WINSTON-SALEM — Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte held a successful “Partners in Hope” virtual fundraiser March 11.
The fundraiser – a critical source of support for Catholic Charities in the Triad – was held online this year due to public health restrictions with in-person gatherings. Through the virtual event, people were able to gather online to celebrate and support Catholic Charities’ work in Forsyth, Guilford and surrounding counties.
At the outset of the event, an interesting challenge was presented to viewers when sponsors pledged to match donations from viewers, dollar for dollar, up to $142,500. As of press time, more than 300 donors have risen to that challenge and event organizers report Catholic Charities is within striking distance of their goal.
Highlights of the Partners in Hope virtual fundraiser included an invocation by Bishop Peter Jugis, a keynote address from Father John Eckert, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Salisbury, and a closing message and prayer by Monsignor Patrick Winslow, vicar general and chancellor.
Dr. Gerard Carter, Catholic Charities’ executive director and CEO, reported from outside the food pantry at the Piedmont Triad office in Winston-Salem, sharing the good news of the successful efforts to serve the community during the COVID-19 pandemic when traditional methods of outreach were unavailable.
“Being a COVID world, everything pivoted last March without missing a beat. We now bring food to people in their cars to keep everyone safe,” Carter said.
He also shared how mental health counseling services were able to continue as “telehealth” using a secure and confidential online platform.
“Counseling is typically provided face to face. When all of a sudden we couldn’t do that any longer, that business as usual couldn’t be usual any longer,” Catholic Charities pivoted to digital technology, he said. “We are now able to provide the same high-quality level of counseling with a licensed therapist regardless of where you live in the area.”
Carter also shared that Catholic Charities provided substantial assistance over the past year to people financially impacted by the pandemic, especially those needing rent and utility assistance.
Becky DuBois, director of Catholic Charities’ Piedmont Triad regional office, said of the successful fundraiser, “I am always humbled by and appreciative of the generosity of the sponsors and donors of Partners in Hope.”
“Catholic Charities would not be able to provide food and baby clothing, counseling services, financial assistance, case management services, support for community college students and so much more without the ongoing support of the sponsors and donors who are truly our partners in providing hope to the many people who come to Catholic Charities when in need. On behalf of the individuals and families we are privileged to serve, I thank you,” DuBois said.
Also during the March 11 event, the 2021 Bishop William G. Curlin Partners in Hope Award was given to Father Michael Buttner, retired pastor of Holy Family Church in Clemmons.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
View and donate
At www.ccpartnersinhope.org: Missed the virtual Partners in Hope event March 11? It’s not too late to help!
Go online to watch the program and learn how you can support the work of Catholic Charities in the Triad.
Music for a sacred space
GREENSBORO — The soul-stirring music that emanates from the Kleuker Organ at Our Lady of Grace Church will be online for all to hear at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 16. The German-made instrument is one of six Greensboro organs selected for a free, three-week virtual concert series set to close the 30th anniversary season of “Music for a Great Space.”
The series offers something in-person concerts often don’t. “Many times, when you see an organ performance, you’re sitting far away maybe just looking at the musician’s back,” says Rebecca Willie, executive director of “Music for a Great Space.” “One of the wonderful benefits of this kind of virtual presentation is that we get to see hands moving across keyboards and pulling stops, and maybe a little bit of expression on their faces you’d normally miss out on.”
Founded in 1990, “Music for a Great Space” began its first season celebrating the music of the Fisk Op. 82 organ of Christ United Methodist Church. The same organ, played by Chris Dederer, also kicks off the current virtual series Friday, April 9. Each year, “Music for a Great Space” produces performances by high-caliber musicians in significant Greensboro venues.
As a landmark, Our Lady of Grace certainly is notable. The church was completed in 1952 as a memorial to Ethel Clay Price, an ardent devotee of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and has been lauded for its fine Tudor Gothic architecture.
Ethel’s husband Julian Price and their family sought the finest materials to build the memorial. The church is adorned with stained glass from Belgium pieced together to depict the Blessed Mother under many of her glorious titles, period sculptures, and Italian marble for the altar and sanctuary. Its soaring ceiling makes for top-notch acoustics – the extent of which wouldn’t be realized until decades later with the installation of the rare Kleuker Organ.
A gift to the church from the Bryan family commemorating the golden wedding anniversary of Joseph M. Bryan and Kathleen Price Bryan, the “Jubilee” organ was built by the Detlef Kleuker Organ Co. of West Bielefeld, Germany. The yearlong installation was completed in the fall of 1977. The new organ features 2,226 individual pipes, 32 stops and 47 ranks over three manuals and pedal, and its installation was feted with a series of organ recitals by world-famous artists.
