Staff Writer
The Catholic Diocese of Raleigh celebrated the groundbreaking and Rite of Blessing for a new cathedral on January 3. The Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral will replace Sacred Heart Cathedral, which has become inadequate the number of parishioners over the years. Over 700 people attended the ceremony and took part in the prayer service that commemorated the event. The building is expected to take two years to construct and will seat 2,000 parishioners. The $41 million building fund was commissioned in 2011 with Bishop Michael Burbidge saying that cathedral imagined would be the cathedral that, “God’s people will let us build.” Originally funding was estimated to be between $75-90 million, with a basement and parking deck envisioned. Instead they were eliminated from the plans to accommodate for the lesser funds.
"We
are building a worthy drawing place for God - a home for all the faithful in
the diocese. A beautiful and spacious church whose doors will be open to all. A
place where sacred music will be heard and lectures will be conducted," Burbidge stated before the ceremony.
The current Sacred Heart
Cathedral is the second smallest cathedral in the United States; the only
cathedral smaller is in Juneau, Alaska. As
of 2014, Sacred Heart Cathedral seats nearly 400 people per service. The
cathedral has about 3,000 attendees. Therefore, 11 masses are needed to
comfortably accommodate everyone. Space and
parking were one of the top issues to be addressed in the cathedral.
The new cathedral, in
addition to providing increased capacity, will house the Catholic Diocese, the administering body for the Eastern half of North Carolina. The building will have at least one worship service, or Mass, everyday, in addition to special events, such as concerts, retreats, and gatherings.
Catholics have resided
in Raleigh since the early 1800s. The small religious population used a former Baptist
church to conduct worship and utilized a traveling priest to minister to them.
Following the Civil War, the size and poor condition of the church was no longer
fit to hold the increasing numbers of Catholics in the area. In 1879, Father
James White purchased the former Pulaski Cowper mansion and Sacred Heart Church was established to house the
parishioners. The name later changed to the Sacred Heart Cathedral when it was
chosen to host the only Roman Catholic Diocese, at the time, in North Carolina.
Today it is estimated that there are around 600,000 Catholics in the state. The
cathedral is no longer large enough to serve its membership.
