Worshipping, working and serving together

St. Michael the Archangel, Cary

In 1988, St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Cary celebrated its 25^th anniversary. Speaking to those assembled, Bishop F. Joseph Gossman called St. Michael “not the story of a single life, a single achievement, but of all of us who are the Body of Christ. The building and the altar of sacrifice don’t make any sense except for the people whose faith is strengthened by what happens here. What we do here is meant to make us more effective instruments of God’s love outside this building.”

Today, as St. Michael looks toward its 50^th anniversary in 2013, Bishop Gossman’s words still characterize the spirit of the largest parish community in the Diocese of Raleigh.

St. Michael began as a mission of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Raleigh. The original church building, dedicated by Bishop Vincent S. Waters in 1963, was a 375-seat facility on 15 acres across the street from Cary High School and what is now the Cary Towne Center Mall. At that time the parish had fewer than 100 families.

Thirty-five years later, on the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, Bishop Gossman would dedicate the current church building on High House Road. By the turn of the century, the parish had grown to more than 3500 families, and its religious education program served more than 1800 children. Working with St. Andrew Parish in Apex, St. Michael had helped to build two elementary schools (St. Michael and St. Mary Magdalene) in southwest Wake County to serve families from three parishes.

In 2010, St. Michael boasts nearly 6500 families, celebrates eleven Masses every weekend, and is raising funds for an addition to its school, including a chapel, a gym and additional classrooms. Its parishioners are active in more than 100 ministries. Msgr. Tim O’Connor, St. Michael’s Pastor, points out the diversity of the parish membership. “It’s more than Anglo and Hispanic,” he says. “We have many families from Africa and India, for example. All these groups broaden the gift of cultural variety in our community, and we try to highlight them each year when we celebrate our feast day.”

Among the many ministries originating with St. Michael, Msgr. O’Connor notes the strong pro-life efforts, covering “the whole picture, from natural conception to natural death.” He praises the outstanding music ministry. The youth program, he explains, has made a special and successful effort to keep young people involved in Church beyond Confirmation. St. Michael helps support a sister parish in Honduras: Parishioners go on a mission there each year and now produce an annual DVD of their activities to help raise funds for the program. “Showing our community pictures of the Third World makes us realize how much we have, and what Christ is calling us to do,” Msgr. O’Connor says, “and our people have been extraordinarily generous.” St. Michael School is known for its academic and athletic excellence and its emphasis on service.

The sheer magnitude of the St. Michael community and its diverse needs challenge its members to service. As Bishop Gossman said in 1988, however, “The story of St. Michael has always been the story of a laity’s willingness to assume responsibility.”