Charlotte Bishop Michael Martin prays during the funeral Mass for Msgr. Joseph Showfety on April 2, 2025, at St. Benedict Catholic Church in Greensboro. A Greensboro native, Showfety was the first chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte and a priest who served for nearly 50 years in 12 parishes, schools and other ministries. Family, friends, former parishioners and more than 30 priests, including Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey, gathered at the historic Greensboro church to pay their last respects and give thanks to God for his legacy.GREENSBORO — The life and legacy of the late Monsignor Joseph Showfety were celebrated during a Mass of Christian Burial Wednesday at his home parish of St. Benedict Church in Greensboro. The church was overflowing with family, friends, former parishioners and more than 30 clergy. Bishop Michael Martin presided at the funeral Mass, and retired Father Ed Sheridan gave the homily.
Father Sheridan, a close friend of Monsignor Showfety’s who served alongside him for decades during the early years of the diocese, recounted his decades of service to the local Church and described how much he loved the priesthood and supported his fellow priests.
Father Sheridan quoted 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, where the Apostle Paul compares the Christian life to a race – one that, with focus and dedication, leads to the “imperishable” crown of eternal life.
“Joe, may you look good with the crown that God gives you, good and faithful servant – always remembered by us,” he said.
Bishop Martin gave thanks for Monsignor Showfety’s late parents Edna and Abdou Showfety, who supported their son’s priestly vocation and nurtured a strong and faith-filled family. He also acknowledged Monsignor Showfety’s 90-year-old brother Bob Showfety and, watching the funeral Mass via livestream, his 102-year-old sister Evelyn Showfety Johns.
When a priest dies, Bishop Martin said, the Church asks the question: “Who will take his place?”
“The Lord hasn’t stopped calling,” he said, inviting other families to follow the Showfetys’ example of “fostering a family that listens to the Lord.”
Nephew Rob Showfety gave a eulogy at the end of the Mass, warmly remembering how “Uncle Joe” loved sports, giving big hugs to his 16 nieces and nephews, and spending time with his large family.
“Growing up with a priest in the family was normal for us. And on some Sundays, we didn’t go to church, church came to us!” he smiled, recalling how Monsignor Showfety regularly offered Mass in the living room of his mother’s house on Chestnut Street, a delicious Lebanese meal waiting nearby for the large Sunday dinners the entire family loved.
He recalled many cherished memories, both big and small, over the years. “Most of all, we remember Uncle Joe as a loving, generous, and kind man,” he said.
— Catholic News Herald
Retired Rev. Edward Sheridan, a close friend who served alongside Msgr. Joseph Showfety for decades during their ministry in the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, gave the homily during the April 2, 2025, funeral Mass at St. Benedict Catholic Church in Greensboro. Showfety, a Greensboro native, served for nearly 50 years in 12 parishes, schools and other ministries. Family, friends, former parishioners and more than 30 priests, including Charlotte Bishop Michael Martin and Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey, gathered at the historic Greensboro church to pay their last respects and give thanks to God for his legacy.
Charlotte Bishop Michael Martin gives the final commendation during the funeral Mass for Msgr. Joseph Showfety at historic St. Benedict Catholic Church in Greensboro on April 2, 2025. Family, friends, former parishioners and more than 30 priests filled the church to pay their last respects and give thanks to God for the life and legacy of Showfety, a priest for nearly seven decades and one of the founding fathers of the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte.
Related story: Monsignor Showfety, first chancellor of the diocese, passes away at 98
Kopfle
Schreiber
Faunce
BeckerCHARLOTTE — When Deacon John Kopfle was ordained as a permanent deacon in 2006, he never thought his role would eventually lead to him becoming director of deacons for the Diocese of Charlotte in 2021.
Four years later, he is set to retire on March 31, and his departure will usher in an era of change for the program.
Deacon William Schreiber, currently director of formation for deacons, will take over in Deacon Kopfle’s role.
Deacon David Faunce, currently assistant director of formation, will now oversee the formation program, and Deacon Joseph Becker will assume those duties.
After his ordination Deacon Kopfle served as regional coordinator from 2008 to 2017 before becoming director of deacons in 2021. He said leading the program has been a wonderful experience that also came with a variety of duties and challenges.
“It’s obviously been very rewarding because this ministry serves God, the Church and God’s people,” he said.
Originally from Virginia, Deacon Kopfle worked as a chemical engineer and in marketing and sales for the steel industry. He moved to Charlotte in the 1990s and said the idea of becoming a deacon was planted by a priest at St. Peter Parish who was his spiritual director.
“He asked me if I’d ever consider the diaconate, and one thing led to another and here I am,” he said. “God gives you the grace and the ability and puts the people in your life to get you where you need to be.”
He is proud of the men he’s worked with and the huge number of ministries that deacons perform in the diocese, especially prison ministry and outreach to the poor, the sick and the mentally ill.
