Growing Greensboro Community Looks To Build Larger Church

By PRISCILLA GREEAR, Staff Writer

Published: August 21, 2003

GREENSBORO—The growth of Christ Our King and Savior Church in Greensboro is testimony to the fact that sometimes to open new doors of opportunity all you have to do is ask.

Pat Frain, originally from the Bible Belt state of Tennessee, and Mildred Stiffler, raised in comfortably Catholic Long Island, N.Y., relocated with their husbands to the Greensboro area, where they each felt a strong need for a Catholic church. The nearest Masses were 20 miles away at St. James Church in Madison or 30 miles away at Sacred Heart Church, Milledgeville.

Both read The Georgia Bulletin, where, in 1991, each came across an article about the Glenmary Home Missioners and their work in areas of the South that lacked Catholic churches. A society of Catholic priests and brothers, Glenmary staffs more than 80 missions throughout Appalachia and the rural South.

Each woman, not knowing the other was thinking the same thing, wrote a letter to the Glenmarys asking them to start a church in the Greensboro area. They responded, sending Brother Dennis Craig to make a preliminary reconnaissance trip.

The women were asked to obtain the names of at least 60 Catholics in Greensboro and nearby Eatonton willing to support a new mission, and found a surprising number of faithful who came forward. The first Mass in Greensboro was held at the Stiffler home in 1992 by the first pastor, Father Chet Artysiewicz. The first public Mass was held at an Episcopal church and the community was named Christ Our King.

In 1993 the first Mass was held at a Presbyterian church in Eatonton, the community being named Christ Our Savior. The Greensboro community began with 30 households and the Eatonton one with 20.

Eventually, in 1996, the communities were combined as Christ Our King and Savior Church in Greensboro. The Glenmarys withdrew in 1996 and the archdiocese assumed pastoral care of the parish. Father Serge Ward became pastor, with a building and 11 acres of property being purchased and the first Mass was celebrated in the first church in 1997.

Now the Catholic community is roughly 285 families and is embarking on building a new church. The existing church will only hold 130 and its social hall only 40, while the future church, expected to be completed in nine months, will hold 340 and its social hall about 190.

At the ground-breaking ceremony July 21 Frain reflected on the way the providential events have unfolded.

“I think it was the Holy Spirit ... I realized I was here for a reason,” said Frain. Once the two women took the initial steps “it just sort of snowballed. Everybody coming here was so willing to make this happen. It wasn’t just one individual or group. The entire community, everyone has been so supportive ... It’s really been a group effort ... There is a tremendous amount of gifted people in this area and they’ve been generous with their talent and I think that’s what made it happen so quickly.”

Frain and Stiffler both shoveled from a mound of dirt with other parish leaders during the evening ceremony on the current 11-acre site of Christ Our King and Savior Church. As the crickets chirped in the muggy summer evening, members of the parish gathered in the parking lot of the church for the ceremony, led by Archbishop John F. Donoghue and new pastor, Father Fernando Molina-Restrepo, who succeeded Father Patrick Kingery. The archbishop sprinkled holy water on those gathered and asked God to bless the project and bring it to successful completion, protecting all who work during the construction phase and encouraging the faithful to support the undertaking.

“In this church which will rise, the separations of time and space, and of Heaven and earth will cease to be—for in the Church we do meet God, and in the Church, all His beloved sons and daughters are present, whether in the here and now, or from their place in the hereafter,” he said. “The awareness of these things—of this great meeting and confluence of our life on earth, and our life in the Holy Spirit of God—the awareness of these things is what makes us gather today, because we want God to bless and make holy, the ground on which this church will rise, because we know, that within its walls, the most important, the most meaningful, the most holy things that we will ever do and witness, will take place. And because of that, we want this church to be known first and foremost, as our gift to God—a gift, that from its very beginning, He recognizes, and He blesses.”

The parish, located on Lake Oconee Parkway, is just down the road from a Ritz-Carlton Lodge on Lake Oconee, and not far from a country club, golf courses and resorts and gated community homes, but also just one county over from Hancock County, one of the poorest in Georgia—reflecting the dichotomy between the materially rich and poor in the area.

