CHARLOTTE — A sea of green lined Tryon Street for Charlotte’s 2024 St. Patrick Day Parade on Saturday. The Knights of Columbus color guard kicked off the parade that included more than 70 organizations. Students, teachers and parents from three of the Diocese of Charlotte's Catholic schools – St. Ann, Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Patrick – marched in the parade through uptown Charlotte. Read more about St. Patrick and the Lorica of Saint Patrick.
— Photos by Troy Hull
Vic Nussbaum Jr.GREENSBORO — Former Greensboro mayor and long-time parishioner of St. Pius X Church, the late Vic Nussbaum Jr.’s charitable legacy continues to impact students at two Greensboro schools. With an endowment of $1.5 million for tuition assistance at the diocese’s St. Pius X and Our Lady of Grace schools, students and families continue to have the opportunity for a Catholic education in the Piedmont Triad.
Chris Kloesz, principal of St. Pius X School, said the $31,515 annual grant offered tuition assistance for 28 students this school year alone.
“It is very possible that without the generous ongoing proceeds from the Nussbaum Family Endowment there could be families that could not afford to give their children the opportunity of a Catholic education,” Kloesz said.
Our Lady of Grace’s Principal Catherine Rusch said 17 students benefitted from the $31,515 grant this school year.
“By providing access to an authentically Catholic education at Our Lady of Grace Catholic School, this generous endowment is providing a most precious gift: an education with a foundation of faith that invites Christ into the lives of these children today and throughout their futures,” Rusch said.
The late Nussbaum – a self-proclaimed “Catholic Yankee in Dixie” who became one of Greensboro’s biggest boosters and its mayor for three terms, from 1987 to 1993 – was focused on expanding libraries, providing low-income housing and improving the quality of public education.
He was a devout Catholic, attending Mass every day at 6 a.m. and was a friend to the downtrodden, said Jim Melvin, who was mayor when Nussbaum was first elected to the Greensboro City Council in 1973.
He attended Our Lady of Grace Church and sent his children to Our Lady of Grace School, and after a cross-town move later attended St. Pius X. He believed Catholic schools not only provide a great education but are critical to carrying on the faith, family recalled.
Donors across the diocese like Nussbaum have given one-time gifts of cash or stock, pledged to capital campaigns or projects, or left gifts in their estate plans. Such gifts have benefitted parishes, Catholic schools, the diocese, the diocese’s foundation and St. Joseph College Seminary.
“We receive gifts of every amount – and all of them make a difference,” said Jim Kelley, diocesan development director. “Endowments in particular help change people’s lives because they keep on growing and providing returns year after year. Everyone can find a cause in the Church that speaks to them, just as Catholic education spoke to Mayor
Nussbaum, whose generosity not only makes an impact today but will do so long into the future.”
— Courtney McLaughlin
Fund an endowment
Interested in setting up – or adding to – an endowment to benefit your parish or Catholic school? You can establish an endowment in the Diocese of Charlotte Foundation by leaving a bequest in a will, a beneficiary designation from a retirement plan, a trust or annuity, or a gift of real estate, life insurance, cash or securities.
For details, contact Gina Rhodes at 704-370-3364 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..