Mission of Our Lady of Consolation Church, Charlotte
341 Dallas-Spencer Mountain Road, Gastonia
https://ourladyofconsolation.org/st-helen-catholic-church-1
Mass: 9:30 a.m. Sunday
The site for St. Helen Church – and, in part, its inspiration – came from Robert Gardin, a former Baptist who in his younger days converted to Catholicism after having a dream in which St. Peter called on him to continue his faith by way of the Catholic Church. Gardin’s conversion is said to have brought hundreds of friends, neighbors and family members – including eight siblings – into the church. The Gardin family still worships at St. Helen, a small red brick church designed by the famed church architect Benedictine Father Michael McInerney. It is one of the diocese’s historically African-American faith communities, and today welcomes people of all backgrounds.