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History

HISTORY OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE PARISH


In 1997, Bishop Joseph Gossman, responding to requests from many parents in Southwest Wake County for Catholic Schools, appointed Father Donald Staib as Pastor to begin a new Parish and School on land that was previously purchased in Apex for this expansion of the new Parish.  Ground was broken for two new schools in the Diocese on June 6, 1999. One school was built on the campus of St. Michael the Archangel in Cary and the second school became the initial building for St. Mary Magdalene School.

A name was needed for the new parish. Father Staib strongly favored names from the Bible and suggested Mary Magdalene to the Bishop. There are no other Catholic churches in North Carolina with this name. In the New Testament, Mary Magdalene is mentioned four times; she was healed by Jesus of an affliction, she and other women supported Jesus and the Apostles in their ministry, she stood with Jesus' mother at the cross, and she was the first witness to Jesus' Resurrection. Because she took the news of the Resurrection to the Apostles, she is often called ‘Apostle to the Apostles.’  This name was approved by the Bishop for the new Parish.  In keeping with this background, the street address for the parish is Magdala Place; Magdala is the town in the Holy Land on the Sea of Galilee from which Mary Magdalene came.

St. Mary Magdalene Parish began with Sunday Mass at Apex Middle School in rental space.  The first Mass was celebrated on September 12, 1999. Our parish theme song was: ‘Sing to God a simple song; make it up as you go along.’ By December 1999 a second Sunday Mass was added to meet demand for this new Parish.

The new building for classrooms and Parish offices was completed, and Bishop Joseph Gossman came to bless the St. Mary Magdalene campus at the first Masses offered at the present site on Sunday, August 13, 2000. Around the same time, the Church began to use the media center of the new school for its Masses and no longer used the Apex Middle School gym.

St. Mary Magdalene School opened for class on September 5, 2000 with an enrollment of 330 students in Grades Pre-K through 8th grade. The school was ready for them. The founding principal, Bob Cadran, had worked for the previous year to hire faculty, order desks, and all equipment for the school, and watch over the final process of the school construction.  

The colors of the Parish are burgundy and gray with gold accents, and the mascot is the Monarch Butterfly.

Fund raising and construction began in January 2003 on the 2nd building on campus (Activity Building), to include preschool space, Chapel, Dining Space and a large auditorium  and the first Masses in the activity building was celebrated the weekend of August 21-22, 2004. Bishop Joseph Gossman came to bless the new building on September 19, 2004.

In September 2011, Bishop Michael Burbidge made the announcement of plans for a new Cathedral in Raleigh. Our Parish Council recommended that we join with the Diocese and commence our own Church Building Campaign to raise funds for a Church, while initial plans were drawn for the Church structure.

In December 2011 we became aware of two stained glass windows of St. Mary Magdalene, one of her at the Resurrection of Christ and one of her as a young woman. The windows were from two closed churches – St. Peter and St. Paul, both in Troy, New York. The windows were about 125 years old and were designed by the famous firm Franz Mayer of Munich, Germany. In addition, four other windows and a Rose Window was identified and procured.   A very generous group of donors offered to purchase the windows, and later the Knights of Columbus offered to pay for the Rose Window.  These windows were cleaned, restored and installed into new frames to continue to brighten the Church for another 100 + years to come.

During his 2012 summer trip to Vietnam, Father Staib became aware of a studio in Ho Chi Minh City – (still called Saigon by the people) -- where wooden statues were carved by young men with hearing disabilities. He began a process of working with this studio to create the Holy Family Statues and Stations of the Cross for our new church. In Da Nang, Vietnam he knew of marble studios and asked them to design two angels for the Columbarium. The faces of these two angels are the same faces as the angels in our Fontanini Christmas figures. One of these angels holds in her hands, a bird to honor Yoleta, who was the Staib family’s pet for 50+ years.

In August 2012, the Parish began its Capital Campaign called ‘Our Church Our Time.’ The remainder of 2012 and all of 2013 were taken with the raising of funds for the church, for organizing committees to research and seek advice on all aspects of construction, with meetings with architects and experts to plan for the infrastructure of the building. 15 listening sessions were scheduled to hear feedback from members of the parish and to ask for financial commitments.

On the 4th Sunday of Advent 2013, December 22, Bishop Burbidge came to bless the new church site, which was still just a wooded area.  All of 2014 and 2015 were taken with design preparations with the Diocesan Committees, Town of Apex, Architect proposals, meetings with our own Building Committees, and of course, raising sufficient funds. It was a steady on-going process.  Construction finally began in January 2016 for the Church.  Then followed about a month of rain and mud, so initial ground movement was slow.  Eventually, the land was cleared and graded, and a structure of steel began to arise.  Through continued generosity of the Parish members, a Chapel and Columbarium were added to the original design for the Church.   The general contractor, architects, and many others toiled diligently over the months to come to build, and equip our amazing worship space, which included 4 meeting rooms, and a superior sound system for use.

The dedication of the Church took place on a typical summer day in North Carolina in July 2017 when then Auxiliary Bishop Elect in the Diocese of Atlanta, Bernard “Ned” Shlesinger was joined along with many other Diocese officials, priests, and parishioners to dedicate the Church.  Father Staib was instructed to ‘unlock the doors’ and the Dedication Mass took place.  A dedication journal that highlights many aspects of the design and significance of items was published and copies are still available for those interested.  Outside the Church on the plaza is a statue that was designed by Father Staib of the Prophet Jonah, who has special meaning to him and stands in remembrance of the founding Pastor for the Parish.

After 23 years of being Pastor at St Mary Magdalene, and 60 years since his ordination, Father Staib announced his intent to retire from active ministry in June 30, 2020.  Father Christopher Koehn was appointed by Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama to be the new Pastor for St. Mary Magdalene Parish and Fr. Chris arrived in June 2020 to take over the pastoral leadership of the community.  In 2023, we welcomed Peggy Lane as our School Principal to take over the helm of our Catholic School.  During Fr. Chris’ tenure, he quickly became a “monarch” and continued to guide the growing congregation of faithful.  New ministries and new programs were added, with the assistance of our excellent Deacons Dev Lobo and Rick Stevens.   Plans for the next phase of our campus master building plan were developed and with Diocese approval received in May 2024, we have moved into design phase for a 25,000 SF two story Parish Life Center.  This building will allow additional space for religious education (child, youth and adult), have overflow space for Masses, provide a place for parish celebrations and events, and house the additional administrative staff that is essential for operating the Parish.

On June 25, 2024, Fr. Michael Coveyou assumed the Pastor role at StMM, as Fr. Chris has been transferred to another parish.  Fr. Francis Xavier Kayondo joined the ministry staff as Parochial Vicar for the Parish.  A new rectory has been purchased for the priests, and seminarians in residence at our Parish.  Plans for the Parish Life Center move forward with anticipated ground breaking in 2025, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first class to start at our Parish School.

This written history is a story mostly of construction of buildings.  A far more wonderful story is the community of people who come to St Mary Magdalene for worship, learning, and dedication to service.  The parish continues to strive and grow, adding new members, new students and working towards continued service to the ‘family’ that is St. Mary Magdalene.