Father Joseph Lapauw has anchored the growth of the only Catholic church in eastern Wake County since 2006. He talked with us about his earlier work and his hopes for St. Eugene Catholic Church in Wendell.

Q: As I understand it, you have logged quite a few miles during your life. What path brought you to Wendell and St. Eugene Catholic Church?

A: I was born in Belgium in 1946. After high school, I spent six years in seminary in Brussels and after that, I studied at the University of Louvain, also in Belgium. I did my missionary internship in the Philippines and after that, I began my Hispanic missionary work in San Antonio and Brownsville, Texas. I learned Spanish while in San Antonio. I began the national leadership for my order in Arlington, Virginia and from 1999-2005, I was in Rome.

I have been all over. I have visited more than 1,000 missionaries in 15 different countries. Five years ago, I came to Wendell.

Q: What stands out about Wendell, compared to all the other places you have lived?

A: This is a very residential area. It is a peaceful town and a welcoming community.

Q: This church has grown quite a bit since you arrived. To what do you attribute the growth?

A: The church has tripled since I arrived. We now serve 1,300 registered families. This is a good climate and the migration South has continued. We have people in our community who have moved here from the North. We have young professionals who have moved here and we also have retired people who have moved here because of the climate.

And the Hispanic population has grown from people moving here looking for work and of course, people feel at home at this church. People come here for the spiritual nourishment.

Q: Has the church expanded its services?

A: We have six services: three in English and three in Spanish. We have two services on Saturday and four on Sunday.

Q: How has the church continued its outreach ministries?

A: We have continued our International Food and Music Festival, which is held the third Saturday of September. The festival has grown and always attracts a good crowd. We had more than 3,000 people come through this year. It brings a diverse population together.

We also have our Brown Bag ministry. Every Saturday morning, we put together 800 sandwiches which are distributed to ministries that provide meals in the area.

We also have a community garden and we give our produce to the food bank of Wendell United Methodist Church. Every Saturday, our members work and tend the garden.

We are strong and active and a strong participant in the Council of Churches. We are a church to serve others."

Q: Are there any changes you would like to see in Wendell?

A: This is an area that has a lot of residential and many people leave to go to Zebulon, Knightdale and Raleigh for their shopping or to go to restaurants. We need economic development to have more of a balance. We need more revenue.

Q: The church is not only growing in membership but is literally growing as well. How is the development of the new sanctuary?

A: It is great to see that even in this bad economic time that we are able to build our church. We have people drive into Wendell from 10 different surrounding towns. This shows the good that is happening in our church. We will hopefully move into our new sanctuary in January - a new year, a new church!