As unique as the organ is, rarer still is the singular talent of the parish’s organist and music director, Andrew O’Connor. Not long after majoring in organ music at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, O’Connor earned his current role at Our Lady of Grace Church, but it was hardly his first time playing the instrument. At just 15, he became a substitute organist for the parish and by 16 was playing there on a regular basis. However, his passion for organ music ignited long before that.
In fact, one of the pieces on the list to play for “Music for a Great Space” was, by divine providence, the very piece that drew O’Connor to organ music as a young child.
“When I was looking through the pieces selected for the series, I found the William Boyce voluntaries and, lo and behold, the first one, when I started to sample it, is the piece that made me fall in love with the organ when I was at the beach in Southport when I was 5 or 6. We sat right next to the organ, and you could just feel this 
majestic piece. … I was like, ‘Wow, I never knew what that piece was.’”
For the concert, O’Connor will play Boyce’s “Voluntary 1 in D Major,” as well as “Organ Concerto in G Major” by J.S. Bach (BWV 592) and his own “Fantasia on Regina Coeli: The Marian Antiphon for Eastertide.”
O’Connor composed the third piece extemporaneously during a Latin Mass two years ago: “Father was supposed to process out while we sang the Marian Antiphon. I hadn’t planned another piece and didn’t have any music in front of me, so I played my take on the antiphon. Friends urged me to transcribe what I played, and I’m excited to share it in this organ series.”
Anyone who has listened to O’Connor play the organ at Mass knows how easy it is to get swept up into an otherworldly experience.
Many say that to watch him create music in this sacred space is to be in the presence of something truly special.
He explains, “Being surrounded by these beautiful windows with titles for Our Lady, hearing about how important Mary was to Our Lord and our Catholic faith, playing this artistically built organ in this magnificent church with the excellent reverb – and surrounded by so much holiness, smelling the incense and the candles, it’s just an experience like no other.”
— Annie Ferguson, Correspondent
Watch the concert online
At www.musicforagreatspace.org: Andrew O’Connor of Our Lady of Grace Church performs at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 16. Check-in begins at 7 p.m.
To watch the organ concert streamed online, sign up for a free account.
Prayer, the Holy Spirit and St. Joseph
GREENSBORO — Hannah Hammer knows the power of prayer.
At 93, she’s seen a lifetime of prayers answered personally and for so many others, including generations of members of the St. Joseph’s Prayer Group at St. Pius X Church in Greensboro.
“You can come late and leave early,” says Hammer. “What we celebrate is the Holy Spirit.”
Hammer joined the group in 1972 when they met in private homes and at various Catholic parishes around Greensboro. Hammer has led the circle of parishioners for nearly 30 years, and members of the group say they feel blessed to pray with her.
“Our mission is to pray for prayer requests of parishioners,” says longtime member Christine Plesh. “It’s a call to prayer. And when you answer that call, the Holy Spirit leads you. It just affects our whole life.”
St. Pius X’s pastor Monsignor Anthony Marcaccio says Hammer and the prayer group are a gift to the Church.
“Not everyone prays in the same way and the St. Joseph’s Prayer Group is an expression of the great spiritual diversity of the Church. As pastor, I have relied on the prayerful support of this intercessory group in matters of great importance and in dealing with individuals needing special pastoral attention,” Monsignor Marcaccio says.
“In addition to the charismatic gifts of the Spirit that Hannah may be known to possess,” he says, “I appreciate the ‘maternal’ gift she shares with our parishioners. I have sent people who have struggled with issues of family and forgiveness to talk with Hannah, and it is amazing to witness the peace and acceptance that often comes to them from their conversations.”
Growing up Methodist, Hammer answered the call to Jesus at an early age.
“We may as well have been Catholic, because we never missed church,” she says. As a teen, she remembers kneeling at the altar, giving her life to God: “God, if there’s anything about me you could use, you can have me.”
After World War II, “the boys” came home and then went off to college thanks to the G.I. Bill, Hammer recalls. It was at “Chapel Hill” where she met her future husband Dick Hammer, who she says had just flown 35 missions as a bombardier in Germany. They started a family and were blessed with six children, 20 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Hammer’s conversion to the Catholic faith was purely intellectual, she says, until years later when she was abruptly introduced to the power of the Holy Spirit. In 1972, the Hammers, along with five of their six children, barely escaped a massive house fire.
“Awoken by a sweet smell of inky black smoke, I thought I might lose my family,” she recalls. “I did not ask God to save anyone. I simply cried out to God these three words: ‘They’re yours, Lord.’ (After that) wave after wave of pure liquid love washed over me. I had never felt such a saturation of peace.” 
Prayer group members Gail McGrail, Betty Hofer, Desmond Morrissey, Christine Plesh, Father Bob Ferris, Hannah Hammer and Dottie Alieksaites meet outside St. Pius X Church. (Photos by Georgianna Penn | Catholic News Herald)Once safely outside away from the fire, she counted every family member. “At that moment, I moved from believing in God to knowing God. I knew for a fact there was a God and He loved me.
