‘So that healing may be had at home’
BELMONT — Friends and supporters paid tribute to the late Bishop William Curlin Feb. 20 as they gathered to dedicate the remodeled and refurbished health clinic at Holy Angels.
Bishop Curlin, who died Dec. 23, 2017, was a frequent visitor to Holy Angels, a home opened in 1955 by the Sisters of Mercy for children and adults with intellectual developmental disabilities and delicate medical conditions.
“Bishop Curlin is one of the many reasons why we are who we are today,” said Regina Moody, Holy Angels’ president and CEO, “because of his love and commitment to our mission.”
Starting not long after he became bishop in 1994, Bishop Curlin came by regularly to bless the residents and staff at Holy Angels, always bringing smiles to their faces. Until he retired as bishop in 2002, he offered Mass there every Christmas Day.
“He would say, ‘This is where I’m meant to be on Christmas morning, with God’s most vulnerable children,” Moody recalled. “We were so blessed for so many years that Bishop Curlin spent Christmas morning with us here at Holy Angels. What better place to be than with the angels?”
In “this very special place,” noted the Rev. Rob Hinman, Holy Angels’ board chair, “it is fitting that we bless and dedicate it to a person who was so caring for our residents. His touch, his presence, brought the hand of God as a reality to our residents.”
The Curlin Clinic features a new dental chair and equipment, as well as a new, wider medical exam chair. New supply cabinets, a nurse’s workstation and a sink were also installed. The room was also repainted and decorated with original artwork by local artist Stephanie Neely.
A plaque and photos of Bishop Curlin occupy a prominent spot on the wall near the clinic’s entrance. The plaque reads: “Bishop Curlin generously shared his love for God’s most special children at Christmas and throughout the years – as bishop and retired bishop. During visits to Holy Angels with the Knights of Malta, he would gently touch each resident, providing a blessing of God’s love, healing and hope. Within the walls of the Bishop Curlin Clinic, physicians and healthcare professionals will share their healing touch with the residents as they provide for their health and well-being.”
Moody described the project to renovate Holy Angels’ clinic and recounted how support for the effort came thanks to the unexpected help of several people at just the right moment, including: Mr. and Mrs. John Spencer, Tony Sandrene and Amy Spencer, Mr. and Mrs. Rafiq H. Lakhany and their family, Dr. William Donigan and friends, Kenneth Branson, and Campania Fine Moulding.
Thanks to their support, Moody said, the Curlin Clinic can better serve the residents who can’t be transported off-site to medical appointments. The clinic hosts than 1,300 exams per year, from primary care appointments to specialists’ visits, she noted.
Present for the dedication were several members of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (the Knights of Malta), who were especially close to Bishop Curlin and often accompanied him on visits to Holy Angels. The order leads annual pilgrimages for the sick to the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, a place of miraculous healing, and Bishop Curlin used holy water from the shrine to bless the Holy Angels residents each year.
Dr. Bill Rice, a Knight of Malta and member of Holy Angels’ board of directors, reminisced about the late bishop’s support of the order as its chaplain.
“Everyone knows that his middle name was Compassion,” Rice said. “His entire life almost was dedicated to the poor, the marginalized and especially the sick.”
Rice recalled Bishop Curlin’s stories and spiritual advice, especially the saying he passed on from a dying mentor of his: “Everything that I have kept, I have lost. Everything I’ve given away, I have forever.”
“Believe me, Bishop Curlin gave it all away.”
Monsignor Anthony Marcaccio, pastor of St. Pius X Church in Greensboro and Bishop Curlin’s personal secretary and close friend, blessed the clinic room with holy water from Lourdes.
He prayed, “Almighty God, we come before You, with hearts open to Your love, minds open to Your healing will, and open hands ready to receive and to share Your blessing for service. God of mercy, we bless You. From of old, You sent Your angels, who minister to You, as messengers of hope and mercy to Your people. We bless You for the wonderful way that this continues today in our midst. We thank You for the doctors, the specialists and health care professionals who are messengers of hope and healing in this place of mercy. Today we dedicate this clinic to the memory of Bishop William Curlin. We thank You for his example of pastoral ministry – always looking for Christ hidden in the poor, especially the sick, for those who might be suffering, and loving and nurturing life wherever it was little and most vulnerable. We thank You for the benefactors who’ve made this clinic possible, so that healing may be had at home for our residents. We ask You, Almighty God, who by Your wondrous ministry of angels guard and govern us, to bless this facility, to bless us, to bless the Holy Angels staff, to bless the Sisters of Mercy, to bless the medical professionals who will minister here, and most importantly, to bless our residents. As we dedicate this Curlin Clinic, we ask that You would command Your angels to stand watch here, that this may forever be a place of health, happiness and peace.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor
Anointing and mission
CHARLOTTE — Nearly 100 priests gathered with Bishop Peter Jugis for the annual Chrism Mass March 27 at St. Patrick Cathedral, renewing their priestly promises to the Church and assisting in the blessing of sacramental oils.
The holy oils blessed during the Chrism Mass are used in the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and anointing of the sick, as well as for ordination of priests and consecration of churches.
