CHARLOTTE — Catholic students in Mecklenburg County and the town of Dunn attending college or planning to attend college have the opportunity to apply for a scholarship funded by an endowment created by the late George Warren Pitman, a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist who once lived in Charlotte.
Pitman, a renowned designer, built a successful business in the Carolinas and Virginia before passing away in 2007 at the age of 79. For more than 30 years, he ran his design firm, George Pitman. Inc., from his beautiful home in Charlotte’s Myers Park neighborhood. He was a graduate of Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Md., and Bright’s School of Design in Chicago, and he bequeathed $1.2 million of his fortune to provide scholarships to needy Catholic students who also wish to earn an undergraduate degree.
Through the George Warren Pitman Scholarship Fund, college-bound Catholics can apply for renewable awards of up to $1,000, depending on the type of college (two-year, four-year or vocational) they plan to attend. The application period runs from Dec. 3 to March 1. (For more information, contact Jim Kelley, development director for the Diocese of Charlotte, at 704-370-3301 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
“We have known since 1990 that Mr. Pitman was going to do something in the way of an estate gift,” Kelley said. “We are so grateful for his transformative gift. Through the generosity of Mr. Pitman, Catholic students in Mecklenburg County and in Dunn will benefit from a college education.”
“More and more people across the diocese are remembering the Church in their estate plans – gifts from thousands of dollars to millions – and we are thankful for their generosity,” Kelley said.
Those like Pitman who make a planned gift that benefits the diocese or any of its parishes, schools, ministries or agencies become members of the Catholic Heritage Society. The society is the diocese’s way of honoring the Christian generosity of Catholic friends who are providing for the future of the Church in western North Carolina.
The Catholic Heritage Society is comprised of more than 1,100 people in the diocese, many of whom are leaving gifts to the Diocese of Charlotte Foundation in their wills. Since 1994, the foundation has distributed more than $9 million to the diocese and its parishes, schools and ministries.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
Learn more
People can establish an endowment in the diocesan foundation by leaving a bequest in their will, a beneficiary designation from a retirement plan, a gift of real estate, a gift of life insurance, cash or securities sufficient to set up an endowment, or a life income arrangement such as a trust or annuity. For details, contact Judy Smith at 704-370-3320 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
MOORESVILLE — St. Therese Church recently welcomed Father Paul Asoh, with the Missionary Society of St. Paul of Nigeria, to the parish.
The Nigerian priest was ordained in 2002, and served in the Diocese of Kano, Nigeria, before being assigned to the Missionary Society of St. Paul’s Formation House/Seminary from 2003 to 2006.
He completed a course in Religious Formation Ministry in Dublin, Ireland, from between 2006 to 2007, and a Masters in Peace studies and International Relations at the Hekima Jesuit College of the Catholic University of East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya.
He also worked in the St. Patrick’s Theology House in Nairobi from 2007 to 2010 with the St. Patrick’s Society Seminarians.
In 2010 he was reassigned back to Nigeria as assistant director of formation in the Missionary Society of St. Paul Formation House, Iperu-Remo, Nigeria, until June. During this period, he was also chaplain of the Federal Government Girls College in Sagamu, Nigeria, and director of St. Paul’s Retreat and Renewal Center in Iperu-Remo.
— Lisa Cash
WINSTON-SALEM — St. Leo Parish’s new church had been completed only a year when Robert Daye was born in 1930.
His family had been instrumental in the effort to buy land and build the church on Springdale Avenue, according to Father Brian Cook, who has served as St. Leo’s pastor since 2006. The Gothic Revival-style stone building, which was designed by the famed church architect Father Michael McInerney of Belmont Abbey, was completed in 1929. “Since then, the Daye family has been an integral part of the life of our parish.”
Daye died Jan. 1 at the age of 87. Nearly 20 years before his death, he told the Diocese of Charlotte’s Development Office staff that he would be bequeathing a gift to benefit his beloved parish after he was gone. The $100,000 Daye Endowment will directly benefit St. Leo Church for years to come.
It is expected that the parish will initially be able to draw $5,000 annually from the endowment.
“Bob was a man of great warmth and had a quiet prayerfulness about him that lifted the hearts of so many in our parish community,” Father Cook recalled. “We are most grateful for his generous gift and for the continued legacy of gentle faithfulness he leaves with our community.”
The new Daye Endowment is one of seven endowments that benefits the Winston-Salem parish, which has about 2,000 registered families, and its school.
Founded in 1994, the Diocese of Charlotte Foundation now has 257 endowments totaling more than $50 million in assets. It has distributed more than $9 million to the diocese and its parishes, schools and ministries.
