About Resurrection · Lynch, Kentucky
Church of the Resurrection is a small Roman Catholic parish in Lynch, Kentucky, in the southeastern corner of Harlan County deep in Appalachian coal country. It belongs to the Diocese of Lexington and is one of three parishes in the Harlan County cluster, served together with Holy Trinity in Harlan and St. Stephen in Cumberland by a single pastor. Founded in 1917 alongside the US Coal and Coke Company's newly-built company town of Lynch, the parish has gathered Catholic miners and their families for more than a century. Today it is a tiny but enduring mission-style community, with Mass celebrated on Sunday at noon and only nine registered households according to the 2023 diocesan directory.
- Established
- 1917
- Rector
- Rev. Terrence de Silva
- Diocese
- Diocese of Lexington
Why belong here
Resurrection is the kind of parish a visitor can walk into and immediately feel the smallness and the welcome. With Sunday Mass at noon and Reconciliation offered after Mass, it offers a faithful, steady Catholic presence in one of the most economically distressed corners of eastern Kentucky. Parishioners are part of a Harlan County cluster that runs a substantial food pantry out of St. Stephen, distributes food from Holy Trinity to about 50 local families, and supports tutoring and a preschool program for children who would otherwise fall behind. It is a place to belong, to be fed both sacramentally and materially, and to practice the faith in the lived reality of an Appalachian coal community.
Mass times at Resurrection
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday after Mass
Church of the Resurrection at a Glance
Resurrection is the Lynch, Kentucky member of the Harlan County parish cluster in the Diocese of Lexington's Mountain East Deanery. The parish is recognized by GCatholic and the diocesan directory as having been founded in 1917, the same year that U.S. Steel's U.S. Coal and Coke Company began constructing the company town of Lynch to supply wartime coal demand. Today it is a small but active faith community counted at nine households in the 2023 diocesan directory, served by Father Terrence de Silva alongside Holy Trinity in Harlan and St. Stephen in Cumberland.
- Parish name: Church of the Resurrection
- Location: 200 Church Street, Lynch, KY 40855
- Diocese: Diocese of Lexington
- Deanery: Mountain East Deanery
- Founded: 1917
- Sunday Mass: 12:00 PM (Noon)
History of the Parish
The Catholic presence in Lynch grew out of the coal-camp immigration of 1917. As U.S. Coal and Coke assembled a workforce of more than three dozen nationalities, Catholic families — Hungarian, Italian, Slavic and others — needed a parish. The 2013 centennial of Harlan County Catholicism, celebrated at Resurrection with Bishop Ronald W. Gainer, traced the wider story back to the 1913 St. Mary Mission in Benham; when Lynch opened four years later, the new town got its own parish, Church of the Resurrection. It has continued uninterrupted through coal's boom and bust years, sharing Catholic life in the county with the 1948 founding of Holy Trinity in Harlan (church built with Catholic Extension Society support in 1949) and the older St. Stephen mission in Cumberland.
- 1917 — Parish founded alongside the new company town of Lynch
- 1917–1925 — U.S. Coal and Coke Company builds Lynch into a model coal town
- 1948 — Holy Trinity parish established in Harlan
- 1949 — Holy Trinity church built with Catholic Extension Society help
- 2013 — Centennial of Catholicism in Harlan County celebrated at Resurrection with Bishop Gainer
- 2019 — Father Terrence de Silva appointed as first resident priest in Harlan County in more than 32 years
Pastoral Leadership and Parish Cluster
Resurrection is pastored as part of a three-parish cluster. Father Terrence de Silva is the current pastor and is also responsible for Holy Trinity in Harlan and St. Stephen in Cumberland. In the Diocese of Lexington's 2023 directory he is listed as pastor of Resurrection, with the parish phone line going through the Harlan-area cluster office. This shared leadership is what allows the Harlan County Catholic community to maintain a Sunday presence in three locations despite a very small overall population.
- Pastor: Rev. Terrence de Silva
- Cluster parishes: Holy Trinity (Harlan), St. Stephen (Cumberland), Resurrection (Lynch)
- Cluster contact: 606-573-6311 / 606-589-5616
- Cluster email: [email protected]
Worship, Language and Accessibility
All listed liturgies are celebrated in English. The parish directory entry confirms the church building has a handicap-access ramp, an important detail for elderly parishioners in this rural Appalachian community. Parishioners who need additional accommodations are encouraged to contact the parish office in advance.
