A loving church

St. Francis de Sales, Lumberton

If you don't look carefully, you might assume that the statue of a veiled woman outside the Church of St. Francis de Sales in Lumberton is the Blessed Virgin. On closer inspection, however, you see that it's St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart, which focused its ministry on education for the poor. You also notice the inscription on the church's cornerstone: St. Madeleine, 1942. There is a grotto of Mary on the church grounds, and the statue there represents Our Lady of the Atonement. And above the church door high on the left is the coat-of-arms of St. Francis de Sales.

History provides an explanation: the Catholic Church in Lumberton has traveled a winding path to its present diverse but united community. The city of Lumberton is as old as the U.S. Constitution. Mass was celebrated in private homes in Lumberton in Civil War times. The parish of St. Francis de Sales was dedicated in 1916, and in 1930 was adopted by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.

Eight years later, Bishop Eugene McGuinness recruited Franciscan Friars of the Atonement for two tasks: staffing St. Francis and starting a mission for black Catholics. The second assignment bore fruit in 1942 with the establishment of St. Madeleine Sophie Church. From 1949 to 1966, both parishes operated schools staffed by the Sisters, Adorers of the Precious Blood.

Integration and consolidation began in the late 1960s. The schools and then the churches were merged. Although the "new" parish, dedicated in 1973, was called St. Francis de Sales, the church building and grounds were the former St. Madeleine's: the building was sounder and there was more room for expansion. In 1995, the Friars of the Atonement left St. Francis, and it has since been operated as a diocesan church, although its current pastor, Fr. Robert Yankovitch, is a Jesuit of the Maryland Province.

Fr. Robert, pastor for seven years now, speaks of his community's diversity, its poverty, and the "wonderful loyalty" of its members to each other. There are four large ethnic groups to start with: the whites, the blacks, the native American Lumbees, and the rapidly growing Hispanic community. (St. Andrew in Red Springs is a Hispanic mission of St. Francis.) There is an active Filipino contingent, some of whose members come from as far as Fayetteville for special feasts, as well as Lebanese and Indians. "It's important," Fr. Robert says with a spreading gesture of his hands, "to include all these groups, to keep them from feeling isolated."

Robeson County, of which Lumberton is the seat, is among the poorest in North Carolina. Many of its residents look to meatpacking, construction and the local nursing homes for employment. Despite their limited resources, the pastor praises the generosity of his parishioners.

One challenge Fr. Robert mentions is a personal one: "The parish base is getting older," he notes. "Funerals are hard to do sometimes, because after seven years I know these people so well."

The best thing about St. Francis? A long-time parishioner puts it simply: "We're a loving church."