Holy Angels Parish in Mount Airy 1921-2021
MOUNT AIRY — It was a down-home family celebration May 8-9, as members of Holy Angels Parish gathered to commemorate the 100th anniversary of their church’s dedication.
The celebrations echoed the dedication a century ago. Bishop Peter Jugis and Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari came up to offer Masses just as Benedictine Abbot Leo Haid did 100 years earlier, and families gathered afterwards for a group photo in front of the church. Of course, much was different: the liturgies were in English and Spanish, offered in the parish hall because the diverse and growing congregation cannot fit inside the original church. And in this time of pandemic, most worshipers wore masks and sat spaced apart at Mass and while enjoying refreshments on the church grounds.
But the spirit of unassuming gladness was the same: The Catholic families of Mount Airy, new and old, are right proud of their little church.
“Our parish is very active and very welcoming, with a real sense of community,” said Gloria Bunn. She and her husband Howard were married in the church in 1967. Everyone knows her as the first Catholic to teach in Mount Airy’s public schools.
Also on hand for the celebration was guest of honor Frank Browne, now 91 and the oldest member of the parish. Browne was the first baby to be baptized at Holy Angels, one of 10 children in his family. Browne and his wife Gay went on to raise their 12 children there, too.
“I’m just glad to be here,” Browne grinned when he was asked for his thoughts on the anniversary.
His daughter Therese Haselden happily reminisced about growing up in the close-knit congregation. And by close-knit, she was being literal.
Haselden and her 11 siblings had to get to Mass early when they were growing up so they could have a place to sit, she recalled, especially when another family with 16 children came down from New York each season.
“We would fill up about half the church,” she said, “but we were pretty skinny so we could just about all fit.”
Parishioners’ sense of humor nods to what made Mount Airy famous: the inspiration for native son Andy Griffith’s television show about life in the small town of Mayberry.
But Mayberry fame aside, Mount Airy is known for something even more enduring, and Holy Angels is made of it: granite, among the finest in the world.
The church on Main Street – plus 10 other churches in town and numerous other buildings – are built using the renowned white granite, quarried nearby from what everybody in town simply calls “The Rock.” The world’s largest open-faced granite quarry, “The Rock” is visible from space.
The sparkling white granite gives Holy Angels a character of warmth and permanence, and in his homily, Bishop Jugis gave thanks to God for the church and its members being a steadfast beacon of God’s love over the past 100 years.
“We come in a spirit of thanksgiving for all of the graces that have been celebrated here over the past 100 years, by the many generations of people who have worshiped God in this place,” he said.
He quoted from the prayer of dedication for a church: “O God, make this church a house of salvation and grace, where your people will be gathered in fellowship and grow together in love.”
“That prayer is continuing to be fulfilled ever since 1921 until today,” he said, making Holy Angels “a place of salvation and grace, where your people gather in fellowship in order to worship God and grow together in love.”
This prayer is lived out at Holy Angels “week after week,” he said, adding, “I am grateful for all the parishioners who work to make Holy Angels a strong and vibrant parish, and I ask God to reward you for all that you do to make this a place of grace and salvation – contributing your time, your talents, your love and your presence.”
Father Lawrence Heiney, who has served as Holy Angels’ pastor for nine years, thanked Bishop Jugis and Abbot Placid for coming up to offer Masses for the anniversary weekend. And in true down-home Mount Airy style, he added in the parish bulletin’s “Pastor’s Corner”:
“Their trip was much easier than Abbot Leo Haid. His trip included horses and trains.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor
“Our parish is very active and very welcoming, with a real sense of community." — Gloria Bunn, Holy Angels parishioner
HISTORY: Holy Angels Church stands steadfast in Mount Airy
MOUNT AIRY — On Main Street is a welcoming little granite church: Holy Angels Church. Built in 1921, the church is a witness to the stability and faith of the Catholic community in Surry County.
