MINT HILL — Members of St. Luke Church celebrated the parish’s 30th anniversary with a dinner and dance Oct. 14. About 100 attendees honored the feast day of St. Luke and anniversary of the church with a catered four-course meal, an open bar and a live band. The reception was scheduled to last until 10 p.m., but everyone kept dancing until much later in the evening.
Most of the founding parishioners – as well as retired founding pastor Father Joe Mulligan; Father Paul Gary, pastor; and Deacon Jeffrey Evers – attended the celebration. The welcoming, relaxed atmosphere of the celebration was quite evident, but the historical roots were less obvious.
Thirty years prior, Father Gary was unknowingly present for what was the inception of the Mint Hill parish. As he explained in the parish bulletin, “I answered the door one night when I was parochial vicar at St. Leo’s in Winston-Salem. Father Mulligan and Bishop John F. Donoghue went upstairs, met behind closed doors, and I never knew what transpired until St. Luke’s was joyfully announced in 1987.”
The late Sister Veronica Grover wrote of the parish’s history: “On the feast of St. Luke, 1987, a handful of people gathered in the movie theater of Matthews Festival to initiate a new parish named for St. Luke. Father Joe Mulligan called his small flock to honor their patron saint by becoming a ‘healing presence in the community.’ So began this parish community, committed to the ministry of justice, peace and compassion for the poor and suffering, committed to making a difference in the larger community.”
Among this “handful” were Marilyn and William Armstrong, Phyllis and Raymond Mennitt, and Catherine and Thomas Ferguson. All from Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Charlotte, all making their homes in Mint Hill, knowing that their pastor and friend was establishing a new parish. “I guess you could say we moved to Mint Hill because of Father Joe,” recalls Phyllis Mennitt. The Ferguson and Armstrong families also followed Father Mulligan to Mint Hill.
“By December, Father Joe had found what was to be the first real parish home, in a storefront in the shopping plaza called Mint Hill Festival. It was located between an Eckerd and Movie Mania,” wrote Sister Veronica.
Phyllis Mennitt remembered, “The first funeral we did at the storefront was hilarious. The funeral home workers were rolling the casket right in front of Eckerd to the storefront. A woman came outside, and her face just said it all.”
“Being such a small community made us really have to step up. Everybody involved did everything and loved every bit of it. I was involved with liturgy and adult education,” explained Marilyn Armstrong.
“The storefront was such a welcoming and warm environment, so non-formal. We had coffee and donuts after each service and we got along so well together. Father Joe was so vibrant,” said Catherine Ferguson.
“During this time a lot of people were getting transferred here from IBM. Every time I picked my head up, a new family was standing in front of me. The church was growing at a rapid rate. We needed a building,” Mennitt said.
A church building was ready in time for the parish’s patronal feast day in 1994.
“Bishop William G. Curlin told me so much incense was used at the dedication Mass in 1995 that the fire alarm went off,” Father Gary said with a smile.
Father Gary is the third pastor of St. Luke Parish, and parishioners say they have been blessed with each priest who has come to serve their growing community.
“Father Joe was late to everything – we called it ‘Father Joe time.’ The 9 a.m. Mass was really 9:10,” laughed Mennitt. “Father Joe is so motivational. He really gets you to commit to things you were too nervous to do, but should do. He convinced me to become an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion. I told him I was not worthy to serve and he reassured me I was just as worthy as him. He also encouraged me to start the homeless shelter ministry. There are no pew potatoes with Father Joe around.”
Father Mulligan continues to live in Mint Hill, where he still keeps in touch with parishioners, and although retired from active parish ministry he serves as a chaplain at the Charlotte-Douglas Airport.
Father Jim Hawker served as pastor after Father Mulligan retired.
Mennitt recalled of Father Hawker, “He was so funny! He would laugh so hard he couldn’t even finish his own joke. You just could not help but love him.”
“Father Jim was here for around seven years. He loved giving homilies. He actually had a different homily for every single Mass – no repeats with him,” said Armstrong. “He loved receptions. We would have anniversary and birthday celebrations. He brought a ministry of celebration here.”
To this day, at the end of each Mass, parishioners still recognize each other’s birthdays and anniversaries.