And the most important thing in the whole universe is Truth. And that Truth is not a philosophical thought…that Truth is a person.”
Shortly thereafter, the Hammers discovered the St. Joseph’s Prayer Group. It was clear to them that they were under the watch and care of St. Joseph himself.
“It’s the power of the Spirit that makes God exciting, and that power comes – as it says in all four gospels and the Book of Acts – from the baptism of the Holy Spirit.”
The way fellow parishioners see it, the entire parish – not just members of the St. Joseph’s Prayer Group – has been blessed to come under the watch and care of Hannah Hammer.
“Hannah has been anointed by the Holy Spirit,” says Rosalie Russo.
Parishioner Dottie Alieksaites adds, “Hannah has been such a blessing to the St. Pius X community. She is just a treasure.”
— Georgianna Penn, Correspondent
‘He loved us to the very end’
CHARLOTTE — Parishioners were once again allowed the opportunity to solemnly venerate the cross inside St. Patrick Cathedral April 2 during a Good Friday liturgy celebrated by Bishop Peter Jugis.
COVID-19 pandemic restrictions last year during Holy Week prevented the faithful from indoor worship, forcing liturgies to be livestreamed, and on Good Friday, meant outdoor veneration of the cross in front of the main doors of the cathedral.
During the liturgy – held at 3 p.m., the hour Jesus Christ died on the cross – a limited-capacity number of people gathered to recall the sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son for the salvation of souls. It included the reading of the Passion narrative, thus taking the faithful on the tortuous journey Christ suffered from the Garden of Gethsemane through His crucifixion on Golgotha.
“He loved us to the very end,” Bishop Jugis said in his homily. "During Jesus’ entire life – everything that He said, everything that He did – was an expression of His love for humanity (and) our salvation.
“And here He is approaching the end of His life, the supreme moment of His life, still an expression of His love for us."
Due to health concerns with the ongoing pandemic, the faithful were permitted to venerate the cross by bowing or genuflecting momentarily, instead of a customary kiss of the cross.
The liturgy also included two Solemn Intercessions for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, prayers that were introduced on Good Friday last year by Pope Francis.
— Catholic News Herald. Photos by SueAnn Howell, senior reporter.
BELMONT — Belmont Abbey College is launching its first graduate degree program, a Master of Health Administration, the college announced March 8.
The Master of Health Administration is the degree for leadership in healthcare, and with Belmont Abbey College students will be able to complete the program fully online, the college said in a statement.
“This is a new day on many fronts for our college,” Dr. Travis Feezell, provost of Belmont Abbey College, said in the statement. “With our first graduate degree program, we’re answering not only the aspirations of so many future students but also the needs of our community.
The Master of Health Administration brings to our healthcare professionals a vital knowledge base and skill set so needed today.”
Professionals seeking to advance in their career, develop themselves as leaders, and acquire knowledge and skills in health policy, analysis, finance, marketing, strategic planning and ethics will find the MHA a fit for their goals.
The 16-month MHA curriculum will begin this fall, with additional start times for cohorts beginning in the spring of 2022 and fall of 2022.
MHA tuition is $695 per credit hour including books and fees. The new program will not require a GRE or GMAT for admission and is pending the approval of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).
Dr. Gwyndolan Swain will lead the new program. She brings more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry as well as nine years managing similar degree programs.
Belmont Abbey College will instruct students fully online, giving professional students the flexibility they seek to advance in their careers.
Dr. Swain will host a webinar introduction to the Masters of Health Administration at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 15. For more information, go online to www.healthcare.bac.edu.
News of the new graduate degree program comes not long after Belmont Abbey College inked a new partnership with CaroMont Health Inc. to build a hospital near campus that will complement the college’s new healthcare degree programs.
Abbey and CaroMont officials officially signed a lease agreement in September 2020 for the construction of the hospital on the abbey’s property, to be named CaroMont Regional Medical Center-Belmont.
The cooperative venture will provide substantial benefits to the Abbey, the college, CaroMont Health and the Gaston County community, officials said in a statement at the time.
The moves are part of the college’s SOAR initiative, which has involved creating new majors at Belmont Abbey College, including degree programs in Nursing and Health Information Management & Analytics, which began welcoming students last fall. Other new majors such as Marketing and Supply Chain Management were also part of this concerted effort.
Students pursuing these healthcare majors are expected to have practicals at the new hospital and use classrooms located on the hospital’s campus. They will also be able to look to the hospital for possible employment opportunities after they graduate.
Officials said the hospital, located east of the college’s main campus off I-85, could open as early as mid-2023, pending state approvals.
— Catholic News Herald
Learn more
Belmont Abbey College will host a webinar introduction to the Masters of Health Administration program at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 15.
For more information, go online to www.healthcare.bac.edu.