Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, Greensboro, NC

Parish History

The life of our parish could be followed in a variety of ways. Through dates, number of families, significant events, pastors, erection of buildings, sacraments. Pastors come and go, buildings take on significance through their need and usage. The needs of the parish community are always in development, structures and forms of leadership evolve and change. In a Catholic community everything must be seen as an effort to gather people together to recognize humbly before God their need for and appreciation for the gift of faith. The cathedral-like nature of our church, its very stature and beauty, its spiring steeple invites a lifting of mind and heart to God. The history that follows is an effort to trace the ongoing development of our parish centered around our beautiful church. It is a history in the making and chronicles for us the efforts over the years of faithful people who loved the Lord and expressed that love in sharing life in faith at Our Lady of Grace.

Our Lady of Grace Church, dedicated to the honor and glory of God under the title of Our Lady of Grace, was erected in 1952 through funds provided by Mr. Julian Price of Greensboro as a tribute to the faith and love of his good wife, Ethel Clay Price and is therefore called The Mrs. Julian Price Memorial.

The story of Our Lady of Grace begins with Ethel Clay, a young student at Notre Dame Academy in Maryland. Miss Clay converted to the Catholic faith and went on to become a nurse at Watts Hospital in Durham, NC. While there, she met Julian Price and they were married in 1897.

A Baptist, Mr. Price served as the Chairman of the Board of Jefferson Life Insurance and held the highest degrees in the Masonic Order, the Knights of Templars, and the Shriners. The couple spent most of their married life in Greensboro and were blessed with two children.

There was not a large Catholic population in Greensboro during the Prices’ married life. A friend recalled, that in the 1930s, a visiting priest would come on Sunday to celebrate Mass in what is now St. Benedict Church. Often this was Fr. Vincent Taylor, OSB from the Benedictine Monastery in Belmont, NC who came to visit his sisters, Mary and Lucy. These two women also happened to be Mr. Julian Price’s secretaries, and the group would often have Sunday dinner at the Price home following Mass.

The actual beginning of Our Lady of Grace started in the summer of 1946 when Mr. Price made arrangements to provide funds for the construction of a Catholic church as a memorial to his wife, Ethel Clay Price, who had recently died. Mr. Price approached Bishop Vincent Waters, Bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh (which included all of North Carolina at that time) with his idea of building a church as a living memorial to his wife. Bishop Waters gave Mr. Price a file containing various models of church architecture throughout the United States as a guide. Mr. Price chose the Church of Our Lady of Refuge in Brooklyn, New York as the model. Henry V. Murphy, the architect of Our Lady of Refuge, was contacted, and he agreed to scale down the design to a seating capacity of 500. Mr. Price presented the Bishop with $400,000 to build the church. However, before construction could begin, Mr. Price died in an automobile accident.

World War II delayed construction efforts, and rising building costs subsequently made the original plan beyond reach. An additional gift of $300,000 from the Price children, Mrs. Joseph M. (Kathleen) Bryan and Mr. Ralph Clay Price, made the completion of the church possible, and construction began in the Spring of 1950 by the George W. Kane Construction Company of Greensboro.

The exterior walls were built of pink granite from Salisbury, NC with Indiana limestone trim and sculptures. Artisans from New York, Indiana, Illinois, and Canada contributed to the construction. The interior of the church is brick and limestone with vaulted ceilings and decorative woodcarvings. Chairo marble for the sanctuary and side altars was imported from Italy.

Over 30,000 separate pieces of cut stained glass for the windows were imported from Belgium. The windows were based on those in the Cathedral in Three Rivers, Quebec and were designed in Montreal, Canada.

Mrs. Price’s great devotion to our Blessed Mother is undoubtedly a factor in the name of the church. A special chapel off the main sanctuary recognizes her devotion and houses an altar honoring Our Lady at the Legion of Mary Altar. This chapel also houses another altar of devotion enhanced by the beauty of a stained glass rose window.

A small chapel located in an alcove to the left of the main entrance of the church provides another place for quiet prayer in a beautiful setting. On the right side of the back of the church was the Baptistry behind a grilled gate. The balcony, located at the front right side of the nave, housed an electronic organ.

