Parish - Parish History
In 1945, Thomas Curran became the first resident pastor. In 1947 St. James was designated a parish. When fire destroyed the church on Gold Hill Road in 1954, Bishop Vincent Waters of Raleigh then requested a church be built in the city of Concord. Bishop Waters later dedicated the new church on Union St.
St. James Catholic Church adopts St. Joseph Catholic Church in Kannapolis as a mission in 1967. Rev. George Kelly, C.Ss.R. became the first Redemptorist pastor at St. James in 1974. In 1978 Bishop Begley dedicated the Religious Education Center at the Union St. site. On January 13, 1980, Knights of Columbus Council 7450 received their charter. The rectory was built in 1986 and Bishop William C. Curlin dedicated the new Parish Center in 1994.
Later, as the parish grew and moved to a new location, Bishop Peter Jugis dedicated the new church on Manor Avenue in December of 2004. Two years later, the St. James parish welcomed our Hispanic members under the guidance of Rev. Oscar Rojas and Rev. Dimas Arce, C.Ss.R. Most recently, in the spring of 2007, our Pastor Father James Geiger dedicated our new youth center in honor of St. James parishioners Stephen and Naomi Gill for there generous support toward the project.