- Liturgy language: English
- Handicap-accessible ramp on site
- Contact: 606-589-5616
Ministries and Outreach
Because Resurrection is part of the Harlan County cluster, its ministry reaches beyond the walls of the Lynch church building. Through the cluster's joint outreach, parishioners help operate the largest food pantry in Harlan County at St. Stephen (distributing roughly 600 boxes of food a month) and an additional food-distribution site at Holy Trinity that serves about 50 local families. After the 2019 Blackjewel coal-company bankruptcy left many miners unpaid, the cluster became a primary referral point for emergency needs — utility bills, clothing, food — to the point that the local electric utility reportedly directed people to the parish for help.
- Sunday Mass ministry (lector, EMHC, etc.) at Resurrection
- Cluster food pantry based at St. Stephen, Cumberland
- Food distribution at Holy Trinity, Harlan (about 50 families)
- Emergency assistance: utilities, clothing, household needs
- Cluster-wide referral ministry following the 2019 Blackjewel bankruptcy
Faith Formation and Education
The cluster's faith-formation work is centered at Holy Trinity in Harlan, where former school buildings on the parish grounds host a preschool and an after-school tutoring program staffed by certified teachers. Program director Trenna Cornett has noted that children return year after year, and the program is described by local schools as preparing its preschoolers for kindergarten better than any other early-childhood program in the area.
- Preschool at Holy Trinity parish grounds (Harlan)
- After-school tutoring program with certified teachers
- Mentoring relationship that follows children year to year
Sacraments
Resurrection offers the Sunday Eucharist and Reconciliation on a regular weekly basis; other sacraments are coordinated through the Harlan County cluster. Couples preparing for marriage and families seeking baptism, first Communion, confirmation or anointing of the sick are encouraged to contact Father de Silva through the parish office.
- Eucharist — Sunday 12:00 PM and Holy Days at St. Stephen
- Reconciliation — after Sunday Mass and by appointment
- Baptism, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick — by arrangement through the cluster
Visiting Resurrection in Lynch
The parish's mailing and physical address is 200 Church Street in Lynch, Harlan County, in the far southeastern corner of Kentucky near the Cumberland and Benham 'Tri-Cities.' Travelers should note that mail to the cluster is currently routed through 304 Central Street, Cumberland, KY 40823, per the diocese's parish finder. Visitors are warmly welcomed at the noon Sunday Mass; the church is handicap-accessible, and parking is available at the church.
- Physical address: 200 Church Street, Lynch, KY 40855
- Mailing address (per parish finder): 304 Central St., Cumberland, KY 40823
- Phone: 606-589-5616
- Email: [email protected]
- Handicap-accessible; on-site parking
A Parish at the Heart of Appalachian Coal Country
Resurrection's identity is rooted in the history of the Lynch coal camp. Lynch was constructed beginning in 1917 by U.S. Coal and Coke, a U.S. Steel subsidiary named for company president Thomas Lynch of Pennsylvania, and grew into the world's largest company-owned coal town by the 1940s, with as many as 10,000 residents from at least 38 nationalities. Italian stonemasons cut the native sandstone for many of the town's public buildings, and the camp was widely regarded as the 'Cadillac' of company coal towns because of its paved streets, sewage system and quality housing. The Catholic immigrants who came to work the mines — Hungarians, Italians, Slavs and others — built and sustained Resurrection parish through that era. After the collapse of the coal industry, the town's population fell to about 649 by 2017, but the parish and its cluster partners have continued their sacramental and charitable mission, sustained in part by the Catholic Extension Society and visiting mission groups.
- Town of Lynch founded 1917 by U.S. Coal and Coke Company (U.S. Steel)
- Named for Thomas Lynch, first president of U.S. Coal and Coke
- At its peak: ~10,000 residents and 4,000 mine workers from 38+ nationalities
- Italian stonemasons cut sandstone for many town buildings
- Catholic Extension Society has supported the Harlan County cluster
- Population today: about 649 (per 2017 reporting)
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Terrence de Silva2019–present
First resident priest in Harlan County in more than 30 years; serves Resurrection in Lynch together with Holy Trinity in Harlan and St. Stephen in Cumberland as one pastoral cluster.