Father Gary came to serve as pastor after Father Hawker retired. He embodies the compassion of St. Luke and the “healing presence” that Father Mulligan desired, parishioners say.
“He is the most compassionate and sweetest man I ever met. He has a gift for saying funerals and helping the sick,” Mennitt said. “I have never heard a better funeral. Every time, my jaw remains dropped.”
Father Gary may not have realized it at the start, but he is continuing to open doors for St. Luke’s in all directions, figuratively and literally, while the parish embarks on a new expansion, develops more ministries, and welcomes an astounding number of new parishioners. The parish has grown from its 42 founding families to more than 1,500 families today.
“St. Luke’s is a great parish, over 1,500 families strong! Father Joe Mulligan did a great job as founding pastor. He helped build a close-knit, family-oriented parish dedicated to helping others. Father Jim Hawker was the second pastor, and both are well loved by the people here. I am honored to follow in their footsteps,” Father Gary said.
“We are working towards building a church, an education building and social hall on the new property on Fairview Road,” he said, to accommodate the parish’s growth. “We have five Masses every weekend including one in Spanish. Father Richard Hanson helps us every second Sunday at the 4:30 p.m. Sunday Mass. From time to time, we have the help of retired priests, who are always warmly welcomed.”
“St. Luke’s is such an active parish, has fantastic music, and you can really feel God here. Everyone knows each other. Our faces light up whenever we see one another. My faith has grown so much over these 30 years,” Armstrong said as she looked around the church.
“It’s like home here.”
— Lisa Geraci, Correspondent
CHARLOTTE — St. Joseph Vietnamese Church in southwest Charlotte is the parish home of Brother Truong Le, a Divine Word Missionary who grew up in the parish and attended Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools. Born in Saigon, the youngest of the eight children of Kinh Le and Duyen Nguyen, Brother Truong admits he was “never the smartest kid, the most outgoing, or the holiest.”
“But, somehow in my weaknesses, I always knew to trust in God,” he says.
Now a fully professed religious with the Divine Word Missionaries in Chicago, Brother Truong was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Francis J. Kane, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, on Oct. 1.
The Divine Word Missionaries religious order works in more than 70 countries around the world with the charism of proclaiming the Gospel where it has not been heard or insufficiently sown, Brother Truong explains.
“We witness through community living as we are gathered from all corners of the world. Our community life is marked with ‘inter-culturality.’ As brothers, we strive not only to co-exist with one another but through sincere fraternal love, we hope to incarnate the love of Christ in the service to others.”
He joined the order in January 2010, belonging to the Chicago province.
“I had an inkling of wanting to become a priest at a young age,” he recalls. “That desire expressed itself in different ways, and it was nourished by friends, family and the community at school and the parish.”
As he prayed more, his faith grew, and he felt called to become more involved at his parish, he says.
“The Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Group was influential in helping me to discern what is it that God wants me to become. Upon finishing my college degree (at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the alma mater of Bishop Jugis), my mind was free from preoccupations, and the call to become a priest was made apparent.”
He believes that the prayers of the community and the worldwide Church during the Year of the Priest helped him to recognize God’s presence in every step of his life. “I see that everything I had experienced converged upon the call to become a priest. And in letting go of my plans, that vocation is realized by becoming a religious missionary.”
Brother Truong credits many people for assisting him along the path of discernment.
“There is a countless number of individuals who have helped me along the way from friends, family, formators and confreres. Most notable is the support which the community in Charlotte has shown,” he says.
“My mother prayed for me every day. And these prayers mattered to me, because while on mission experience in Thailand for two years, they kept me going.
“The transition into a new culture and context is difficult. For a young missionary, I was able to overcome the challenges of missionary work by realizing that I have many supporters who give me strength by the sincere words of their prayers and blessings.”
Brother Truong also shares that Father Peter Pham, who serves at St. John Neumann Church in Charlotte, has been a great mentor to him ever since he was a little boy. Father Pham also served as his spiritual director through college.
“Through his presence and listening, my faith continued to mature. During those years of uncertainties, he was one of the pillars that supported my spiritual life,” Brother Truong explains.
His pastor at St. Joseph Vietnamese Church, Father Tri Truong, has also played a pivotal role, he says.