Expanding needs
The change in leadership comes as work with Bishop Michael Martin is in progress on a new structure for deacon formation designed to eventually have ordinations every two or three years instead of the current average of five years.
“As a diocese, we continue to grow, creating new challenges for the diaconate,” Deacon Schreiber said. “One of our goals for the future is to increase the number of men in formation and the frequency of classes to help address the shortage of deacons.”
About half of the diocese’s 93 parishes and missions don’t have an assigned deacon.
“We have a lot of men who are applying or are interested, and we want to get more men into the pipeline,” Deacon Kopfle said. “Moving this initiative forward will benefit both the Church and the faithful.”
The initiative will be one of the most exciting goals for Deacon Schreiber, who was ordained in 2014 and has served in many leadership roles, including as coordinator for deacons in the
Hickory region from 2017 to 2019 and assistant director of formation from 2019 to 2021 before taking over the helm of the formation program in October 2021.
Deacon Schreiber also assists at Mass and works in sacramental preparation programs, ministers to the homebound, and serves as a hospital chaplain, as well as coordinating youth programs at his home parish, St. Aloysius in Hickory.
A focus on formation
Deacon Faunce, ordained in 2018, said his past role as assistant director of formation will inform his new position.
“I have seen the formation program become more academically challenging and spiritually transformative,” he said. “In my role as director, I hope that my colleagues and I are successful in building upon the amazing work that has been put into motion as we continue to lead deacon candidates and their wives to humbly live out their calling and generously spend themselves in God’s service.”
Deacon Becker, who is based at St. Matthew Parish in Charlotte, was ordained in 2021 and has been assisting the formation team – experience that will help him in his new role.
Originally from Cincinnati, he moved to Charlotte in the 1980s to manage operations at Carowinds, then became leader of the American Red Cross in the Charlotte area. He moved to Washington, D.C., to lead the agency’s disaster relief efforts there before returning to Charlotte.
Vocations are no stranger to the Becker family. He and wife Tammy are parents to Father Brian Becker and seminarian Mark Becker, as well as a daughter who lives in the D.C. area with her family.
Deacon Becker said he personally heard “little bits and pieces from the Lord along the way that led to discovering the call.”
“I just take such joy in the service that we do as deacons,” he said. “I’m in a large parish, and there’s a joy in working one on one with parishioners, accompanying them on their journeys, leading ministries.”
Among his favorite work has been helping to expand St. Matthew’s branch of Walking With Moms In Need, an organization that supports pregnant and parenting mothers.
As he heads into retirement, Deacon Kopfle said he hopes to travel and spend more time outdoors and with his family.
He also will continue to do the work of the Lord in the ministry he and his fellow deacons have chosen.
“The very best thing about being a deacon is the opportunity to serve God and the Church,” he said. “For a lot of the people we serve, we are a sign of God to them.”
— Christina Lee Knauss
Pope John Paul II gives the sign of peace to newly ordained Father Jugis during his ordination Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on June 12, 1983.CHARLOTTE — 20 years ago today, Pope John Paul II passed away. Did you know the Diocese of Charlotte has a special connection to the late pope and saint?
That connection is Bishop Emeritus Peter Jugis, who retired last year after 20 years as our bishop. Pope John Paul II ordained him to the priesthood on June 12, 1983, in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and two decades later, appointed him Bishop of Charlotte.
“Pope John Paul II’s laser focus on Jesus left a long-lasting impression on me,” Bishop Jugis said. “I entered seminary in 1979, the year he published his first encyclical, in which he boldly stated his love for Jesus Christ as ‘the center of the universe and of history. To him go my thoughts and my heart….’ The Pope was focused on Jesus from the very beginning of his pontificate.
His clear focus on the Church’s mission to proclaim Jesus Christ and the salvation Jesus won for all humanity, formed in me the desire as a seminarian and as a priest to keep the focus on Jesus.”
The pope’s devotion to the Eucharist inspired one of our diocese’s signature events, the bishop noted.
“Pope John Paul II’s teaching in his last encyclical on the Holy Eucharist as the ‘center of the Church’s life’ also left a long-lasting impression on me,” Bishop Jugis reflected.
“Pope St. John Paul II is the Pope of the Eucharist. He instituted daily Eucharistic Adoration in St. Peter’s Basilica to serve as a spiritual and prayer support for his many apostolic journeys. As a seminarian I periodically went to pray at Adoration in the Basilica. The Year of the Eucharist, proclaimed by Pope John Paul II, was in full swing during his final year, and this inspired me to propose a Eucharistic Congress for the Diocese of Charlotte, for which I received a lot of great support, and to encourage Eucharistic Adoration in the diocese. Our Eucharistic Congress was born from the Year of the Eucharist.”
Read more: Fourth Bishop of Charlotte: A native Charlottean, ordained by John Paul I