The Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, its ranks growing every year, has long since outgrown the tiny cathedral dedicated in 1924, its bishop said Wednesday in announcing plans for a new "mother church" for eastern North Carolina Catholics.
The Most Rev. Michael Burbidge said at a news conference that the proposed Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral will cost between $75 million and $90 million, with groundbreaking expected sometime in mid-2013.
"We are not just building a beautiful, glorious, magnificent church, which it will be," the bishop said. "We are building a vibrant campus."
The new cathedral, to be built on about 39 acres of land already owned by the diocese, is envisioned as a center of religious life, hosting concerts, lectures and pilgrimages as well as serving as the spiritual home of the 2,500 or so families who currently belong to Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Sacred Heart, which seats about 325, was built at a time when Catholics were a tiny minority in North Carolina, accounting for about 6,000 people across the state.
Today, there are about 217,000 registered members of Catholic parishes in the Raleigh diocese alone, which covers the state's 54 eastern counties, according to diocesan figures.
In addition, the diocese estimates there are as many as 240,000 unregistered Catholics, primarily immigrants from Latin America.
"This diocese has just continued to grow at such a rapid pace," Burbidge said.
When it's built, the new cathedral will be the first in the U.S. since the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
That church opened in 2008, replacing the old cathedral after it was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
The new cathedral will be especially important for large events that gather members of many parishes together, like annual confirmation ceremonies. Currently, Sacred Heart is too small to host such gatherings, which are instead held at large, recently built churches elsewhere in the diocese.Burbidge acknowledged that the project is a huge one, even in the context of a building boom across the territory.
There are projects totaling about $150 million in various stages of development across the diocese, Burbidge said, including schools and churches.
But the need for a central church for the whole diocese was too pressing to put off any longer, he said.
"I wake up every morning and I say, 'Lord, are you sure you want me to do this?'" Burbidge said. "And the answer keeps coming back, 'Yes.'"