“As more and more individuals leave estate gifts to their parishes and schools, more endowments are being established, so it’s not uncommon for parishes and schools to have multiple endowments,” noted Jim Kelley, diocesan development director.
Individuals can establish an endowment in the diocesan foundation by leaving a bequest in their will, a beneficiary designation from a retirement plan, a gift of real estate, a gift of life insurance, cash or securities sufficient to set up an endowment, or a life income arrangement such as a trust or annuity.
For details about setting up an endowment to benefit the Church in western North Carolina, contact Judy Smith at 704-370-3320 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
CHARLOTTE — Standing before their bishop and a first-class relic of St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr, more than 60 permanent deacons reaffirmed their ordination promises and then watched as 15 men were admitted as candidates for the diaconate Aug. 10, the feast day of their patron saint.
Bishop Peter Jugis offered the Mass for the deacons, an annual event at St. Patrick Cathedral that celebrates the permanent diaconate in the Diocese of Charlotte and every four years ushers in a new class of potential future deacons.
Bishop Jugis addressed his homily first to the permanent deacons, then to the 15 men who are beginning their journey towards possible ordination as deacons.
“The diaconate is a great ministry of service in the Church and Jesus’ own words continue to inspire deacons to follow His example of serving,” he said, quoting from the Gospel of Matthew 20:28: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
“It is in that spirit of service, inspired by Christ, that you deacons come today to affirm again the promises of your ordination.”
He reminded them that in the prayer of ordination which had consecrated them as deacons, the bishop prayed that they practice Christian virtues, especially showing concern for the sick and the poor, and that they exercise their authority with humility and love.
“And so we ask the Lord again today to bless you, that these Gospel virtues that your bishop prayed over you in that prayer of consecration on the day of your ordination, that those virtues continue to shine forth in your lives of service as servants of the altar, as servants of the Word and as servants of charity,” he continued.
The bishop then turned his attention to the 15 men admitted to the rite of candidacy: Ronald Ascencio, Joseph Becker, Eduardo Bernal, Carl Brown, Margarito Franco, Charles Hindbaugh, Hugh Holland, Todd Labonte, John Langlois, Thomas Martin, William Melton Jr., Richard Michaels, Francisco Pina, Herbert Quintanilla and Joseph Smith.
“And you men, who today are being admitted to candidacy for holy orders, we ask the good Lord also to bless you with these Gospel virtues, that those virtues will continue during the course of your formation to be perfected in you.”
In the rite of admission to candidacy, he explained to them, the men formally become candidates for the sacrament of holy orders, offering themselves “to God and to the Church for sacred ministry.”
The men have already achieved several requirements to get to this point – including completing the two-year Lay Ministry Formation Program and, with their wives, a year of discernment called aspirancy.
They were helped along the way by a team of 30 deacons and deacons’ wives, who assisted them in their discernment process and gave presenations on prayer, spirituality and diaconal ministry.
“I am grateful for the team of deacons and their wives that assisted in this discernment process,” said Deacon Scott Gilfillan, director of formation for the permanent diaconate. “It was an amazing aspirancy team and made an invaluable contribution helping the aspirant couples.”
“I am also impressed with the openness and sincerity of new candidates and their wives,” he added. “I am really looking forward to working with them as they continue this journey of discernment and formation toward being a deacon or a wife of a deacon,” he said.
The journey of discernment now continues, Bishop Jugis encouraged the 15 candidates.
“You are crossing a threshold into a period of more intense formation. Things are different now. The Lord gives you special graces now as candidates for holy orders as you pursue the Lord’s call to the permanent diaconate.”
Jesus has brought them this far along their path already, the bishop assured them, and He wants them to offer themselves to Him and to the formation program and to the Church as He leads them through the coming years of formation.
Spend time in prayer listening to what Jesus may be calling them to, he said.
“You are blessed to have the support of your wives, your families and your friends, and the support of the Church to help you on this path,” he said. “If it is God’s will, one day you will be at the priest’s side at the altar, assisting him as he offers the sacrifice of the Mass.”
Candidate Tim Martin said he is excited to be following in his father’s footsteps in considering the diaconate, after many years of thinking about it.
“My dad was a deacon. He was ordained in 1981, and being in the pew as he would give his homilies and talk about our family meant a lot to me,” Martin said.
Deacon John Martino, director of the diocesan Permanent Diaconate Program, observed that “in the affirmation Of promises and in the rite of candidacy we see the present and the future of the Church of Charlotte.
“God has truly blessed all of us!”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