The first Mass was celebrated July 13, 1952 and the church was dedicated September 14, 1952 by the then Apostolic Delegate to the United States, the late Cardinal Ameleto Cicognani. At the celebration the Raleigh Cathedral Choir, visiting Clerics, including five bishops and two abbots, and 600 lay participants of various faiths witnessed the placing of the cornerstone and the blessing of the outside walls. They then entered the church to participate in a Mass and dedication rite. The Most Reverend Charles H. Helmsing, Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis preached the dedication sermon, Bishop Vincent S. Waters accepted the church for the Diocese, and Archbishop Cicognani thanked the Price family and urged his listeners to “unite yourself with the beauty of the church and lift up each of your heart and mind to God.”

The original school building beside the church was built in 1953 and was dedicated by Bishop Waters on November 15, 1953. The building was designed to match the Gothic style of the church.

The school, grades K through 8, was staffed by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary from Scranton, PA. These sisters continued to operate our school for 26 years. Beginning with the 1980-81 school year, the school has continued with a lay staff.

The original rectory was the Shelburne home at 201 S. Chapman Street, and was purchased in 1953. It is now the church office. When the IHM Sisters arrived to open the school this building became the convent and the priests moved to a rented house on Tremont Street until the Tudor house on the corner of Tremont and Market Streets was purchased.

In 1963 the convent was expanded to accommodate additional sisters and a chapel was included. The sisters departed in 1980 and the convent became the residence of the Faith Formation Director. The chapel was used for daily Mass during winter months and for liturgical celebrations for the school and other small parish groups.

Monsignor Arthur Freeman served as the first pastor of Our Lady of Grace. Among the eleven priests who have served OLG as pastors, it is interesting to note that in 1968 the third pastor, Bishop Charles McLaughlin, Auxiliary Bishop of Raleigh was appointed Founding Bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg in Florida.

Monsignor Michael J. Begley, the fifth pastor of OLG was consecrated and installed in 1972 as the Founding Bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte. Fr. Francis M. Smith who served as assistant to Monsignor Freeman when the church first opened returned in 1972 to serve as pastor. In the summer of 1988, the Marians of the Immaculate Conception (MIC) were appointed by Bishop John F. Donoghue, second Bishop of Charlotte, to pastor Our Lady of Grace. The Marians remained until February 2000 when Diocesan priests again resumed pastoral leadership.

The legacy of generosity of Julian and Ethel Price in the building of Our Lady of Grace Church was kept alive through their daughter, Kathleen Price Bryan. Her love for the Church and desire to enhance the beauty of our sanctuary provided for the mosaic arch installed over the marble altar, the brass candelabras, the bells and chimes, the table altar and the pipe organ. The Price and Bryan families’ generosity is perpetuated in the establishment of “The Joseph M. Bryan, Sr. Endowment Fund.”

In January 1973 the house at 2301 W. Market Street was purchased from the Ford family to provide a center for parish meetings and social activities. It was named St. Agnes House to preserve the memory of St. Agnes Church, the original Catholic Church in Greensboro which served Catholics here from 1877 to 1899. St. Agnes Church was replaced by St. Benedict Church in 1899. The St. Agnes House served the needs of the parish until the completion of the Parish Activity Center in 1976. The St. Agnes House continued to be used by the parish, the Knights of Columbus, and Birthright until it was sold in 1982.

Bishop Michael J. Begley, our former pastor, retuned on April 4, 1976 to bless the bronze Belgium bells before they were installed in the bell tower. These clarion bells enhance the atmosphere of prayer and devotion and invite us through beautiful melodies to lift mind and heart to God.

The new Parish Activity Center was dedicated on November 14, 1976 by Bishop Begley. The dedication celebration was enriched by the participation of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, a noted preacher on the national scene and highly respected Bishop of the Church. The celebration was the culmination of a campaign to gather funds throughout the parish from faithful parishioners who saw the need for expanded facilities to meet present and future needs. The Parish Activity Center housed the gymnasium, kitchen and cafeteria, six classrooms, the school library, and church and school administrative offices. The building became known as the Upper School and the original school building became known as the Lower School.

The Parish 25th Anniversary celebrations were held in October 1977. As part of the celebrations the new ‘Jubilee’ pipe organ was dedicated. The 2,226 pipe Kleuker organ was named “The Jubilee” to mark the Silver Anniversary of the parish and the Golden Anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Bryan. It took over one year to design the organ, and plan and build a gallery for it over the Market Street entrance of the church.

