Out of the ashes
Holy Redeemer by the Sea, Kitty Hawk
On the night of June 11, 1998, flames lit the sky over the dunes of Kill Devil Hills on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. According to speculation, some young men under the influence of alcohol had been playing with fire. Whatever the cause, the result was that Holy Redeemer by the Sea Catholic Church was burned beyond repair.
Holy Redeemer had been a parish since 1937, when Fr. Thomas F. Carney would travel down from Elizabeth City, weekly or monthly depending on the season, to celebrate Mass with residents and vacationers. The year-round Catholic population would grow with the building of the Naval Station down the coast in Buxton, and in 1955 then Fr. James Jones came to minister to the parish full time. He lived in a small room behind the tiny church and in 1956 built the rectory which later became the parish office.
By 1987, when Fr. Terrence Collins arrived, the church had 1850 parishioners. Eventually Holy Redeemer established missions in Corolla, Nags Head and Buxton (now a parish in its own right).
After the 1998 fire, a new church complex was planned on land in Kitty Hawk, a few miles north. On April 29, 2001, Bishop Joseph Gossman dedicated the new Holy Redeemer Church. The worship space is large: In the summer, 6000-7000 people will attend Mass in a weekend.
Fr. Bill Walsh, OSFS, Holy Redeemer’s current pastor, speaks with gratitude and pride of the Holy Redeemer community. Gratitude, because when he arrived in 2003 with little knowledge of the parish culture, he found people who were generous (“Outer Banks hospitality is legendary,” he says.) and adaptable. And pride, in his small but dedicated staff and in the extent to which the community has taken ownership of its church and its many ministries. “This church has earned a lot of respect in the area,” Fr. Bill says, “for its generosity, its work with peace and justice, and its rapport with other Christian churches.”
Evidence of this rapport is the Interfaith Community Outreach (ICO). Begun by Holy Redeemer three years ago to help the needy on the Outer Banks, ICO now involves 30 churches, maintains a food pantry and manages a budget of $150,000. “People were falling through the cracks,” Fr. Bill says, “begging alms at individual churches. Now we can take care of them much more efficiently, and we do it through an ecumenical effort.”
Fr. Bill talks about the human aspects of living on the Outer Banks. “It’s a precarious existence,” he says. “In the off season, there’s not a lot to do here, so we have a lot of social events at church. The beach can be hard on kids, too. They get bored and lonely, and it’s easy to drift into drugs, alcohol and sex. Some of them are really admirable, though; they’ve developed leadership and spiritual skills to survive the temptations of the culture here. And many are particularly sensitive to environmental issues.”
Life on the coast fosters resilience. In its long history, the community of Holy Redeemer has faced many challenges, but risen to meet them time and again.
Rich Reece