Bishop Martin tells 2025 grads: ‘Our world needs your greater works’
BELMONT — The largest class in the 149-year history of Belmont Abbey College – a total of 360 people – received degrees during commencement ceremonies on Saturday.
Belmont Abbey College’s 147th annual commencement ceremonies began with a baccalaureate Mass offered by Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv., at historic Mary Help of Christians Basilica.
Bishop Martin was one of four people awarded honorary degrees by Belmont Abbey College in recognition of his ministry to the Church and alignment with the college’s commitment to excellence and virtue. Founded in 1876 by Benedictine monks, the private Catholic college’s mission is “to educate students in the liberal arts and sciences so that in all things God may be glorified.”
Also honored for his commitment to Catholic education was Belmont Abbey College’s president, Dr. Bill Thierfelder, who is retiring after 21 years. Under Thierfelder’s leadership, the college has experienced unprecedented growth and success in academics, athletics and campus development.
Thierfelder and Belmont Abbey’s chancellor, Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari, presided at the graduation ceremony after Mass.
“Each of our graduates is the answer to Abbot Leo Haid’s hope and prayer that they would quite literally be God’s blessing over this beautiful country in the years to come,” said Thierfelder, about Belmont Abbey’s founder. “I am forever grateful for the wonderful example of our graduates, faculty, coaches, staff and monastic community who are committed to living lives of excellence and virtue in all that they do.”
In his homily for the baccalaureate Mass, which served as the commencement address, Bishop Martin urged graduates to “cherish” what they’ve learned in college and put it to use in building up God’s Kingdom wherever they go in life.
A college education has lifelong value, he said. “How many years are you going to get out of this college education? My hope would be that… – much like the seal that you will see on your very diploma – that you will come to appreciate that whether you recognize it or not, whether you can articulate it or not, and whether you like it or not, you have been sealed. And that seal will stay with you forever, and forever is a mighty long time.
“Will you continue to take care of that seal? Will you continue to cherish that seal? Or will you hang it on the wall and move on, almost discarding it like something that served you for a time and now you have to move on – to what? Bigger and better things? Is that what we’re here to celebrate? I hope not.”
Education is about more than getting a diploma or an award, Bishop Martin said, and education at a Catholic college like Belmont Abbey means even more.
“Our world needs your greater works,” he told the graduates. “The greater works that will take the seal of the Holy Spirit that has been given to you and that you will make manifest – not just in beautiful basilicas, not just in quiet moments of prayer and reflection on God’s sacred word, not just ‘when two or three are gathered in my name,’ but in whatever professional life you’re going to pursue, and whatever family life you’re going to pursue, and wherever you find yourself, in whatever field of competition and whatever supermarket or wherever you find yourself.”
“There is no space on this earth, there is no space in this universe that the Father doesn’t want to be made manifest through His Son. And He sends His Spirit upon you, so that you will make that manifest everywhere, everywhere.”
A highlight of the graduation ceremony was the presentation of the 2025 Student of the Year award to Germaine Hanley, who was honored for exemplifying the college’s ideals: academic excellence, steady leadership, meaningful involvement and the daily pursuit of virtue, both inside and outside the classroom.
Hanley was featured as the primary speaker at the graduation ceremony, a tradition at Belmont Abbey College meant to place the focus on student success and voices.
This year’s class included 24 nursing graduates – the second cohort to complete Belmont Abbey’s growing nursing program. The ceremony also recognized a notable number of student-athletes, underscoring the college’s commitment to its mission of “sport and virtue,” which fosters both academic excellence and athletic achievement. In addition, several legacy families celebrated the graduation of another child, a testament to the enduring values passed down through generations at Belmont Abbey College. The class also included 24 graduates from the Honors College Scholarship program and 21 scholars from the Hintemeyer Catholic Leadership Scholarship program, exemplifying a continued dedication to leadership, service and intellectual growth.
The college also awarded honorary degrees to Chris Peek and Major Gen. (Dr.) Josef F. Schmid III.
Peek is president and CEO of CaroMont Health, a regional healthcare system based in Gastonia that last January opened a state-of-the-art hospital and medical campus adjacent to Belmont Abbey College. Under his leadership, CaroMont was named one of the nation’s “100 Top Hospitals” by Watson Health in 2018, only one of two hospitals in North Carolina to achieve this national distinction. Prior to joining CaroMont Health in 2017, he served as deputy county manager and chief of staff for Mecklenburg County, where he oversaw 5,500 employees and a $1.6 billion budget.
Schmid, a German-American physician and 1988 graduate of Belmont Abbey College, serves as Mobilization Assistant to the Surgeon General of the U.S. Air Force. In his civilian capacity, he is a NASA flight surgeon at Johnson Space Center in Texas, where he is responsible for the medical care of active and retired astronauts, pilots and their family members. He has served as a crew surgeon for shuttle missions and long-duration missions to the International Space Station, as well as becoming an aquanaut during a 12-day mission to NOAA’s undersea Aquarius habitat in 2007, and becoming one of the first humans to be Holoported off the planet and into space, visiting the International Space Station by telepresence in 2021.
— Sarah Bolton. Photo by Mike Gibson.