Charlotte's Black Catholic church to receive $4 million grant for repairs

The Diocese of Charlotte will provide up to $5 million to help restore a historic Black Catholic parish, which has celebrated Mass in its parish gymnasium for the past six years.

Our Lady of Consolation Catholic Church, founded in 1955 to serve African Americans in North Carolina’s largest city, received news of the grant earlier this year. It marks a new stage of progress in their quest to repair mold and asbestos discovered during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as electrical and accessibility issues.

“In recent years it became clear that action beyond the means of parishioners was required to avoid loss of the parish site in this critical growth area,” Emmett Sapp, the diocese’s director of construction and real estate, told Catholic News Herald in February.

“With the magnitude of what needed to be done there, combined with the importance of the community and its location, we set out to find ways to creatively find funds,” he added in comments to The Charlotte Observer in late April.

Under the new agreement, a $4 million grant from the diocese will be coupled with a capital campaign initially aiming to raise $1.5 million. Upon reaching that goal, an additional $1.1 million from the diocese will be disbursed. The total cost of repairs is estimated at over $6.7 million, and the parish capital campaign is expected to launch next spring.

“[The parish] caught my attention, not just because of the need that I saw, but more importantly, by the vibrance of the community,” said Bishop Michael T. Martin, OFM Conv. of Charlotte.

Discussions with the diocese first began in 2024, as the financial challenges related to repairs became clearer even as the parish saw increasing membership in what is one of the nation’s fastest-growing dioceses.

The official partnership was announced to parishioners in February at town hall meetings with diocesan officials, detailing plans for the aforementioned repairs, a new parish narthex, and a seating capacity increase of more than 70%.

The nearly 70-year-old building was once part of an expansive campus that included the church, a school, rectory, and a convent that housed teachers from the Oblate Sisters of Providence. The parish was first administered by the Redemptorists, and the future Edmundite bishop Moses Anderson served there for his first assignment as a priest. The diocese’s first Black priest, Fr Wilbur Thomas, served as pastor beginning in 1979. The church has since been administered by the Capuchin Franciscans and has been a diocesan parish since 2012.

The Consolation school closed in 1988 and has since sat vacant, though a $2 million capital campaign was launched during the pandemic to turn it into a community learning center. The convent was demolished in 2016. Emergency repairs were made at the rectory in 2025 in order to welcome a new pastor, Fr Marcel Amadi.

“Imagine in the 1950s or prior, with all of the civil unrest going on and the segregation, people had a place they were able to worship and a place they could call home,” Amadi told Queen City News of the church’s rich history.

“One of the prayers I said was… ‘God, please help us so that we can go back to our place of worship.'”

The church is currently home to a thriving Afrocentric community, including African Americans and West African immigrants. The parish liturgies feature the Perpetual Hope Gospel Choir, and an annual Harambee Mass celebrates the fusion of the diverse musical and spiritual traditions.

Pending a successful capital campaign launch next year, the church hopes to complete repairs and welcome parishioners back to their main church building by fall 2028. The diocese is currently reviewing options for architectural firms and design work. 

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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