He enabled many ‘firsts’ in western N.C.
ASHEVILLE — The ministry of Father Wilbur Thomas has left an indelible mark on the history of the Diocese of Charlotte. Over the course of the 45 years since his ordination, both Father Thomas and the Catholic diocese in western North Carolina have grown and developed together. This diocesan trailblazer was asked by his bishops over the years to begin many of the ministries and programs that Catholics in the diocese participate in today.
In his humility, he does not boast about his role in diocesan history. He has simply worked diligently, collaboratively and with trust that God in His divine providence would bring to fruition the work He set before him.
Through it all, Father Thomas has cherished his personal relationship with Jesus Christ, crediting Him for leading him into the priesthood and guiding him throughout his ministry to the people of God in western North Carolina.
Called to the faith and to the priesthood
Father Thomas was adopted as an infant and raised in a Methodist household in Lexington. When Father Thomas was 10 years old, his dad suffered a stroke and was left bedridden at home. Father Thomas remembers a Catholic priest, Father James Keenan, from the local parish coming to visit him. His dad decided to become Catholic, and he was conditionally baptized at home.
“I thought I wanted to be a Methodist minister,” Father Thomas said, recalling his youth. His grandfather had been a Methodist minister and he thought he might follow in his footsteps. But Catholicism also called to him.
He started attending catechism classes at the Catholic church on Saturdays but continued worshiping at the Methodist church on Sundays. When he was 12, he decided to become Catholic.
He was conditionally baptized and in October 1960 he was confirmed by Raleigh Bishop Vincent S. Waters.
“After I became Catholic, I started serving at Mass almost immediately. I learned the Latin. I had a personal relationship with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament,” Father Thomas says. “It was during this time of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament that I heard the idea of becoming a Catholic priest.”
His mother also became Catholic, so when he approached his parents in his early years at Bishop McGuinness High School and told them that he wanted to become a Franciscan, he was surprised by their negative response.
“I asked them if I could look into formation. They said no; they were not happy about that. They weren’t ready for that,” he explains. “I was an only child. I had no brothers and sisters. My father really wanted to have grandchildren. My father thought I was entirely too young to enter formation for the priesthood.”
It was at Bishop McGuinness High School that his faith grew stronger.
Monsignor Joseph Showfety, who would later serve as the first chancellor of the Charlotte diocese, was the administrator of Bishop McGuinness High School during Father Thomas’ time there. He served Mass for Monsignor Showfety at the high school almost every school day.
“He was a great influence on my vocation,” Father Thomas notes.
Father Thomas persevered, and in his senior year of high school he worked up the courage to speak to his parents again and ask for their permission to apply as a seminarian for the Diocese of Raleigh. They agreed, and he entered formation at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio.
“Through all of this, the one constant has been my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ – especially in the Eucharist. My personal prayers, Scriptures, etc., have encouraged me to continue on. Times were difficult and sometimes there were moments when I wanted to walk away from it (during seminary) but that did not happen,” he recalls.
Comes home to a new Charlotte Diocese
Father Wilbur Thomas is retiring from active priestly ministry after serving the Church in western North Carolina for 45 years. He has served as rector of St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville for 18 years. (Photos by John Cosmas | Catholic News Herald; Diocese of Charlotte Archives)In March 1972, he was ordained a transitional deacon for the Diocese of Raleigh. He starting writing letters asking to be transferred to the new Diocese of Charlotte, which had just been established in January of that year. With family and friends in the western part of the state, it made sense for him to join the new diocese and be closer to home.
On March 26, 1973, the Feast of the Annunciation, he was ordained for the Diocese of Raleigh at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Havelock, near the North Carolina coast.
Shortly thereafter, he was given permission to transfer into the new Charlotte diocese, where he served as an associate pastor of St. Leo the Great Church in Winston-Salem.
Father Thomas has served as pastor in four parishes: Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Albemarle, Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte, St. Aloysius Church in Hickory, and, for the past 18 years, as rector and pastor of St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville.
LAUNCHES MANY PROGRAMS IN THE DIOCESE
As the first newly ordained priest to be incardinated in the new Charlotte diocese, Father Thomas has blazed new paths for ministries and programs across the diocese over the past four decades.
Among some of the firsts he can claim for the Charlotte diocese: He was appointed the first campus minister, serving at Wake Forest University. He helped develop the diocese’s Campus Ministry Program, the Youth Ministry Program and the Diocesan Youth Council. He helped organize the diocese’s first Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. He also organized the diocese’s Committee of Black Catholic Ministry and Evangelization, which is now called the African American Affairs Ministry.
