One Monday around 4 a.m., Father Fredy Angel awoke to a loud sound in the rectory. The air conditioning unit had collapsed, crashing through the old roof and landing next to his bed.
Immediately, parishioners of Holy Trinity Church in Swainsboro, Georgia, helped their beloved pastor, Father Angel. He had arrived in town two summers before. In that time this small Catholic mission in southern Georgia has grown from 55 parishioners to 200, a substantial increase in a region where Catholics represent less than 3 percent of the population.
But this is nothing new for Father Angel, (left), Catholic Extension Society’s 2015-2016 Lumen Christi Award recipient. He has been building the Church, both with bricks and people, throughout his 18 years as a priest for the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia.
Father Fredy is once again doing this at his latest assignment. Today, Catholic Extension Society supports his ministry at Holy Trinity and at Holy Family Catholic Church in Metter, Georgia, 30 miles south of Swainsboro.
Under Father Angel’s leadership, these parishes aspire to build up the Church. His track record suggests that together these faith communities are destined for great things.
Unity within our diversity
On May 21, 2016, the parish community of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Ray City, Georgia, saw a long-held dream come true with the dedication of its new church building, pictured below. Father Angel used the monetary award from the Lumen Christi Award to spearhead the construction of the new church. For the previous eight years, Father Angel has pastored three mission churches that spanned three counties in Georgia and had multicultural parishioners.
After its completion, Father Angel united the three churches into one diverse community of African American, white, Hispanic and Asian American parishioners. Father Angel told parishioners at the dedication Mass, “The easy part is done. We already built the structure. Now we need to build the soul.”
Now in Swainsboro, Father Angel is looking for that same unifying transformation he witnessed in Ray City. Holy Trinity is a predominantly Hispanic parish in a town where Hispanics make up less than 4 percent of the population, and Catholics are an even smaller percentage. He said, “It doesn’t matter the race, the nationality or whatever. … It’s about the inclusion.”
He continued,
For me building the Church is to recognize each other as one.”
Renewed pride in being Catholic
His parishioners in Swainsboro tackled their first project. They repaired the collapsed roof and made improvements to the rectory in just five months. Now they’re making progress on multiple projects at the church to accommodate their growing community.
Since January 2023, Holy Trinity parishioners have come to work every Saturday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
They have successfully expanded the church by eight feet on both sides to add more seating, seen below. Now they are in the final months of work on a new parish hall.
These renovation and expansion projects were estimated to cost $1 million—far in excess of the parish’s financial means. Yet Father Angel said he was able to do it all for just the cost of materials thanks to the commitment of his parishioners to their church and its growth. They waited 20 years for these changes. The before-and-after are seen below.
“It’s just amazing when the community works together. When we are motivated, it really works.”
The entire community is taking notice of the new developments at Holy Trinity. This makes the Catholics in Swainsboro, despite being a religious minority in the region, proud to identify as Catholic. That fills Father Angel with great joy, saying, “We have been already now in two newspapers. People are talking about what we are doing here. It makes people proud to say, ‘I’m from the Catholic Church!”
Father Fredy Angel, a Church builder in every way, draws on St. Francis of Assisi for inspiration.
“Building Church comes with the spirit of St. Francis. God called him and said, ‘Just build my Church,’” Father Angel explained.
We don’t build a community just with bricks and stones, but with a community united in faith.”
Catholic Extension Society works in solidarity with people to build up vibrant and transformative Catholic faith communities among the poor in the poorest regions of America. Please support our mission!
