CHARLOTTE — New officers and members have been selected for the Diocese of Charlotte’s Presbyteral Council, a group that advises the bishop in governing the diocese.
Officers for the 2026-27 session are:
• Chairman: Father Benjamin Roberts, V.F., priest-in-charge of the Catholic Community of Waxhaw
• Vice Chairman: Father Peter Ascik, pastor and rector of St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte
• Secretary: Father David McCanless, Campus Ministry chaplain at Wake Forest University
• Treasurer: Father John Putnam, J.V., pastor of St. Mark Parish in Huntersville and judicial vicar for the diocese
Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv., serves as president of the Presbyteral Council.
Elected by fellow priests to serve a three-year term from 2026 to 2029 on the Presbyteral Council is Jesuit Father Mark Scalese. Re-elected to serve an additional three-year term are Father Peter Ascik, pastor and rector of St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte; Father Patrik Cahill, pastor of St. Matthew Parish in Charlotte; and Father Alfonso Gamez, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Lenoir.
Other members of the Presbyteral Council are listed on the diocese’s website, www.charlottediocese.org.
Required by Church law, the Presbyteral Council represents all priests in the diocese and is “like a senate of the bishop” (Code of Canon Law 495 §1), with about half the members elected by priests and others appointed by the bishop.
— Catholic News Herald
Father Roberts
Father Ascik
Father McCanless 
Father Putnam