St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother

In 1935, Bishop William J. Hafey pointed to an empty lot overgrown with weeds in the poor western part of Greenville and said to Father Maurice Tew, a young Passionist priest from Boston, “This is your parish.”

The parish, at Father Maurice’s first glance consisted of a lonely cow grazing, but this would soon change. On March 1, 1936, contributions from benefactors in the north helped Father Tew build his church.

It was dedicated in honor of the Passionist, Saint Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother, as a “mission to the colored.” Two years later the rectory was built, and by 1940 the parish had grown to 72 members.

The parish hall, which became the social center of the parish was added in 1948. Father Tew’s building program had come to completion in 1956 with the addition of a Catholic school and convent. The Sisters of Christian Charity served and taught the children of Saint Gabriel’s for the next 30 years. All of this allowed the parish to grow from its original intention of a mission church to a vastly diverse and integrated parish.

Declining health forced Father Tew to leave the parish in 1965 and it seemed that the Passionist mission in West Greenville had ended. Diocesan priests staffed St.Gabriel Church from 1965 until 1987 when the Passionists returned to Greenville.

St. Gabriel’s School closed its doors in 1994, but not without God opening another door. The facility now houses a Head Start program serving more than 120 preschoolers from the West Greenville neighborhood. In the 1990’s, the church welcomed many new Spanish speaking families. The Hispanic population continues to grow adding to our numbers and diversity.

In September 2003, St. Gabriel’s broke ground for a new worship/education center. This all became possible with the acquisition of an 88 acre farm by the Diocese of Raleigh, and the generous gift of another benefactor, Mr. Thomas Arthur, who gave St. Gabriel’s a generous $1,000,000 gift in memory of his mother, Marie T. Ficklen. Our new location is less than three miles away from the original church and in West Greenville.

Beginning August 23, 2010, St. Gabriel’s hosted the inaugural class of John Paul II Catholic High School. Starting with 25 students, the high school has rented classroom space from the parish, supplemented with mobile classroom units on the west end of the building. The high school graduated its first class in 2014 and is currently enrolling all four high school grades.

In 2012, the parish broke ground for the St. Martin de Porres Pastoral Life Center, a 10,000 square foot multipurpose facility that serves as a gathering hall for the parish and a gymnasium for JPII High School.

Nearly 80 years later, St. Gabriel’s is still here and continues to grow. The diversity in our parish still thrives and we have members from a dozen different countries who come together to worship!

Our current pastoral administrator is Fr. Romen Acero. Sister Maria Sanchez and Sister Angelica Arce serve as the Director or Religious Education and Pastoral Associate. Mia Romero Washington and Jan Lyons are on the office staff, and Karen Rainey is the music director. Please visit our website to contact any of the above mentioned staff members if you have any questions!