As the diocese continues to celebrate its centennial, NC Catholics had the opportunity to catch up with someone who has a unique perspective on the growth of Catholicism in eastern North Carolina. While Father John Hanley, O.S.F.S., is a native of Raleigh with significant family ties to the diocese, he has spent the bulk of his ministry far from home.
Growing up in Raleigh during the 1960s and 70s, Catholics were few and far between. “We all knew each other,” said Father Hanley. “There was woman a block and half away who had no kids and a family with kids four blocks away, but after that I can’t recall how far the next Catholic was.”
Father Hanley’s was among the more well-known Catholic families in the area at the time. His grandparents, James Joseph and Rosalie W. Fallon, donated 20 acres of land to the Diocese of Raleigh in 1938. The land would eventually be where Our Lady of Lourdes parish and school were erected in 1954. Today, the Fallon Center also serves as the parish’s primary social and faith formation classroom building.
The name may also sound familiar from Fallon Park or Fallon’s Flowers. While no longer owned by the Fallon family, the well-regarded florist has been operating in the Raleigh area since the 1920s. Father Hanley recalls altar serving at the earliest Masses before he and his family raced downtown to work in the family store.
He also remembers his mother, Rosalie Marie Fallon Hanley, as being one of the people that helped welcome and feed the priests and religious sisters who served in the area during that time. “Back then, in the ‘50s, these people (Catholic religious) dressed in all black … people stared,” Father Hanley recalled. “But at our house, priests and nuns were just part of the landscape.”
Being around priests all the time, the idea of a vocation didn’t scare him at all, but he said he was not initially drawn to it.
“I’m the last one that I think God could, should, or would have called,” Father Hanley continued. “With a speech defect, the last thing I thought I was going to do was be a priest; it just didn’t make sense. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I didn’t want to take over the store. But my dad swore I joined the priesthood just so I wouldn’t have to take over the shop.”
As a student at the University of North Carolina, Hanley went through a period where he wasn’t attending church at all. But he enjoyed being around people and singing, which he missed as a student. He went back to church not long after arriving on campus. Soon after, a close friend who somewhat ironically thought that he wanted to become a priest asked Hanley to come along with him to a meeting with the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales.
Hanley was struck by how “normal” the two Oblate priests they met with were.
“They were dressed in sport shirts. They were upbeat; they were laughing with each other, they were down to Earth,” recalled Father Hanley. “I saw that and thought to myself, ‘I could do that.’ One thing led to the next, and I joined.”
When he was ordained in 1986, his father was incensed, but not about his vocation. Father Hanley laughed as he recalled that having recently sold the family florist business, his dad was not pleased that he had to actually purchase flowers to decorate the altar for his son’s ordination Mass!
After ordination, Father Hanley served his order wherever there was a need. For many years he taught a wide range of subjects as a teacher and also served as a school administrator at several locations in northeastern Pennsylvania where the Oblates have a large presence. Later he would also serve as vicar of a parish in Naples, Florida.
The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales’ presence in North Carolina goes back to the 1940s, when they arrived to serve parishes and schools across the state. Today, a number of diocesan parishes including Holy Infant in Durham, Immaculate Conception in Wilmington and Our Lady of the Seas in Buxton are served by Oblate priests.
In 2016, a need arose for an associate pastor at Holy Redeemer by the Sea in Kitty Hawk. When he volunteered to serve, Father Hanley thought, “I get to go home, to my home diocese.”
Father Hanley still has a brother in Raleigh and has been able to visit him and his family often since being appointed to Holy Redeemer. He’s especially grateful that his return to the diocese has given him the opportunity to watch his nephew grow up. He has another brother who lives out of state but who sometimes comes to North Carolina so the three brothers can be together.
When he visits Raleigh, Father Hanley can easily recall early memories from Our Lady of Lourdes.
“What is now the gym, was my church,” he said. He also sees a few familiar faces from his time growing up.
“I recall a very young priest at our parish by the name of Shugrue,” he laughed, referring to now-retired Monsignor Michael Shugrue, who still remains quite active in ministry having served in a range of capacities over the years, including as diocesan administrator.
Father Hanley has also had a firsthand look at the growth of the Church in and around Raleigh.
“You have to admit, the people that have made decisions about buying land and building churches have been spot on,” he said. “They’ve been in all the right places even though at the time people didn’t understand what they were doing buying land literally right in the middle of pine forests and fields. They were extremely wise on that.”
About a year ago, Father Hanley was named pastor of Holy Redeemer by the Sea. After having to relocate and rebuild following a devastating fire in 1998, the parish is still growing. Among the first things he was able to do as pastor was acquire land adjacent to the church which became available and can now be used to accommodate any future parish expansion. Holy Redeemer also serves as the mother parish to Holy Trinity by the Sea Mission just south of Kitty Hawk, in Nags Head.
“I love the concept of the beach but I’m not here for the beach,” said Father Hanley. “I’ve been here eight years and been to the beach once. But I love it here. The people are great. I feel at home.”
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