About Holy Family · Richwood, West Virginia
Holy Family Parish is a Roman Catholic parish in the small Appalachian lumber town of Richwood, West Virginia (pop. ~2,000), serving the faithful of Nicholas County under the Diocese of Wheeling–Charleston. The parish was established in 1902 and is now cared for by the Society of the Divine Word (S.V.D.), with Father Quy Ngoc Dang, S.V.D., appointed pastor by Bishop Mark E. Brennan. The church sits high on a hill overlooking the Cherry River and remains one of the most visible landmarks in town, drawing a worshipping community rooted in the immigrant Catholic heritage of early-twentieth-century mill and lumber workers.
- Established
- 1902
- Patron
- The Holy Family (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph)
- Rector
- Rev. Quy Ngoc Dang, S.V.D.
- Diocese
- Diocese of Wheeling–Charleston
Why belong here
Holy Family is one of the most visible and vibrant faith communities in the small town of Richwood, and it remains a gathering point for the descendants of the Catholic immigrant families who built the lumber town a century ago. Visitors and parishioners are welcomed into a full traditional Roman-Latin schedule — daily Mass, Saturday Vigil, Sunday Mass with Rosary beforehand, plus Saturday and Sunday confession — at a parish that takes seriously its mission to serve even a small flock in Appalachian West Virginia. With Divine Word Missionaries now leading the parish and major restoration work underway, it is a place where sacramental life, community pride, and missionary outreach meet.
Mass times at Holy Family
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 4:00–4:45 p.m.
- Sunday 8:00–8:45 a.m.
- By appointment
Parish Identity & Patron
Holy Family Parish takes its name from the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The parish is a Roman-Latin rite community within the Diocese of Wheeling–Charleston, in the Beckley Vicariate. It is listed on the diocese's official directory and is identified by GCatholic (Church ID 25685) as having been established in 1902.
- Patron: The Holy Family (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph)
- Feast day: Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (Sunday in the Octave of Christmas)
- Diocese: Diocese of Wheeling–Charleston (Beckley Vicariate)
- Rite: Roman-Latin
- Founded 1902; church building completed 1905
History
Holy Family is among the parishes founded in the early-twentieth-century wave of Catholic immigration to West Virginia's lumber and coal country. The first Mass in Richwood was celebrated in 1902 in the home of Caroline Hope Amos, generally remembered as the area's first Catholic; her husband Calvin had been sent to Richwood in 1899 by the Richwood Lumber Company. The parish itself was canonically established in 1902 with Rev. Nicholas Hengers, S.M. — a Marist (Society of Mary) priest — as its first pastor. The Marists ran the parish for roughly a century.
- 1902: First Mass celebrated in the home of Calvin and Caroline Hope Amos; parish established with Fr. Nicholas Hengers, S.M. as first pastor
- 1905: Church building constructed
- 1909: Parish school opened by Fr. Hengers and a lay teacher
- 1912: Pallottine Missionary Sisters arrive to staff the school
- 1912–1920: Holy Rosary, Buckhannon, served as a mission of Holy Family, Richwood
- 1913: Pallottine Sisters open Sacred Heart Hospital in Richwood
- 2005: Marists depart; diocesan priest takes over
- Later 2000s: Society of the Divine Word (S.V.D.) Missionaries invited by the bishop to staff the parish
Clergy & Pastoral Leadership
Holy Family is currently administered by the Society of the Divine Word (S.V.D.), an international missionary congregation. Rev. Quy Ngoc Dang, S.V.D. — a Vietnamese-born Divine Word Missionary — was appointed pastor of both Holy Family in Richwood and St. Anne Parish in Webster Springs by Bishop Mark E. Brennan, in consultation with Very Rev. Quang Duc Dinh, S.V.D., provincial superior of the S.V.D. Chicago Province. Father Quy also handles the parish's own bookkeeping and secretarial work.
- Rev. Quy Ngoc Dang, S.V.D. — Pastor / Administrator
- Society of the Divine Word (S.V.D.) Missionaries
- Diocesan affiliation: Diocese of Wheeling–Charleston
Parish Ministries & Community Life
Although Holy Family is a small, working-class parish, its ministry under Father Quy Dang has been notably active. Father Quy is working to organize the women of the parish into a formal ladies' group and is developing the parish's physical grounds — most strikingly, an outdoor prayer labyrinth — as instruments of evangelization and community pride. Outreach to neighbors and even to clergy of other local Christian traditions is part of the parish's recent life.
- Prayer Labyrinth (built on the former parish-school playground, focal-point statue of the Sacred Heart)
- Parish Ladies' Group (in formation under Father Quy)
- Ecumenical visitors — ministers from local Baptist and Methodist churches have visited the labyrinth
- Planned 'Garden of Our Blessed Mother' landscaping project
- Planned food pantry for Richwood (nearest existing pantry: St. Anne, Webster Springs — about an hour's drive)
Building & Grounds Restoration
Since his assignment to Richwood, Father Quy Ngoc Dang, S.V.D. has carried out a sweeping physical restoration of the parish plant, mostly with his own hands. The work has been funded in significant part by a bequest from Thomas Perkins, grandson of Katherine and Clarence Burch, two of the parish's earliest members. The restoration has touched nearly every part of the property visible from town.
- Refinished floors throughout the church
- Windows replaced
- Sound system repaired
- Prayer labyrinth built on the long-abandoned parish-school playground (asphalt removed, topsoil added)
- Sacred Heart statue (rescued from the demolished Sacred Heart Hospital) installed as the labyrinth's focal point
- White picket fence built by the Seabolt Dobson family around the labyrinth
Parish School & Education
Catholic education has deep roots in Richwood. Father Hengers and a lay teacher opened the parish school in 1909; two years later, in 1912, the Pallottine Missionary Sisters arrived to take over its operation. The parish school has long since closed, but its abandoned playground has now been repurposed as a prayer labyrinth under Father Quy's leadership.
- 1909: Parish school opened by Fr. Nicholas Hengers, S.M. and a lay teacher
- 1912: Pallottine Missionary Sisters arrive to staff the school
- Former school playground converted to a prayer labyrinth
Sacred Heart Hospital
Sacred Heart Hospital was Richwood's Catholic hospital, erected by the Pallottine Sisters in 1913 and enlarged in 1921. It served the town for roughly a century until flooding rendered it unusable and the building was torn down. The parish has preserved a tangible link to that history: the statue of the Sacred Heart that once stood at Sacred Heart Hospital is now the focal point of the parish's outdoor prayer labyrinth.
- 1913: Sacred Heart Hospital built by the Pallottine Missionary Sisters
- 1921: Hospital enlarged
- Recent: Hospital demolished after flooding; Sacred Heart statue relocated to the parish labyrinth
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Nicholas Hengers, S.M.1902 –
First pastor; Marist (Society of Mary) founder of the parish; opened the parish school in 1909.