“When I first met Father Tri, it was at the annual Eucharistic Congress in Charlotte during my college years,” he recalls. “I was with a group of friends and the only one with a ‘significant other.’ Father Tri was promoting vocations to the priesthood for the diocese.
“Out of all the fine candidates, he looked over to me and said, ‘You look like you’ll be a good priest.’ I was shocked because he had given voice to that silent and enduring desire to follow God’s call.”
He says he is also thankful that Father Truong has been instrumental in making him feel at home whenever he comes back to Charlotte.
“Every time I come back from a vacation or from mission, he welcomes me with heartfelt hospitality, and that allows me to feel at home in the parish,” he says. “Having a sense of belonging is essential for an itinerant missionary.”
Brother Truong says he could never have imagined himself standing in front of people and preaching. “I was like Moses, finding every reason not to respond to God’s invitation,” he explains.
“However, through the years of formation, God continues to mold me in every way. And I realize, looking back, it is God who first invited me to go on this adventure. It wasn’t so much because of my merits, successes, talents or skills that God calls me.
“But it is precisely in my times of failures and brokenness that I see the power of God’s presence and love – God’s continual ‘yes’ to me, affirming my goodness and forgiving my sins – I dare to continue to respond in my life by letting go and giving more of myself in service of others,” he says.
Brother Truong is currently finishing up his final year of theology at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and he hopes to be ordained to the priesthood on May 26, 2018, at Techny Towers’ Holy Spirit Chapel in Northbrook, Ill.
His first assignment will begin next September in the Australian province of his order – possibly in Thailand or its new mission in Myanmar.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
CHARLOTTE — Parishioners of St. John Neumann Church recently gathered to celebrate the parish’s 40th anniversary with an outdoor bilingual Mass on the parish grounds, followed by games, food, music and fellowship.
The Mass was concelebrated by Father John Starczewski, pastor; Father Peter Pham, in residence; Father Pat Hoare, Father Frank O’Rourke and Monsignor Richard Bellow, all former pastors. The day’s events were organized by the parish’s 40th anniversary committee: Jeanette Merwin (chair), Mark Krouse, Eliana Malta, Terry Peeters and Soo Jin Ridgell.
St. John Neumann Parish was established in 1977. In his anniversary message, Father Starczewski noted, “Today we celebrate that the Lord is with us. Over the 40 years of our existence God has blessed His church and as a result we have grown to the parish that we are today. Let us give thanks to our God!
The most important way that we give thanks to God for His blessings is the celebration of the Eucharist. The meaning of Eucharist we have all been taught is ‘thanksgiving.’
So it is appropriate that we gather together today to celebrate the Eucharist as one parish family. ... May our parish continue to grow and through our work in the Lord’s vineyard and His continued blessing upon us lead us and many others to salvation until the end of time.”
— Photo provided by St. John Neumann Church
‘There’s a spirit of generosity here’
‘There’s a spirit of generosity here’CHARLOTTE — Two longtime friends and spiritual leaders of their local faith communities sat down Oct. 15 at Union Presbyterian Seminary to address their viewpoints on the Reformation.
The Protestant-Catholic dialogue took place at the invitation of Union Presbyterian Seminary’s Dean Richard Boyce, who invited his friend, Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey, to visit the seminary for a special discussion to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
“I do want to give a personal thanks to my brother in Christ, Placid, for being with us today. We have traveled some long miles together as pastors, as disciples, and even in some of the politics of small town life in Belmont,” Boyce said at the beginning of the dialogue, which was open to the public.
Boyce, a former mayor of Belmont, worked with the abbot on local issues during his tenure. He has known him for decades, as Abbot Placid’s uncle in Richmond, Va., was Boyce’s tennis coach years ago.
The two have had many philosophical and faith-based discussions over the course of their friendship, especially during Boyce’s retreats at the monastery. A Protestant, Boyce shared his admiration for the Benedictine monks and his fondness for praying with them in the abbey basilica and attending Mass with them despite his inability to receive the Eucharist.
“I celebrate this friendship we have and the conversation that we have that has been ongoing,” Boyce said.
