BELMONT — Parishioners at Queen of the Apostles Church had the opportunity after Mass June 16 to sign the steel beams framing their new church, now under construction behind the current church.
Ground was broken in February on the 13,430-square-foot building, which will offer seating for 750 people – more than double the capacity of the current church.
The building project, totaling $4.15 million, is expected to be completed by early 2020.
HICKORY — On May 23, 13 Local CCHD grants totaling $36,250 were distributed at the 2019 Catholic Charities Local CCHD grant awards luncheon held at St. Aloysius Church.
CCHD is the acronym for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. This year’s grantees come from the following 11 cities: Black Mountain, Brevard, Charlotte, Forest City, Greensboro, Hendersonville, Hickory, High Point, Jefferson, Lenoir and Winston-Salem.
The grant awards luncheon began and closed with prayers offered respectively by St. Aloysius’s pastor, Father Lawrence LoMonaco, and Father Steve Hoyt, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Lenoir. A presentation on the work of CCHD, including data on poverty in the USA, was given by Ralph McCloud, CCHD National Director at the USCCB. Each of the grantees had the opportunity to share some highlights about their funded projects.
From the 25 percent of funds raised in the November CCHD collection across the Diocese of Charlotte, Catholic Charities annually offers local grants to fund non-profit projects in the diocese that are fighting poverty at the grassroots level. Many CCHD grant-funded organizations partner with diocesan parishes or other diocesan entities. Each grant applicant must submit a letter of endorsement from a Diocese of Charlotte entity which knows of the applicant’s work. The 2020 Local CCHD Grant deadline will be Feb. 17, 2020. Grant guidelines and applications will be available Dec. 2 at www.ccdoc.org/cchdcrs.
— Joseph Purello, Special to the Catholic News Herald. Joseph Purello is director of Catholic Charities’ Office of Social Concerns and Advocacy and diocesan director for CCHD.
Learn more about poverty in the U.S.
CCHD has a complementary mission of educating about domestic poverty and its causes at both the national and local level. PovertyUSA.org, an educational resource of CCHD available in English and Spanish, seeks to educate and promote understanding about poverty in the USA and its root causes. Go to PovertyUSA.org for resources such as: prayers, a poverty quiz, K-12 educational activities, stories of hope, and an interactive map of the USA that illustrates the extent of poverty at state and county levels.
Father Patrick Winslow is Charlotte diocese’s fifth vicar general and chancellor
In the presence of Bishop Peter Jugis, Father Patrick Winslow made a profession of faith and took an oath of fidelity to the Church during Mass June 30 – part of taking on his new role as the Diocese of Charlotte's vicar general and chancellor.CHARLOTTE — “I, Father Patrick J. Winslow, on assuming the office of vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of Charlotte, promise that I shall always preserve communion with the Catholic Church whether in the words I speak or in the way I act. With great care and fidelity, I shall carry out the responsibilities by which I am bound in relation both to the universal Church and to the particular Church to which I am called to exercise my service according to the requirements of the law...”
With these words at the start of Mass June 30, Father Patrick Winslow took the oath of fidelity to the Church and made a profession of faith to inaugurate his ministry as the diocese’s fifth vicar general and chancellor.
The Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, where Father Winslow has served as pastor since 2012, was filled with parishioners who came to witness the historic occasion and wish him well in his new assignment.
Bishop Peter Jugis commended Father Winslow’s work as pastor of the north Charlotte parish. He also expressed gratitude that parishioners were so willing to share their pastor with the wider diocese since April 29 when he appointed him to the role of vicar general and chancellor.
“I’m grateful for the sacrifices that the people of St. Thomas Aquinas made to share Father Winslow with the larger Church,” Bishop Jugis said, then elicited laughter from the congregation when he added with a smile, “In fact, I’m not only going to share him, but I’m going to take him from you.”
As vicar general, Father Winslow will report directly to the bishop on matters related to clergy and vocations as well as acting in place of the bishop in his absence. As chancellor, he will oversee the diocese’s day-to-day administrative and business operations.
Bishop Jugis noted that the role “is a tremendous responsibility, of course as you can imagine, that he is agreeing to undertake,” but added that Father Winslow will be supported by a “very competent and capable” team at the Pastoral Center.
He and Father Winslow depend on the help of many others to accomplish the Church’s mission, the bishop said. “All of us together, each in our own way, is called to serve the Kingdom of God, to build up the Kingdom of God in grace and holiness.”
In one of his last homilies as their pastor, Father Winslow thanked parishioners for all their efforts – starting with their welcome of him following the departure of the beloved Capuchin Franciscans who had served the parish for nearly two decades.
Also during the Mass, Bishop Jugis blessed the new baldachin, ambo and celebrant's chair inside St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte. The 30-foot baldachin, obtained from a church in Pennsylvania, capped off an extensive recent renovation of the church's sanctuary. “We’ve had a beautiful and amazing journey together as a parish,” he said, recounting a successful building campaign, monthly processions in honor of Our Lady of Fatima, and most recently, renovation of the sanctuary to include a dramatic baldachin over the altar.
