to raise awareness of the daily reality and struggle of so many displaced, deported and asylum-seeking people at the Mexican Border – a daily reality in Nogales.
“How can the people of the Diocese of Charlotte humanize this discussion on immigration? How can we restore dignity to the people that are in the process of deportation?” the visiting priest asked St. Peter’s parishioners.
Father Neeley explained part of the Kino Border Initiative’s mission is to “build bridges.”
“Building walls is not what Christians do. Christians build bridges,” he said.
In June, a small group from St. Peter Church traveled to Nogales to experience the reality that Father Neeley described. One of those pilgrims, Bob Macpherson, offered a small reception the evening of Nov. 18 to welcome Father Neeley to the parish. During the gathering, Father Neeley shared with a crowd of about 40 guests what a typical weekend at the Kino Border Initiative is like.
“When you come out of an experience down there, you are going to give me the name of somebody you met and their story,” Father Neeley explained, as this is essential to humanizing the discussion about immigration. “We ask for the dignifying treatment of the people they (the U.S. Border Patrol) arrest.”
“When a person is deported, that person is probably at the lowest point in their lives. So we ask the volunteers to just sit with them for 10 minutes, and just listen to their story,” Father Neeley said.
The priest offered that, because of its complexity, the immigration problem can only be solved by people, not by walls or money.
“It’s going to involve us working together. It’s going to involve us doing stuff little by little. Complicated, but what happens is when you lose the human dimension of it, it all becomes dollars and cents.”
For more information about the Kino Border Initiative and ways to get involved, go to www.kinoborderinitiative.org.
— Rico De Silva, Hispanic Communications Reporter