During the discussion Oct. 15, Abbot Placid and Boyce took turns answering three basic questions: How has the Reformation blessed the worldwide Church? How has the Reformation harmed the worldwide Church? Where in the Church is further reformation needed?
In his response to the first question, Boyce explained that he was going to “place this blessing under the banner of freedom. I believe that there was a granting of freedom with regard to the interpretation of Scripture.”
He believes the Reformation allowed the Scriptures to be placed in the average person’s hands.
“That runs deep in my experience as a reformed Christian… That study, meditation, sort of ‘chewing’ of Scriptures has been a gift to me that I attribute at least in some way to the Reformation. ‘Sola Scriptura,’ to get back to the reading of Scriptures on a regular basis.
“I am not in any way claiming that the Church at that time was not deeply rooted and grounded in Scripture. But at least in terms of the average church person’s ability to read and interpret the Scriptures for him or herself, I think that is possibly a gift of the Reformation to the wider Church.”
Abbot Placid said the first question was “obviously an interesting question for a Catholic to consider.”
In several ways the Reformation could be seen as a blessing to the Church, he said, including setting into motion a necessary reform of the Church and its life; refocusing attention on Jesus Christ and faith in Him; and restoring the divinely inspired Word of God, the Bible, to the preeminent place it enjoyed in first centuries of the Church’s life.
“While, as you might expect, I would hold that the reform effort exceeded reform and actually established new institutions, I believe the fundamental intention was to effect a much-needed reform of the Church. The need for such a reform had become increasingly dire in the century preceding the Reformation, but the Church and its leaders had proved unable and unwilling to undertake the work necessary,” Abbot Placid said.
Boyce was moved after Abbot Placid’s remarks, noting, “There’s a generosity of spirit here.”
Both men also shared their concerns over how the Reformation has harmed the Church, particularly the toll it has taken on Christian unity.
“The legitimate desire for reform of the Western Church in the 16th century has lamentably resulted in even deeper divisions of faith and church life between the churches of the Reformation and both the Roman Catholic Church and the churches of the Orthodox Communion,” Abbot Placid said. “The movement of the Reformation itself has splintered into a variety of often mutually exclusive faith communities. This has created a scandal.”
Boyce agreed. “We divide, and we re-divide and we re-divide. I don’t think that’s a small scandal in the Church of Jesus Christ. It’s a fundamental obstacle to our witness to the Gospel and to the world.”
The friends also lamented the division that exists between churches regarding the Eucharist.
“We did not compare notes at all before this,” Boyce said. “I think you see why I value and trust Abbot Placid as a brother in Christ. He has inspired and challenged me in profound ways during our shared journey in Belmont. Our comments and our hearts seem to be at work in very similar ways on these topics.”
He admitted that during Mass, when he cannot receive Holy Communion, he feels the separation. “That is a painful wound to me personally… that I cannot share in the communion feast with a fellow disciple… But it’s a wound to the (whole) Church worldwide.”
Abbot Placid shared that the inability for Boyce to share in the Eucharist at Mass with the monks was also painful for them. “But since the Catholic tradition in the unity in the Eucharist in both form and ecclesia to the Church, to receive the Eucharist in the Catholic Church is saying, ‘I wish to be in full communionwith Francis our pope.’ Out of respect of conscience for those who do not, we are not able to share that communion.”
Where is further reform needed?
Abbot Placid had three suggestions: there needs to be a restoration to full unity in Christian faith and sacraments; the Church needs to avoid the temptation to judge the Gospel by the culture; and the most important, ongoing reformation is that which takes place in the lives of the baptized, as they seek to conform their lives more closely to God’s will.
Restoration of full unity to the one Church of Jesus Christ will be an act of God’s love and mercy, he added, not the result of programs or actions on anyone’s part.
“Nevertheless, the most important reformation and renewal is that which is continually needed in our lives. For the Church is ultimately the body of Christ, the union of the members with the head. It is a living organism, not an institutional structure. The more we are open to the grace of God, the more we will be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ,” he said.
For his part, Boyce said, “I’m just not convinced that the issues that once divided us are issues that still divide us. I think we need to keep reforming the Church, both Protestant and Catholic, in order to make our community more visible in the world.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter