The chapel had its founding on March 1,
1978, when Fr. Hector Bolduc of the SSPX began to offer Mass
in Chapel Hill, NC, first at a number of individual residences
and then subsequently at the Walker Funeral Home, Holiday Inn,
Carolina Inn and finally at the American Legion clubhouse.
In January 1980, Masses were increased to
twice per month, and in spite of the disadvantages of location
and a midweek schedule, the attendance increased to about 40
people, not including children. In the summer of 1980, the
chapel was put on a monthly Sunday circuit and the site of
Mass was moved from Chapel Hill to Raleigh, first at the Royal
Villa Motel and then the Howard Johnson Motel, both along
Glenwood Avenue.
Simultaneously, Fr. Boyd Cathey, a native
of Garner, NC and a member of the SSPX, was assigned to
Raleigh as a "priest in residence", and a house was rent for
his use as a rectory. During his tenure, the chapel continued
to grow, from 160 to 200 people, and so a large meeting room
had to been rented at the Crabtree Mall for Sunday Masses.
Attendance peaked during one Christmas Midnight Mass to 250
people.
Fr. Philip Stark succeeded Fr. Cathey and
moved into a more economical rectory, in which he converted
the family room into a chapel for 20 people, which he used for
weekday Masses and Lenten devotions. With the purchase of
Old Saint Mary’s Church in Goldsboro, NC in 1982, Fr.
Stark was transferred to its rectory and the Raleigh chapel
lost its resident priest.
In January 1984, Fr. Dominigos Periera
became the new "priest in residence" and serviced the fledging
Raleigh chapel for 7 years. During his tenure, efforts were
made to raise adequate funds in order to purchase a suitable
property on which to establish a permanent chapel building,
however, this did not come to fruition until 1999.
Around 1984, the Crabtree Mall canceled the
chapel’s rent agreement in order to develop the meeting room
for retail space. This forced the chapel to relocate to the
Quail Hollow Swim Club’s clubhouse, which had a capacity of 70
persons.
During 1991, attendance averaged almost 60
persons, with a maximum of nearly 90 attending. At this same
time, Fr. Periera was replaced by SSPX priests who came on
circuit for the weekends, first from Dickinson, TX, then St.
Louis, MO and finally to this day, Kansas City, MO.
In the fall of 1992, a 5-acre plot of land
was purchase in hopes of one day building a church there.
However, this property was subsequently sold, and the present
property of 2 acres at 1841 N. White Street in Youngsville, NC
was purchased on January 28, 1999. The title of the church was
subsequently renamed Holy Redeemer Church.
The actual church building is a converted
5000 square foot fabricated steel industrial building and
construction began in January 2000, which included the
installation of a beautiful Italian marble altar dating from
1879, and upon completion, was blessed on June 3, 2000. Due to
the indefatigable efforts of the contemporary pastor, Fr.
Kenneth Novak, the interior of the former steel warehouse was
converted from a metal shack into a beautiful, liturgically-correct chapel.