August is Make-a-Will Month, a national initiative encouraging people to focus on something profoundly important: creating or updating their will.
A will is one of the most important legal documents you can arrange for your family. A will is not just for the wealthy or the elderly – everyone needs one. That is because wills do more than just name who gets your money and property.
With a will, you can nominate guardians for your minor children, name caretakers for your pets, leave instructions for digital assets, specify your funeral arrangements, and more. A will can also save your loved ones the time, money and stress of lengthy, expensive probate court proceedings.
Writing or updating a will can be easy and affordable.
Guidance is available from lawyers, plus many online resources are available with free or low-cost options that can be customized for your circumstances, including FreeWill.com, Trust&Will.com, Quicken WillMaker, and LegalZoom.com.
Just make sure the document you create is legally binding in your state, get it properly notarized, and give a copy to your loved ones.
Make-a-Will Month is the perfect time to create or revise your will and leave a lasting legacy to the Church in the Diocese of Charlotte. A gift to your parish, school, ministries such as Catholic Charities, the diocese, or the diocesan foundation, enables you to make a difference for generations to come.
One such example is Barbara Parker, a parishioner of St. Jude Parish in Sapphire. Parker split her time between Sapphire and Tampa, and after her death, the Sapphire parish received a check totaling more than $130,000 as part of the settlement of her estate.
Part of the funds established the Barbara Parker Memorial Endowment Fund to provide for the parish’s future needs, while the remaining amount supports the parish’s current needs.
Gifts like Parker’s show just how meaningful having a church home can be to someone, said Jim Kelley, diocesan development director.
“A number of parishioners become actively involved in parish ministry. Others, while less involved, still attend Mass regularly and provide financial support to their parish. Barbara decided to remember her church in Sapphire in her estate plans even though she spent most of her time in Tampa. She obviously had a special love for St. Jude Church.”
— Some information provided by FreeWill.
Plan ahead
Interested in making a planned gift or setting up an endowment to benefit Catholic Charities, your parish or Catholic school?
You can make a gift through the Diocese of Charlotte Foundation by leaving a bequest in a will, a beneficiary designation from a retirement plan, a trust or annuity, or a gift of real estate, life insurance, cash or securities.
For details, contact Gina Rhodes at 704-370-3364 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
For more funeral and end-of-life planning, explore our Funeral Guide.
CHARLOTTE — Two members of Ladies Auxiliary Council 411 of the Knights of Peter Claver from Our Lady of Consolation Parish traveled to Oklahoma City July 19-24 for the Catholic fraternal organization’s national convention.
Mary Adams, the organization’s area deputy for North Carolina, and Racquel Ward, grand lady for the auxiliary, represented Knights of Peter Claver Council 411 and the auxiliary at the convention. The council and auxiliary, established in October 2023, is the first in the Diocese of Charlotte.
“The trip was truly a lesson, blessing and reminder of sisterhood, brotherhood and charity,” Ward said. “It was dramatic to see all the different members of the order represented, especially at the opening Mass. The Mass was so spirit-filled and the reverence was amazing.”
At the convention, members elected new national leaders and focused on ways to further the organization’s charitable and spiritual initiatives.
Ward said she learned that the new council and auxiliary at Our Lady of Consolation was part of the fraternal organization’s overall expansion effort nationwide. In 2023 six councils were established, with 305 Knights, 500 ladies, 81 junior knights and 165 junior daughters initiated.
The organization now has 13,874 members across the U.S. and has launched an effort nationwide to attract more youth and young adults to the organization, with a special focus on increasing the presence on college campuses. Currently only 3% of members are between the ages of 18 and 30, according to numbers released at the convention. Most of the organization’s members are older than 50.
“The ongoing challenge is reducing the average age of membership,” Ward said. “This pushes us to form junior councils and courts and continue to expand and establish collegiate courts and councils.”
The Knights of Peter Claver was founded in 1909 by four Josephite priests and three laymen from the Diocese of Mobile, Ala., who wanted to form a Catholic fraternal order for the African American community because the Church’s other orders at the time did not accept Black members. It expanded in 1926 to include a ladies auxiliary. Named for a 17th-century Spanish Jesuit priest who ministered to enslaved people, the New Orleans-based order has more than 400 chapters in the U.S. and one in Colombia. One chapter is located in the Diocese of Raleigh.
— Christina Lee Knauss