Shrine
"A spiritual oasis for all its visitors."
Pope John Paul II
Shrine As A Spiritual Space
"The design of a house of worship is an expression of the human spirit.
In a church practical considerations are important but not paramount; what is
paramount is the quality and drama of the space it contains. Church architecture
mirrors a civilization and its religious climate."
St. Mary church has a quality and drama surrounding its worship space that
reflects an inspired religious climate.
What Are The Roles Of A Shrine?
"Shrines are places in which believers not only revive their faith but
also become clearly aware of the duties that derive from it in the social
field."
Three Roles Of A Shrine:
1. Remind us of Gods powerful activity in history.
2. Point to his constant presence and invitation to share in his love.
3. Help us to discern the goal of our life-long pilgrimage.
" A Shrine is a church or other sacred place to which for a special reason
of piety, the faithful who frequent it make pilgrimage with the approval of the
local Ordinary."
Saint Mary - A Shrine
Because of its history, dignity and importance as a place of worship.
Why Now?
In year 2012 we will celebrate its 100th anniversary. Cardinal Gibbons, the first Cardinal in the United States, dedicated St. Mary in 1912.
The Petition To Bishop Gossman To Become A Shrine
Saint Mary Mother of God parish, the inherited successor of North Carolina's
earliest Catholic history, a parish which traces its birth to the organization
of the Charleston Diocese in 1820 under Bishop John England, a parish which can
count the first American Cardinal James Gibbons, as one of its earliest
benefactors and latest American Saint, Katherine Drexel, as still another, a
parish whose graceful church was dedicated and consecrated as a Pro-Cathedral in
1912, has petitioned Bishop Gossman to favor St. Mary as the first shrine in the
Diocese of Raleigh.
St. Mary petitions not only because Saint Mary Church with its Spanish Baroque
style architecture presents an impressive edifice to the Wilmington community.
Or because the church with twin towers in its facade, its graceful dome at the
center and its elegant worship space inside make this historic site a necessary
stop on guided tours of the city. We make this petition not because this
building was constructed without steel or wood beams, framing or nails.
We make this petition because for nearly a century this parish church has stood
on the shoulders of Saint Thomas the Apostle Church and is the proud inheritor
of two founders of missionary orders, Thomas Price of the Maryknollers and
William Bishop of Glenmary Home Missioners.
Finally, we make this petition because in the year 2012, Saint Mary Parish
Church will celebrate its 100th anniversary.
Who are "we" who make this petition?
We are the Southern Aristocrats, Free Blacks, and Irish immigrants, those first
early parishioners who make up Saint Thomas Parish. We are the business people
and professionals, the shipmen and shoemakers and slaves who filled a variety of
roles and occupations held by parishioners of that era.
We are religious sisters with names like Mother Augustine S.M. and the Sisters
of Mercy who began Catholic education in Wilmington. We are the Jewish and black
children who studied in the religious sisters school, at a period of history
when we were not allowed entrance into the city's public schools.
We are bishops with names like Ignatius Aloysius Reynolds who officially formed
the first Roman Catholic Parish in Wilmington in January 1, 1845; and Leo Haid
who was then Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina who laid the cornerstone for the
Saint Mary Church on May 20, 1908.
We are priests like Thomas Murphy who was the first full time priest in
Wilmington and Christopher Dennen, pastor of Saint Thomas, who encouraged the
formation of a new parish. We are the pastors of a more recent time with names
like O'Connor and Jones, Shea and Hadden, who realized their responsibility of
pastoring a church, which modeled best what is admired most in Catholic culture.
We are the past and present day parishioners of Saint Mary. For nearly a
century, generation after generation, we have gathered in our church as a
diverse Christian congregation. Yet we come as one family of believers to
celebrate the Eucharist. Year after year, decade after decade, as husbands and
wives, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, during wars and depressions, in
all sorts of seasons of the soul, we have entered our church under the stained
glass window depicting the Last Supper and celebrated Mass together.
For almost a century, our historic church, with its graceful presence has stood
in the heart of Wilmington. On December 17, 2003 ninety three years from the day
when parishioners of Saint Mary held their first liturgical services in 1911, we
petitioned Bishop Gossman to make Saint Mary Parish Church a shrine.
We ask our Bishop to do this so that our parish church will continue to make
Roman Catholicism a respectable and valuable institution into the 21st Century.
We have requested our petition be granted on March 3, 2004 the feast of one of
our earliest benefactors, Saint Katherine Drexel, or on March 25, a feast of our
patron, Mary Mother of God.