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(Above) Young parishioners warily eye the roast pig – apple in his mouth – featured on the buffet table.

(Right) Parish archivist Maureen Miller worked for months to compile historical information and artifacts dating from the parish’s founding in 1936, including old photographs and, shown behind her, the original blueprint drawn up by the famed church architect Benedictine Father Michael McInerney.

PHOTOS BY PATRICIA L. GUILFOYLE | CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

A celebration of gratitude and love

Swannanoa parish marks 85th anniversary

PATRICIA L. GUILFOYLE EDITOR

SWANNANOA — Parishioners of St. Margaret Mary Church celebrated their parish’s 85th anniversary with a special liturgy, festivities and more Oct. 16.

The Saturday afternoon celebration began with a Missa Cantata featuring the Proper of the Mass for the feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the parish’s patron. Father Brian Becker, pastor, offered the special Mass, assisted by visiting seminarians from St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly.

Referring to the feast day’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 11:25-30), Father Becker noted, “It is in the Sacred Heart of Jesus that we are able to simply rest: ‘Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.’”

A 17th century French nun, St. Margaret Mary had visions of Jesus over the course of 18 months with messages that formed the basis of the Sacred Heart devotion, in which Jesus’ human heart symbolizes His enduring and generous love for all people. St. Margaret Mary encouraged devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, including the 12 Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and she was canonized in 1920.

In his homily, Father Becker encouraged people to learn more about the Sacred Heart devotion as an invitation from Jesus to abide in His love. “Jesus wants to pour out the love of His Sacred Heart to us,” he said.

After Mass, parishioners enjoyed food, folk music and more in Grovemont Park, located across the street from the historic church.

An extensive historical collection, created by archivist Maureen Miller, was displayed in the parish office for people to read more about the early presence of Catholics in Buncombe County and the growth of the parish over the past 85 years.

St. Margaret Mary Church was among the first Catholic churches in the region, built in 1936 to serve the growing Catholic population who had moved there for the textile manufacturing industry.

The parish expressed gratitude to festival coordinators Jennifer Puzerewski and LeAnn Wilson, the Swannanoa Community Council, Claudia Graham, Kim MacNeil, Maureen Miller, John and Maureen Czarnecki, Mark Puzerewski, Peter Graham, Bill Bauman, Knights of Columbus Council 13016, Harwood Home for Funerals – Black Mountain, Mike Sobol, master of ceremonies Nick Kramer, the seminarians, and many volunteers from the parish.

“A celebration of an anniversary such as this puts us in mind of the gratitude that we owe not only to God for giving us this parish, but also to those who have gone before us as part of this parish,” Father Becker noted. “The good things that we enjoy in this community have all come to us from those who have done the great material and spiritual work to gain such blessings.”

(Top and above right) Father Brian Becker, pastor, offered a Missa Cantata for the Swannanoa parish’s patronal feast day Oct. 16. The church and overflow room were filled to capacity for the special celebration. Additional attendees took advantage of the pleasant weather to gather on the church grounds for the Mass, receiving Communion from Father Becker at the front door.

History of St. Margaret Mary Parish

In 1933, a connection between Swannanoa and New Bedford, Mass., brought a migration of Catholics to the Carolina mountain area called “Grey Eagle” by the native Cherokee. Thanks to that influx of Catholics, St. Margaret Mary Church was founded.

A key figure in this migration was Charles D. Owen, whose family’s Beacon Manufacturing Co. was part of New England’s industrial landscape. Owen purchased a farm in Swannanoa in 1923, and two years later, the plant he had built in western North Carolina began operations. As Owen’s family business grew, so did the textile manufacturing base in the South – bringing an influx of northeastern Catholics to the region. In 1933, Beacon began closing its New England plant, and the relocation of equipment and personnel to the Swannanoa Valley soon followed.

In previous years, Catholics in eastern Buncombe County – those already settled and those moving there – endured a 20-mile round trip, mostly on unpaved roads, to go to Mass at St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville. As the roots of Beacon and other industries took hold, with an influx of more than 70 French-Canadian Catholics, the need for a Catholic church east of Asheville was clear.

In the spring of 1936, Bishop William Hafey of Raleigh purchased land on high ground in the Grovemont area of Swannanoa. The two-acre plot cost $500.