And the list goes on.
Father Thomas, with lay team leaders, formed the Catholic Charismatic Renewal group in the diocese. In 1974 he began a small Charismatic prayer group in a parishioner’s home and over the years the group grew to more than 90 people meeting in the library of Bishop McGuinness High School.
“I was the unofficial chaplain of the Charismatic Renewal,” he smiles.
He helped coordinate planning assemblies that led up to the Diocese of Charlotte Synod in 1986, including pre-synod workshops and plenary sessions on various topics designed to prepare for the synod itself.
“One of these assemblies was on evangelization, and I gave the keynote for that,” he says. “We had good representation of all the areas of the diocese and ministries. It was a major effort.”
In the 1980s Father Thomas started working with the priests, through the Father Vincent Dwyer program called the Ministry to Priests. It provided a structure of support groups for priests, centered around their various interests, where they could meet on their own.
He also organized a team of priests that visited priests, offering them encouragement and support.
In the 1990s Father Thomas was appointed “pastor to the pastors” as the diocese’s vicar for priests by then Bishop William Curlin, a position he held from 1998 to 2003.
Father Thomas is also known for his involvement in ecumenical efforts with local churches. During his tenure at St. Aloysius Church in Hickory, he was particularly involved with outreach to Protestant churches in the area.
“We were very much involved with the Lenoir-Rhyne (University) community,” he adds.
He was also involved in the formation of the Aquinas-Luther Conference, started under the late Lutheran Bishop Michael McDaniel, head of the theology department at Lenoir-Rhyne and head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
“Those were the years of the Lutheran-Catholic covenants, where Catholic parishes signed covenants with Lutheran congregations,” Father Thomas explains. “We worshiped together, studied together and did charitable works together. We had ecumenical services during Lent, on Good Friday, etc. We reached out to many people at that time.”
“None of that was strange to me. It was great,” he adds. “We worked together very well and the ecumenical relationship was very good.”
As an African American priest ministering in the South, Father Thomas has witnessed significant change over the past four decades – not just in society but in the growth and development of the Church he adopted as a teenager.
“It’s been very challenging, to say the least,” he says.
“The parishes where I have been pastor have all seen tremendous growth in numbers. People moving in from other parts of the country bring their own customs they were used to in other parts of the country.
“The challenge for those of us who are pastors is to try to help them to adjust to their new culture. It’s been somewhat of a challenge for many of us.”
Father Thomas points out that “because of the reality of the numbers, we had to build parish facilities and establish new schools to meet the needs of the people who moved to this area. People expected these things. We had to work on expanding our parish facilities and our school facilities.”
Surprisingly, he notes, God has allowed him to stay put in Asheville for the past 18 years.
In 2003 he was appointed vicar forane of the Asheville vicariate, which encompasses nine parishes and two missions.
“In terms of the Asheville area, and farther west, I am the elder priest,” he smiles. “I am the old man on the totem pole, both in experience and in age. It’s good. We’ve had good vicariate meetings over the years and good projects we have been working on as a vicariate. All good progress.”
URGES PEOPLE TO STAY CLOSE TO JESUS
Father Thomas credits his personal relationship with Jesus as the key to his deep faith and the power behind his tireless efforts to help build the Church in western North Carolina.
“Stay close to the celebration of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist,” he encourages. “Try to form a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That is very, very important to stay centered and to be able to deal with the various ways He leads and guides us in various ministries.”
“That relationship has been the anchor for me,” he explains. “Everything flows from that. I trust in His leading and guiding me through His Spirit. I trust myself to His will and His purpose for me every day. In this way I am able to accept these responsibilities without it undoing me.”
“I stand before a crucifix and the Blessed Sacrament several times a day,” he notes.
In his retirement Father Thomas plans to stay in the Asheville area and after a six-month sabbatical help out at vicariate parishes as needed.
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
Retiring priests honored
ASHEVILLE — St. Lawrence Basilica parish families turned out in large numbers on a hot day June 17 to honor their retiring priests, Father Wilbur Thomas and Father Maurice Boyd.
Held at Asheville Catholic School, parishioners filled tables with pupusas, tamales, salads of every kind, cakes and more. People lined up for the opportunity to tell Father Boyd and Father Thomas what they have meant to them.
“It’s a bittersweet affair,” one parishioner commented. “We will miss them, but we all hope they have a thoroughly enjoyable retirement.”
— Beth Searles, correspondent