Many of the parishioners are retired couples attracted to the rural setting and resort amenities, and one commented that Yankee transplants seem to outnumber the native Southerners. Parish council president Jim Matthews noted that it’s one of the best fishing areas in the Southeast with bass, catfish and other varieties, and that, without all the pollution, “if you catch a fish here you can eat it.”

About 125 mostly Mexican immigrants attend the weekly Spanish Mass, many of whom work in landscaping, trailer construction, and dairy farming.

Daniel Mendez is one of the growing number of Hispanics in the area. He moved from Mexico to Greensboro in 1991, having a relative who lived there, and eventually other family members joined him. Christ Our King and Savior has become a central part of his life and he’s grateful for the spiritual and financial support he’s received through it. He noted that one of the challenges of drawing in more Hispanics to the church is that many lack transportation as well as driver’s licenses.

Added Fabiola Whisenhunt, one of a small number of Colombian-Americans in the area, “(Mexicans) are so ingenious about looking for things to do and very insistent. They go and are not afraid to work and are ready to do anything. They help each other a lot. The Mexicans are great people, very united and hard-working and they invent themselves.”

Matthews is glad to know that the church will be able to expand outreach to Hispanics and others in the new building. “We’re very pleased with how this all developed in a short length of time.”

To help those in the community meet their financial needs, the parish began a St. Vincent de Paul Society chapter in 2000, which Matthews said has developed into a strong community service. He said that if they are unable to help someone their office often teams up with other area churches in the “very ecumenical” larger community to meet the need. Yet he said they face a new challenge in Hancock County, as Glenmary Brother Curt Kedley was ministering in Hancock County, but has recently relocated.

“It’s going to be very difficult to try to take up the slack. Not only did he minister to the needs of the poor in Hancock County, he was very personally involved with individuals there. He was very involved in getting other state and federal agencies involved in assistance when he could.”

Building committee chairperson and SVdP volunteer Bob Coletta hopes the parish can tap into the wealth of the area.

“In Hancock, Greene and Putnam counties, there’s so much need and with the gated communities there’s so much possibility. Last year we assisted over 100 families and there’s so much need in these three counties that St. Vincent is becoming recognized as one of the leading charities that helps people in dire need,” he said.

Coletta is glad to help lead the building project, as in his career with General Motors he moved around the country and wasn’t able to get as involved in a church. “It gives me a good feeling to be able to be part of a new building which will be a permanent church. This is kind of like my home church.”

In February 2001, approval was given by the archdiocese to begin planning for the project. In September 2001, Hiscutt and Associates of Alpharetta was chosen as the architect for the project and in April Batson Cook Construction Co. of Atlanta was chosen as the builder. Phase one of construction will involve creating new parking and phase two will involve building the new 19,000-square-foot church behind the current parking lot. Phase three will involve tearing down the existing church, made up of four modular homes, which is “falling apart,” Coletta said.

Father Molina-Restrepo, originally from Colombia, looks forward to helping the parish grow in its new facility. Outgoing, he looks forward in the small town environment to getting to know people.

“I think it’s a great blessing to be in a parish that is going through this change and it is also a building where you know you are making history together for a community of many Catholics that will be coming after us. It’s a blessing and also an opportunity to learn and to grow in my ministry as a priest,” he said. “I’d like to be able to enlarge the outreach of the parish, to bring in more people into our church. In regards to the Hispanic community I’d like to be able to provide religious education in Spanish and also adult formation and create a good support group for evangelization. The first step is to grow this year and be able to probably send some people for formation so we can have good trained catechists and ministers for Hispanic ministry.”

Mingling in the parking lot after the ground-breaking, founding parishioner Stiffler said she’s glad to have done her part to bring the church to the region. “I personally don’t think this area would have grown this much without the Catholic Church. It’s a central part of my life. My life revolves around it. We’ve been blessed.”