THE PARISH

 

The idea of a Catholic parish in the Goose Creek area surfaced about 30 years ago. In 1975, Father Alfred Pepera, Chaplain at the MENRIV Naval Weapons Station was presented with some cards by the local Baptist Church showing 40 Catholic families living in the area. Father Pepera, concerned that the MENRIV Chapel membership was growing rapidly and that it might not be able to accommodate the civilian and retirees worshiping with his military population, encouraged some of his faithful to look into the possibility of forming a civilian parish in the area. Soon a group of interested Catholics was formed and decided to hold meetings for that purpose. A brief canvassing of the new subdivisions in the community yielded 160 resident Catholic families. The group decided to approach the Bishop of Charleston, the Most Reverend Ernest L. Unterkoefler, who in turn asked the priests of Moncks Corner, Father Patrick Shelton and Father David Draim, to meet with the community in Goose Creek. Father Patrick and Father David would say Mass for the community on Saturday evening at St. Timothy Lutheran Church and would establish a catechetical program for the children. The Bishop also expressed the hope that in the future a new parish would be established in Goose Creek. While the Catholic Community settled and worshiped at St. Timothy, the Diocese looked for a piece of suitable land where a church could be built. The search ended in 1979 when 10 acres of land in Goose Creek, adjacent to Highway 176 near and just past the Foxborough subdivision, was acquired. The community celebrated the event with an open Mass on the field where they pledged to build a church. A campaign for funds started right then and there. In March of 1982, a Butler Multi-Purpose Building was dedicated for a total cost of $136,000. More importantly, on April 12, 1982, Bishop Unterkoefler nominated the community officially as the Church of Immaculate Conception and on June 5, 1983 the first resident pastor, Reverend Robert Fix, was sent to Goose Creek. The parish continued to grow and to expand under the second resident pastor, Reverend Donald Grady, SJ, who built the present rectory. But, the dream to realize a larger and final church fell to the third resident pastor, Reverend Nicholas Capetola, CRM. The planning, the campaign and the building of the new church took about six years at a cost of $1.8 million. The church seats about 750 people comfortably.

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Today, we are a vibrant community with more than 3000 registered families.