ROBBINSVILLE — One of the smallest congregations in the Diocese of Charlotte is taking to heart the Jubilee Year’s promise of hope.
With just 17 registered households, Prince of Peace Mission heads into 2025 with great hopes, parishioners and their pastor say.
Hope for growth.
Hope for young families and children.
Hope for renewal.
Parishioners worry that without new blood, the mission’s aging congregation will struggle to sustain itself.
“We’re in the Appalachian Mountains so there are a lot of poor people and there’s a lot of need,” says Bonnie Butterworth, 69, a retired nurse from California. “Our church isn’t fancy, but there is something very special about our little mission. You just really feel the Holy Spirit there, in a little town that just really needs it.”
Prince of Peace in Robbinsville is a mission of Holy Redeemer Parish – itself the smallest parish in the diocese, 20 miles away in Andrews. Both churches are in far western North Carolina, in the Nantahala National Forest, near the Tennessee state line. Ironically, the mission church has room for more people than its mother church, with seating for about 120 – yet only 5 to 10 people turn out for Mass during winter months.
The Tail of the Dragon – one of the world's foremost motorcycling roads – is an 11-mile stretch of Hwy. 129 that runs through Robbinsville.
Attendance doubles, even triples in the summer to 30 people or so, when hikers and bikers, kayakers, leaf peepers, and Boy Scouts are drawn to the recreational opportunities of the forest and stop by to worship. Lakes, whitewater, rigorous terrain, the legendary Tail of the Dragon – all appeal to enthusiasts and tourists.
“We do get a lot of visitors in church during the summer, especially around Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day,” says Lisa Denzer, a retired military nurse who has been attending Prince of Peace since 1998. “We’ll see leaf lookers, and the motorcycles – we can always hear them pulling up. Somehow people do find out about us…We just wish some of them would stay.”
Denzer muses about inviting parishes from across the diocese to send youth groups or families on a mission trip to help do things around her church, while also taking advantage of the area’s outdoor offerings.
“If they come see us, they might stay,” says Denzer, who moved to the area to work with Cherokee Indians at the Snowbird Clinic. “I have gone to these mega-churches before but I always like coming back to my little mountain church. I just feel a sense of peace and tranquility.”
Lake Santeetlah near Robbinsville in the Nantahala National Forest draws many outdoor enthusiasts each year.
GLENMARY ROOTS
The church’s roots date back to the late 1950s when priests of the Glenmary Home Missioners traveled the western reaches of North Carolina, celebrating Mass and ministering to tiny mountain towns.
In 1958, Glenmary Father James Wilmes led Bible classes in Robbinsville and a few families began meeting in a storefront chapel for Mass. When the building fell into disrepair, the small congregation began meeting in a Baptist church, then a Methodist church until 1988 when – under Father Wilmes’ leadership – they bought an old furniture store on Highway 129 where the mission remains today.
Current pastor Father George David Byers shuttles between Holy Redeemer and Prince of Peace, saying Masses in English and Spanish on weekends and officiating mostly at funerals, but also at a few weddings and baptisms.
Prince of Peace, he says, “is a very nice devout little church, one of the smallest in North America. What stands out is their determination to live the faith in an area that doesn’t really understand the faith.”
The region is populated primarily by people drawn to a quiet life, Father Byers says. “It’s quite remote,” he says, mostly home to retirees.
That demographic means there’s not a new generation coming along to replace the congregation, so Prince of Peace is dependent on new retirees moving in for any growth.
“It’s really the only Catholic church in Graham County, and we need to keep a Catholic presence there,” he says.
TOGETHER IN FAITH
Prince of Peace’s parishioners gladly band together to worship and to maintain their church.
“It’s an old church. We try to fix it up, but it needs a lot of work,” Butterworth says.
“We all pitch in,” Denzer adds. “Father takes care of the altar, but we’ll clean and water the plants.”
There have been improvements to the church along the way: A new altar from a church in Pennsylvania, a new cross atop the church, donated stained glass inserts for the windows, Stations of the Cross adorning the walls, also donated.
At Mass, there’s no organ or musical accompaniment, Denzer notes. “When you sing a cappella you really feel it. It really resonates with you, more like a prayer.”
Parishioners are active in the community, as they say Jesus calls: “We check on each other. When something happens, the whole community pulls together,” longtime parishioner Margaret Lynnes says proudly.
Her father moved her family from Kentucky to help the Glenmary priests keep up their North Carolina properties. And when her husband died recently, Prince of Peace saw one of its largest crowds ever: for his funeral, standing room only.
“It’s a small church and small congregation with a huge heart and a huge presence of God and our heavenly mother,” Lynnes says.
TINY AND REVERENT
Despite its small size, Father Byers agrees, the tiny mission is resilient – and reverent.
The congregation meets every Sunday at 8 a.m. for Adoration and to pray the Rosary. Father Byers is on hand for confession, which people appreciate. Everyone feels prepared for Mass, which starts at 8:30 a.m. sharp, so Father Byers can get back over to the mother church.
“I would like to see our church grow – we can’t lose our church,” says Lynnes. “If you come here, you would see community. You would see Jesus really moving in this congregation.”
She agrees parishioners across the diocese ought to consider a visit, and likens the idea to the Nativity scene: “We’re a lot like the little stable – a humble place, where everybody comes to visit Jesus – and the more visitors the better.”
— Liz Chandler