Our parish school celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 1978. On Sunday afternoon, December 17th the school held a ‘Time Capsule’ ceremony. The time capsule contains major national and international events from 1953 to 1978 plus other items of interest and meaning to OLG students and was prepared by the ‘Silver 9th Grade.’ Amy DeStefano, class president, and the 9th grade students presided at a ceremony to bury the capsule near the flagpole in front of the school where it would remain until the year 2003, the 50th year of Our Lady of Grace.

Over the 50-year history of the parish many projects, improvements and additions have enhanced the beauty of our campus and enabled us to respond to the ongoing and ever changing needs of our parish community.

The bronze sculpture of the Pieta, sculpted by Edward Fenno Hoffman, located in the small chapel off the main entrance of the church, was commissioned in the late 1970s by Our Lady of Grace and was designated as a tribute to Kathleen Bryan. This beautiful sculpture of Mary and her beloved Son, Jesus, was made possible through the support of the Altar Society and many who joined them in making this work of art a reality.

In 1980 liturgical changes prescribed by the Church gave impetus to remodeling our Baptistry and providing the space needed for celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The beautiful marble Baptismal font was moved to a more prominent space within the assembly of the church and the Reconciliation Room was designed within the original Baptistry utilizing the beautiful stained glass windows and the iron gates.

In 1995 a major renovation of the church was undertaken and made possible through the generous financial support of parishioners. The renovation included painting the interior of the church, refinishing the pews, and installation of new carpeting in the congregational area. Stained glass windows in the Tremont Street vestibule depicting the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception were installed. A special devotion of the Marians to Divine Mercy was expressed in the placement of a Divine Mercy Shrine. Other renovations included expansion of a parking lot, and remodeling of a garage into Our Lady’s Cottage providing space for a school music room, a co-op nursery on Sunday mornings, and meeting space.

Mrs. Harriet Estelle Coots Halbleib provided a Memorial Garden in loving memory of her sister, Mrs. Edna May Coots Thomas in 1996. This garden forms a courtyard on the Tremont Street side of the church and was designed to create an atmosphere of welcome and to foster community.

The parish purchased a house on Tremont Street adjacent to our property in 1997 and named the building “Helen’s House” honoring the memory of Mrs. Helen Keiger for her 29 years of faithful and devoted service to our parish as Church Secretary. Helen’s House provides meeting space and enables OLG to respond as a host church serving homeless families through the Greensboro Interfaith Hospitality Network.

A Respect Life Garden was designed, featuring a statue of Our Lady of Grace and was blessed on January 19, 1999 by Bishop William G. Curlin, third Bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte. Inscriptions at the base of the shrine include the words of Pope John Paul II encouraging respect for the gift of life at every stage of the lifecycle from conception to natural death. The original colored statue was destroyed in a violent storm on May 25, 2000. It was replaced with a bronze colored statue of the same size.

In 1999, the Chapman Street vestibule doors were moved to create a more defined sacred place in our chapel and to accommodate the special needs of parents with small children during the celebration of Mass.

Realizing the need for physical space for both school and church activities, when the house at 207 S. Chapman Street became available it was purchased by Our Lady of Grace in 1999. By moving the rectory to this new location ample space was provided for church offices in the former rectory. This move also created space in the Upper School Building providing for school needs.

Striving to be a welcoming community, our parish has evolved into one that reflects a cultural diversity that includes many from Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia and an ever increasing number of Hispanics from Mexico, and Central and South America.

In 2001, with the encouragement of the Parish Pastoral Council, OLG opened wide its doors to the growing Hispanic community of Greensboro by scheduling a Mass celebrated in Spanish as a part of our regular weekend Mass schedule. Gathering catechists and lay pastoral leaders who work under the care of Fr. Luis Salvador Osorio, Parochial Vicar, this ministry has flourished. It is fitting that a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe has an honored place in the Chapman Street chapel of our beautiful church.

In 2002 and 2003 parishioners following the 50-year tradition of expressing love for and appreciation for faith have been gathering to explore how best to ‘polish the gem’ that has inspired and nurtured faith over the years. Parishioners have participated in ‘listening sessions’ to share their hopes and dreams for the present and the future. Our Parish Pastoral Council, School Board, faculty, staff and commissions have worked together to develop a Parish Pastoral Plan that will set the direction for the ongoing ministry of Our Lady of Grace Parish.

This history has been compiled from newspaper articles, parish files, anniversary and commemorative books along with conversations with and the writings of Mr. Jim Patton, a life-long parishioner of Our Lady of Grace.

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