The sweeping economic and demographic changes that have transformed the post- World War II South into a diverse, economically vital region have, among other consequences, prompted the marked growth of the Catholic Church in that region (Webster, 2000). In Lexington, Kentucky, no fewer than eight parishes, all of them built in the city's suburbs, have been created over the past 50 years, and there are plans for more in the near future (Weglicki, 1 993). Not surprisingly, given American Catholicism's European heritage, the vast majority of worshipers attending these parishes are White. In light of these trends, St. Peter Claver2 church, an inner-city, century-old African American parish in Lexington, offers a point of contrast that illustrates the contours of the evolving verities of race and religion in the South.