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
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.