Immaculate Conception Catholic Church & Immaculata Catholic School are a Catholic parish church and

parochial school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...

run by the Order of Friars Minor in downtown

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

. The church and school are located in the Burch Avenue Historic District. Immaculate Conception is the oldest Catholic congregation in Durham, and the affiliated school was the city's first Catholic school.

Church

The Catholic community in Durham formed in 1867, when a group of Catholics from

Lockhaven, Pennsylvania Lock Haven is the county seat of Clinton County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Located near the confluence of the West Branch Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek, it is the principal city of the Lock Haven Micropolitan Statistical Area, ...

settled on land in the area. Prior to the construction of the first church building, Catholics in Durham celebrated mass with visiting priests from Raleigh and

Newton Grove Newton Grove, chartered in 1879, is a town in Sampson County, North Carolina, Sampson County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 569 as of the 2010 census. History The town of Newton Grove was first incorporated in 1879 as the New T ...

at the William Thomas O'Brien House and at the home of James Lawrence. The O'Brien family were an affluent Catholic family connected to the W. Duke Sons & Company. Later, a space was rented in J.R. Gooch's store on Corcoran Street which led to protests because laws prevented liquor from being sold in close proximity to a church. In 1896, Abbot

Leo Haid Leo or Léo may refer to: Acronyms * Law enforcement officer * Law enforcement organisation * ''Louisville Eccentric Observer'', a free weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky * Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity Arts an ...

of Belmont Abbey, the Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina, asked

Benjamin Newton Duke Benjamin Newton Duke (April 25, 1855 – January 8, 1929) was an American tobacco, textile and energy industrialist and philanthropist. He served as vice-president at American Tobacco Company, being also founder of Duke Energy. Life and career He ...

for financial assistance to build a church, but Duke declined. Later that year, Fr. Prendergast of Raleigh was celebrating mass at the Durham YMCA. The first church, a white wooden church named St. Mary's, was built in 1906 on West Chapel Hill Street, located on land once owned by William T. O'Brien. A parochial school was established in 1909. The church was consecrated on January 14, 1906, with 106 members.

School

The first school, called St. Mary's School, was built adjacent to the sanctuary on Chapel Hill Street. The school was founded in 1909 by Fr. Francis O'Brien and the

Sisters of St. Dominic The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and Mysticism, mystic Saint ...

from Newburgh, New York. St. Mary's enrollment started with nine students and ended with twnety-three in its first year. The school building was town down and a new building was constructed in the 1951. The school was later renamed St. William's School and, finally, Immaculata School. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Education designated Immaculata Catholic School as a national blue ribbon school for academic achievements. In 2019, the school received a national green ribbon school award from the department of education for efforts to reduce environmental impact. The school was the first in North Carolina to receive AdvancED STEM certification.

Notable alumni

Vernetta Alston Vernetta Alston is an American politician and attorney. A Democrat, she served on the Durham City Council from 2017 to 2020, when she succeeded MaryAnn Black in the North Carolina House of Representatives. Early life and education Alston was b ...

, American politician and member of the

North Carolina House of Representatives The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the North Ca ...

Notable clergy

Casey Cole Casey Cole, O.F.M., is an American Franciscan friar, Catholic priest, writer, and blogger. Cole runs his own online blog and YouTube channel called ''Breaking in the Habit'' and is the author of the books ''Let Go: Seven Stumbling Blocks to Chri ...

, Catholic priest, Franciscan friar, and internet celebrity

References

{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh Churches in Durham, North Carolina Franciscan churches in the United States LGBT and Catholicism LGBT in North Carolina LGBT-related controversies in the United States Persecution of LGBT people in the United States Roman Catholic churches completed in 1906 Roman Catholic churches in North Carolina Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh