Raleigh bishop coming to Kinston

In honor of 10 years in their Academy Heights Road location, members of Kinston’s Holy Spirit Catholic Church will have a special guest at Sunday Mass.

Michael F. Burbidge, bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh, will preside over the regular Sunday services.

The Rev. Edward Burch, Holy Spirit’s pastor, normally presides over Mass services held during the week and weekends, but he will be “concelebrating,” or assisting, Burbidge this Sunday.

“He’ll be the main presider,” Burch said of the bishop.

Burbidge — who stays busy visiting Catholic parishes in 54 Eastern North Carolina counties — was invited to the Kinston parish to help congregants celebrate their 10th year in the church facilities, which include sanctuaries, administrative offices and classrooms.

The building opened in February 1999 to house the members of two Kinston Catholic churches and one Grifton church after their congregations merged in the mid-1980s.

In 1990, church officials purchased 20 acres of land on Academy Heights Road for the Holy Spirit congregation.

Much of the area’s Catholic congregation is made up of transplants who came to Kinston in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s to work for DuPont and other industrial firms.

Bonnie Kasper and her husband Andrew — who both serve on the parish council — came to Kinston in late 1972 from St. Joseph, Mo., to work for Walker Carolina, which was sold and eventually became Field Controls LLC.

While the Kaspers were members of Holy Trinity Church, located at West Vernon Avenue and Perry Street, Bonnie said she often attended services at Our Lady of the Atonement because its location on East Bright Street was more convenient for her.

“I loved that little old church building,” she said. “The acoustics were so good you could talk normally at the altar and they could hear you all the way in the back.”

Church volunteer Patricia Keesee and her husband George moved to the area from Brevard County, Fla., in late 2006 to be close to her elderly father.

“All in all it’s been very friendly,” Keesee said. “We were welcomed right into the church and everyone just made us feel right at home.”

Over the years, Holy Spirit has evolved to serve the community’s many Hispanic families. Separate services are conducted in English and Spanish, since half of the congregation is Latino, Burch said.

The church normally holds an English-language service at 9 a.m. and a Spanish-language service at 11:30 a.m. on Sundays. This Sunday, though, everyone will be in the sanctuary for a 10 a.m. Mass.

Readings and hymns will be delivered in English and Spanish; Burbidge will preach in English. After the service ends, the bishop will meet with congregants, which could continue for several hours.

“He stays until the last person goes, basically,” Burch said.

David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com.