Bishop Hafey dedicated St. Margaret Mary Church on Oct. 11, 1936. For years it was the only Catholic church between Asheville and Lenoir.

The parish boundary originally included four townships in eastern and southeastern Buncombe County: Swannanoa, Black Mountain, Fairview and Broad River. The latter two have since been transferred to other jurisdictions, and the parish currently encompasses Swannanoa, Black Mountain and East Asheville.

The church and rectory were made possible thanks to a bequest of $15,000 from Kate Kelley of St. Louis through the Chicago-based Catholic Church Extension Society. Benedictine Father Michael McInerney of Belmont Abbey was the architect, designing the Pastors wooden church in the Gothic style, 1936-1938 Father J. Lenox Federal with large exposed rafters. 1938-1942 Monsignor Hugh Dolan

Father J. Lenox Federal, a 1942-1946 Monsignor Michael A. Carey North Carolina native, came from 1946-1949 Father Walter F. Higgins Greenville, N.C., to serve as the 1949-1958 Father John J. Hyland first pastor. Father Federal began 1958-1962 Father John A. Weidinger his education at nearby Belmont 1962-1965 Father Henry Becker College, then studied for three 1965-1969 Monsignor John P. Manley years in Switzerland and three 1969-1972 Father Stephen A. Sullivan in Italy, with ordination in Rome 1973-1994 Father Pius F. Keating, SA in 1934. (In 1951, after his time in 1994-1995 Monsignor Anthony Marcaccio Swannanoa, he was consecrated 1995-2003 Father Andrew J. Latsko bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake 2003-2009 Father Frank J. Seabo City. It was the first consecration 2009-2019 Father Matthew J. Leonard of a native North Carolinian.) 2020- Father Brian J. Becker

Sisters from St. Genevieveof-the-Pines in Asheville began offering catechetical instruction for parishioners in the fall of 1936.

On July 1, 1937, Father Federal was transferred to serve as rector at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Raleigh. In 1938, Father Hugh Dolan, formerly of St. Theresa Parish in Wilson, became pastor. He served as pastor until 1942, when he was transferred to St. Benedict Church in Greensboro, and Father Michael A. Carey, formerly pastor of St. Elizabeth Church in Elizabeth City, became pastor.

In the fall of 1942, the U.S. Army opened a 1,000-bed hospital on the site of the former Experimental Farm belonging to the state of North Carolina. Known as Moore General Hospital, it was located about a mile east of the church on Old Black Mountain Highway. Until a permanent chaplain could be assigned, Father Carey administered to the spiritual needs of the Catholic patients there. He retained the status of auxiliary military chaplain until after the end of World War II.

Spiritual care was also provided to other neighboring care homes serving the elderly, sick and dying, as well as to students at Warren Wilson College and Montreat College.

On Jan. 1, 1946, Father Carey was assigned to St. James Church in Hamlet and Father Walter F. Higgins was welcomed as pastor in Swannanoa, coming from St. Mary, Mother of God Church in Shelby.

During his tenure as pastor, Father Higgins organized the women of the parish into an Altar Society to maintain the church, sacred vessels and altar linens as well as develop social activities for the parish community. The Altar Society and the parish’s Holy Name Society were affiliated with the North Carolina Catholic Laymen’s Association, a group of lay Catholics organized by Raleigh Bishop Vincent S. Waters to strengthen Catholic identity, social life and spiritual devotion among the far-flung Catholic communities across the state at the time.

In 1946, Moore General Hospital was transferred to the Veterans Administration to supplement the Oteen Veterans Administration Hospital and became known as the Swannanoa Division of the Oteen Hospital. Father Higgins served as part-time chaplain there for about a year.

In the 1950s, growth in the parish’s population – particularly children – prompted the parish to recruit two lay teachers to teach religious education.

Because of the increase in the number of children attending Sunday Mass, two Masses continued to be offered on Sundays even after the annual tourist season concluded.

As the parish grew over the next three decades, the need for more space became evident. Ground was broken for a multi-purpose building in 1965, with a fellowship hall and kitchen downstairs, and classrooms upstairs, and after a delay, the addition was dedicated by Bishop Waters in 1969. The property remains virtually the same today. — St. Margaret Mary Parish