All things are possible with God
St. Ann, Fayetteville
Much of the 71-year history of St. Ann Parish in Fayetteville can be read in twelve stained glass windows in what is now the “morning chapel” but was the main church from 1940 to 2003.
The window dedicated to the African martyr St. Charles Lwanga proclaims that St. Ann began as a black parish. In 1934, three African American families began meeting to discuss the situation at the local church, St. Patrick, where a black and gold sign reading “Colored Catholics Sit Here” told blacks where they could –and could not – worship. The group grew, and in 1939 decided to form its own parish.
Another window is dedicated to St. Jude, “saint of the impossible,” whom the group took as their patron. Pictured in the St. Jude window are an old-style barber pole, hair scissors and a comb and hand-powered clippers. In 1939, Franklin McKay, a barber and member of the group, offered his shop as a church. With the permission of Bishop Eugene J. McGuinness, the group worshipped in Mack’s Barber Shop from 1939-40.
On the feast of St. Jude in 1939, the group also got a pastor, Fr. William Ryan, O.M.I. (Oblates of Mary Immaculate), from Boston, Mass. The Oblates would serve the parish until 1994. And it was the death of a young Oblate priest in Boston that led to the parish getting a church. On learning of the sad event, the congregation raised money for a memorial. But the Bishop of Boston returned the money to Bishop McGuinness, who directed it to the building of a new church. When the church was dedicated in 1940, the parish was named St. Ann after the departed priest’s parish in Massachusetts.
By the 1950s, St. Ann needed a school. It was expected that black children would attend St. Ann, while white children would attend St. Patrick. But St. Patrick was full, and there were plenty of whites who wanted a Catholic education for their children. So they came to St. Ann, making it when it opened in 1956 one of the first integrated schools in North Carolina. Sisters of Providence were the first to serve in the school, followed by the Daughters of Charity, who served until two years ago.
More than a half century later, after two expansions, St. Ann’s pre-K-8 school is going strong, with 180 students and an alumna as its principal. The 1940 church with its instructive windows is now chapel to a beautiful, light-filled church building that accommodates 500. Notable among the parish’s many outreach efforts is the St. Ann Neighborhood Youth Center, where 30-50 public school students are bused in Monday through Thursday afternoons for academic tutoring. The students are also fed and bused back to their homes afterwards. There is no charge to the students; the program depends on donations. St. Ann’s middle school students learn service by donating time to the center.
Fr. Thomas Malloy, O.S.F.S., in his tenth year as Pastor, characterizes his parish as “welcoming.” The parish is also multicultural: Fr. Malloy said there are some 55 different ethnic groups among St. Ann’s 450 families. Many parishioners are members of the military from nearby Ft. Bragg.
Thriving and vibrant, the church initiated under the patronage of the “saint of the impossible” is now anticipating its Diamond Jubilee.