Looking out over the sea of vestments during the Mass, Bishop Jugis addressed the clergy in his homily by recalling the fundamentals of their priestly ministry: anointing and mission.
“The Chrism Mass gives us a unique opportunity to take a look at our calling as priests,” he said. “We have been anointed by God’s grace and the Holy Spirit at our ordination. There is a mission, therefore, that is imposed upon us because of our anointing. The mission is none other than Christ’s mission itself. We look to Christ for our meaning and purpose.”
Bishop Jugis then paraphrased from the day’s Gospel reading from Luke 4:16-21: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me, to proclaim the Good News by healing the broken-hearted, proclaiming liberty to captives, release to prisoners and by comforting all who mourn.”
“Those words stand as a guiding light for our ministry,” he told the priests. “His words help to bring everything into focus for us, because His mission is our priestly mission. This merits our attention, especially at the Chrism Mass.”
“What is our mission? We look to Jesus Christ and His mission,” he reiterated.
“The blessing of the oils and the consecration of the chrism will also look to this mission that we are anointed to perform, to heal the wounds of human hearts. And how many human hearts are wounded? In fact, we can say every human heart on the face of the earth,” he said.
They have the ability “to proclaim liberation in the face of so many afflictions and so many evils that hold people prisoner, to console and to comfort all those who are in need of the Lord’s strength,” he said, “because Jesus gave us the means to accomplish this, through the Lord’s sacraments, through the Word of God, the Gospel which we proclaim and live, and by shepherding them with Christ’s love.”
“Our mission is given to us because of Christ and our anointing in Him,” he continued. “The image of Christ and the Redeemer shines forth in His ordained priests.”
Bishop Jugis expounded about the joy that comes from serving the people of God.
“What a joy it is to serve your parishioners, young and old and bring them Christ’s love,” he said. “What a joy it is to serve the sick. What a joy to serve those near death and bring them the comfort of Christ. What a joy to serve the poor and needy. What a joy to be a servant of the Eucharist and a servant of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and bring to your parishioners the Bread of Life. What a joy it is to serve your parishioners and shepherd them to Eternal life. What a joy to be a servant of Christ and a servant of the blessed Triune God.”
He then told the priests that he was inspired by the depth of the love the priests have for their parishioners which he witnesses first-hand when he visits their parishes for sacramental celebrations and anniversaries.
“It is always evident to me that the Lord has placed His faithful servants in charge of His household,” he told them.
“This Chrism Mass and the entire Easter Triduum are graced times to come close to the Lord and to be with Him. He calls you to come near Him. After all, it was during these days that the Lord instituted the priesthood that we have received as a gift in the Upper Room on Holy Thursday.
“As He was preparing to lay down His life, He brought the priesthood into existence. Out of His self-giving comes life for the Church for all times.
“So it is to that source – the Upper Room with Christ at the Last Supper – that we must go always to confirm our priestly identity, to confirm our priestly vocation and our mission as priests, to draw our priestly life from Christ the High Priest Himself as He is laying down His life in love for our salvation,” Bishop Jugis said.
Concelebrating the Chrism Mass were Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey; Monsignor Mauricio West, vicar general and chancellor of the diocese; Father John Putnam, judicial vicar of the diocese; and 95 additional diocesan and religious order priests who gathered around the altar for the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
All the priests also stood during the blessing of the sacred chrism with their hands outstretched, joining with Bishop Jugis in prayer as he performed the blessing rite.
Father Wilbur Thomas, pastor of St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville, was also in attendance. He just celebrated his 45th anniversary of ordination the day before the Chrism Mass. He will retire this summer.
“In renewing our vows, it became even more important for me after 45 years of doing it. It’s just a refresher to renew those vows, to say yes, to continue to say yes,”
Father Thomas said. “I feel that I am who I am, a priest of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am very happy to be in this ministry.”
He added, “It’s always good to be with other priests. It’s always good to be among them.”
Father Carmen Malacari, pastor of Holy Spirit Church in Denver, also attended the Mass. He celebrates his 25th jubilee this October.
What stood out to him during the Chrism Mass was “the renewal of our priesthood – what this is all about, what we are called to do in our ministry,” Father Malacari said, and “the bishop asking the people of God to pray for us in our ministry.”
“As Bishop said in his homily, the blessing of the oils is always a reminder of the joy and privilege of priestly ministry – instructing catechumens, being with the sick, and bringing people into the Church,” noted Father David McCanless, who was recently assigned as a parochial vicar at the cathedral. “As priests, we are collaborators with the bishop in his ministry, and the Chrism Mass is one of the principal expressions of this. It’s a reminder that although there are many priests and parishes in the diocese, we are all unified in professing the same faith.”
In the closing remarks of his homily, Bishop Jugis reminded the priests that in this Mass, “We renew our promises to be faithful to all that Christ has bestowed upon us, our priestly anointing, our priestly identity, our priestly vocation and our priestly mission – deeply rooted in the anointing and the mission of Christ Himself.”
After Mass, deacons divided the blessed oils into smaller oil stocks that will be distributed to all 92 parishes and missions across the diocese for use in sacramental celebrations throughout the upcoming year.
– SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
