“Wonderful people who love the Lord”
St. Peter, Greenville
It was Fr. Thomas Frederick Price, the “Tar Heel Apostle,” whose cause for sainthood is currently being promoted (NCC, May 2007, p. 24), who gave Greenville, NC, its first Catholic church. Catholics living in the area had been served by missionary priests since 1845, but in the 1880s Fr. Price purchased a frame building from the Episcopalians for $50 and moved it to a donated lot. The parish of St. Peter was established in 1884.
That church would serve the Catholics of Greenville until 1926, when Fr. Charles Gable, the first resident pastor, built a combined rectory and church with help from the Catholic Church Extension Society. A school, St. Raphael, was opened in 1946, and administered by the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood.
Priests of the Diocese of Raleigh staffed St. Peter until 1987, when Bishop F. Joseph Gossman welcomed five priests from the Passionist Community to the area to serve St. Peter and St. Gabriel in Greenville, St. Catherine in Tarboro and St. Elizabeth in Farmville. The Passionists had a history in Greenville: In 1935 Fr. Maurice Tew, C.P., began St. Gabriel parish there as a “Mission to the Colored,” and was its pastor until 1964.
In the 1990s, like many parishes in North Carolina, St. Peter saw its congregation outgrow its facilities. A multimillion dollar building program resulted in a new church, parish hall, gymnasium and two extensions to the school (now St. Peter School). Today, the St. Peter complex is still a work in progress; the latest project is raising money for expanding and remodeling the parish center.
“The current parish hall holds 150,” according to pastor Fr. Justin Kerber, C.P., hardly adequate for a parish where, he says, “There’s a lot going on.” That’s an understatement. St. Peter School is at capacity with 580 children; there’s a waiting list of 125. Parking near the church is scarce. The book welcoming new parishioners to St. Peter devotes seven pages to listing parish ministries and opportunities for service, and it’s a partial list. (Fr. Justin points with special pride to LifeTeen, the parish’s youth program, with a membership of 180. A major event for St. Peter teens each year is the high school mission trip, when young people – more than 90 have signed up for the next trip -- travel to the Passionist provincial house in Pittsburgh for a week of prayer, faith formation and service to the urban poor.)
The growth at St. Peter isn’t just physical. Attendance at daily Mass with Morning Prayer is typically 50-60; during Lent it was more than twice that number. This year’s Confirmation class numbers 37. The last year saw 135 baptisms. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is well attended on Wednesday nights, and Eucharistic Adoration for young children has been added.
How does a pastor manage such a dynamic community? Fr. Justin credits “a great staff and great parishioners -- wonderful people who love the Lord.”
- Rich Reece