BELMONT — Belmont Abbey College’s chancellor, Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari, served as the main celebrant and homilist for a Baccalaureate Mass May 18 in front of Mary, Help of Christians Basilica.
He encouraged the Class of 2019 to “be a blessing to yourselves and to others.
If you do that well, you will inevitably make a mark on this world that will last. It will last because that will be the way you build your lives into something beautiful, worthy of the honor and glory of God.
It will last because good things – goodness and truth and beauty – are the only things that last. All the good that you do will last forever.”
Concelebrating the Mass prior to the 2019 commencement were monks of Belmont Abbey and priests of the Diocese of Charlotte. More than 300 people received bachelor’s degrees during the college’s 141st commencement ceremony May 18.
James David Hartley was named Abbey Student of the Year, and Mark Trompeter and Christopher Brock (who is also a St. Joseph College Seminary graduate) were co-valedictorians.
— James Sarkis | Catholic News Herald