In the early years of the 20th century, clergy from Winston-Salem ministered to the 10 or so Catholics living in Mount Airy at the time. Until 1919, local Catholics either traveled to St. Leo the Great Church in Winston-Salem or welcomed clergy from the town into their homes and a local opera house for liturgies. By the mid-1910s, sporadic visits by Benedictine priests since 1907 were being met with an increasing Catholic population. As the dawn of the 1920s approached, members of the faith had increased to a number warranting the construction of a new church.
Addressing the need for a permanent place of worship, Bishop Leo Haid, the Benedictine abbot of Belmont Abbey and vicar apostolic of North Carolina, purchased a site for a new church on Main Street on Nov. 26, 1919, from J.D. and Flora Sargent. The church, built with local white granite, was dedicated by Bishop Haid on May 8, 1921. Benedictine
Father Alphonse Buss was named the first pastor.
Holy Angels Church gained parish status from Bishop William Hafey of Raleigh in 1930. The first resident diocesan pastor was Father Aloysius Adler, who made his home in a rectory built next door in 1929.
The Great Depression of the 1930s brought financial hardships to Mount Airy, and the granite quarry which sourced the stone used to build Holy Angels Church came close to shutting down. Many residents – Catholics among them – were forced to relocate to find work, and the congregation of Holy Angels Church dwindled.
The parish recovered, and by the 1950s a number of converts were adding to a growing population of Catholics in Surry County. Appointed pastor in 1953, Father Maurice Spillane also played a key role in the construction of a church about 35 miles to the southwest, St. Stephen in Elkin. Also during his pastorate, parishioners living along Highway 58/221 in Virginia began making their way to Mount Airy for Mass. Several years later, they began a parish centered in Woodlawn, Va., and built a church placed under the patronage of St. Joseph.
Acquisitions of property during the 1960s and ’70s broadened the church grounds in Mount Airy. The church, rectory and a house for catechetical and social events were also refurbished.
Father Arthur Duncan arrived at Holy Angels in November 1980. For the next 14 years, he ministered to the growing congregation and during his time there he was named a prelate of honor (monsignor) by then-Bishop John F. Donoghue of Charlotte. Monsignor Duncan led efforts to build a parish hall. Parishioners broke ground in June 1993 and the hall was dedicated in January of the following year. Named the Duncan Center, the hall honors the pastor who served as shepherd in Mount Airy until his retirement in 1994.
Following Monsignor Duncan’s retirement, the Holy Angels family continued to grow. A variety of parish programs and outreach efforts were added during the pastorates of Father Richard Contiliano and Father Thomas Stott.
Father Stott assumed responsibility for the parish in July 1996. A collection of about 200 saints’ relics, obtained by Father Stott over the years, is available for public veneration in the church.
The church received major renovations during the subsequent leadership of Father Eric Kowalski. Among the renovations: the church’s roof was replaced, the stained glass windows were covered with an exterior pane of glass to seal and protect them from damage, and a parking lot was added next door to accommodate the growing number of parishioners. The revitalization project caught the attention of locals and visitors to the city as well as the Mount Airy Appearance Commission, which honored the parish with the city’s Architectural Excellence Award.
— Catholic News Herald
Pastors of Holy Angels Church
1921-1930 Father Alphonse Buss, OSB (interim)
1930-1937 Father Aloysius Adler, OSB
1937 Father Stephen A. Sullivan
1937-1940 Father Herbert A. Hawkins
1940-1942 Father Thomas F. Carney
1942-1944 Father Paul G. Termer
1944-1945 Father Thomas J. Colgan
1945-1953 Father Paul G. Termer
1953-1962 Father Maurice Spillane
1962-1969 Father Stephen A. Sullivan
1969-1976 Father Henry J. Becker
1976-1980 Father Vincent A. Erb
1980-1994 Monsignor Arthur L. Duncan
1994-1996 Father Richard C. Contiliano
1996-2001 Father Thomas D. Stott
2001-2012 Father Eric L. Kowalski
2012-present Father Lawrence W. Heiney