Our page-one story on the new Cathedral of the Holy Name of Jesus in Raleigh, North Carolina, is notable in several ways, but I particularly want to call your attention to the way it represents the growth of the Church in the South.

Dedicated July 26 and built with traditional Classical and Romanesque revival elements, the magnificent cathedral is now one of the largest in the country, with seating for more than 2,000 worshippers.

The cathedral’s seating capacity reflects the ongoing spread of Catholicism in the predominantly Protestant region. As U.S. society continues to grow more secular and marginalize people of faith, Catholics continue to discern the best places to raise their families and surround themselves with good. Many of them are called south.

And, as more Catholics move to Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia and North and South Carolina, and elsewhere in the region, current churches will no longer be able to hold the burgeoning congregations.

Providentially, a wise, feisty Poor Clare nun from Ohio foresaw this trend and prepared the ground for the Catholic faith to gain more than a foothold in Alabama. May the southern light of faith, which Mother Angelica helped nurture, continue to grow.