From the beginning, Father Winslow said, “my focus was to make sure that the celebration of the Mass communicated sanctity, that everybody could touch the holy, that everybody could experience the holiness of God that is made present and that we know to be manifest in faith at this altar.”
The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith, he noted, and parishioners’ deep devotion to the Eucharist has been “the heart of the parish.”
“I see faith, I see love, I see devotion, I see commitment,” Father Winslow said. “And I see people who have the look on their faces that they know they experience the holy.”
“I am grateful that I’ve had these seven years here with you,” he said. “St. Thomas (Aquinas) holds a singular place in my heart and my mind. It is my longest serving assignment, it will remain my home parish in Charlotte. Thank you for all these years.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor
HENDERSONVILLE — After nearly 30 years, the Capuchin Franciscan order is leaving Immaculate Conception Church.
Father Martin Schratz, pastor, Father Roberto Perez and Father Praveen Kumar Turaka are leaving the parish July 9. The order is withdrawing from this and other parishes in its province due to declining vocations and the advancing ages of its friars.
Father Christian Cook will serve as pastor and newly ordained Father Britt Taylor will be parochial vicar.
“It’s been an excellent journey, it really has. I came to the diocese in 1997,” said Father Schratz, who has been pastor of Immaculate Conception for the past seven years. “Bishop Curlin invited us in. There was a need for priests. Hopefully, we did a good job in fulfilling the needs of the diocese.”
Father Schratz, a Philadelphia native, served as pastor of Our Lady of Consolation Church and St. Thomas Aquinas Church, both in Charlotte, prior to the time the order withdrew from those parishes. Immaculate Conception was the only remaining parish served by the Capuchin Franciscans in the diocese. The order also formerly staffed St. Matthew Church in Charlotte, St. Helen Mission in Spencer Mountain, and the Catholic Conference Center in Hickory.
Father Schratz said he has enjoyed reaching out to the men and women coming into the Church through the diocese’s RCIA Commission, which he has chaired.
“As a Capuchin, it’s important that people have an understanding of our Franciscan roots and how important it is to have that spirit. Hopefully, we teach that in our works. We are pilgrims and strangers. We want to fill people with a commitment to Jesus, not just to the friars – so that when we go, you’re still alive with passion for Jesus. We’re the messengers, we’re not the message. Our job is to get people in love with Jesus.”
Parishioners at Immaculate Conception Church are thankful to the friars for their leadership, vision, love and service to the parish.
The parish’s latest newsletter detailed some of the friars’ contributions to the century-old parish. The current church building came about because of Father Robert Salamone and Father John Aurilia. Brother Michael Malloy worked with schoolchildren, and Father John Salvas ministered to the growing Hispanic population in the parish.
Father Nick Mormando envisioned the future and oversaw the building of St. Gerard’s House for families dealing with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Father Schratz recognized the need for more space to house the parish’s expanding programs and ministries. He also launched a capital campaign to buy what is now the St. Joseph’s Center.
Margaret Cavagnaro, a parishioner for 40 years, said they are really going to miss the friars.
“They’re just so loving,” Cavagnaro said. “They have done so much service for our parish, and it has grown so much the last 28 years. I can’t say enough good things.”
She said Father Martin had faith in her abilities to be able to work on the electronic newsletter he started at the parish, even when she wasn’t sure she could.
“I love each and every one of our priests. Father Martin is just very special to me, and he believed in me.
“Father Roberto is just amazing. He is kind and generous and he’s so amazing with the Hispanic community. Father Praveen has helped in the ‘attic,’ where we give items to those in need. They all work with people in the community. They’ve been amazing.”
Father Schratz embraced the Hispanic ministries at Immaculate Conception Church, noted parishioner Javier Diaz. Over the past 10 years Diaz has been at the parish, he said, he has seen the Hispanic ministries he’s involved in – extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, lectors and the men’s prayer group – grow under the clergy’s leadership. In turn, people’s faith has been strengthened.
“I’ve gained great confidence in wanting to be in the Church and wanting to be serving the Lord from his great example,” Diaz said of Father Schratz.
The friars have worked to merge the communities to worship as one, Father Schratz noted.
“We do a lot more things bilingually, and more events have been attended by both communities, equally,” he said. “The sheep are entrusted to us as shepherds. We minister them all at the same time. It has been great to see that grow.”
Immaculate Conception Parish also has a new mission: “We are a joyful Catholic Community of disciples of Jesus Christ, moved by love, to seek the lost and the broken and bring them home.”
“Not a mission statement, that’s just a statement,” explained Father Schratz. “We came up with a mission, a way of life. The faithful are living their faith, and being Christ for others. It’s easier to teach by example. People see that.”
Father Schratz is going to St. Francis of Assisi Church in Hackensack, N.J. He said he will miss the mountains of North Carolina as he transitions to city life, but he is excited to live closer to his mother and be near the order’s province headquarters in order to spend more time with his fellow Capuchin Franciscans.
Father Schratz asked for prayers as the parish transitions its leadership, and he encouraged people to continue to pray for more religious vocations.
Said Cavagnaro, “I’m looking forward to the new priests. It will be a new chapter. We are looking forward to see-ing new things and what will happen next.”
— Kimberly Bender, Online reporter