CHARLOTTE — Students crowded into the gym for Mass at Charlotte Catholic High School this morning to hear from Bishop Michael Martin, who urged them to focus on Jesus with enthusiasm.
But first, the teens got a wake-up call from their new bishop at the start of the Mass. When the group responded with a weak “amen” during the introductory rites, he channeled his former coaching self.
“We’re going to try again!” he exclaimed. “Let’s put some heart and desire to praise our God into it and sound like we mean it! Our God deserves our attention!”
The students immediately perked up, responding with a loud “Amen!”
In his homily, the former Catholic educator and coach focused on three characters described in the day’s Gospel from Mark, which recounts the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist. (Aug. 29 is the feast day, or memorial, of his death.)
The story of John the Baptist’s beheading may not seem relevant to students today, the bishop acknowledged, but it offers important lessons for navigating life’s challenges.
The Gospel story features three characters, he explained: Herod’s cruel wife Herodias, her daughter Salome, and St. John the Baptist himself.
Herodias wanted John the Baptist to be killed for criticizing her illegitimate marriage to Herod. She symbolizes people who ruin their lives by making wrong, selfish decisions, Bishop Martin said.
“None of us ... ever starts out thinking that we’re going to do something really, really bad,” he said. “Don’t think you’re not capable of doing something really, really wrong. You are, I am. It’s all part of the broken human condition.”
The bishop then asked the students to repeat after him: “I am one poor choice away from disaster.” Then he reminded them that everyone is accountable for their actions – to one other and to God.
The teenaged Salome, the bishop continued, was about the same age as many of the students and spent her time “gliding through life dancing for everyone, without ever thinking what she’s doing.” She ended up dancing for Herod’s guests and following Herodias’s suggestion to ask Herod for John the Baptist’s head on a platter.
Anyone could easily end up in a similar situation of being dragged without thinking into bad situations by their friends or others, the bishop said. He urged them to seriously consider their decisions so they can make good choices.
The martyred John the Baptist offers a model way of life, Bishop Martin said.
“John the Baptist focused on proclaiming Jesus as Lord – he recognized Jesus even from the womb,” he said. “Focus upon Him along the course of this year…show who you are and what you’re about. Be singularly focused on Jesus and willing to take small steps each and every day to say, 'This is who I am, this is who my God is, and this is how I choose to live.'"
At the end of his visit, Bishop Martin granted Charlotte Catholic students the following day off from school – in keeping with a tradition when the bishop visits a Catholic school.
— Christina Lee Knauss. Photos by Troy Hull and video by César Hurtado.
CHARLOTTE — Students in seven Catholic schools across the Diocese of Charlotte will receive a total of $76,445 in financial aid from the C. Philip Johnston-Aline W. Kaneer Scholarship Fund, paying all of their tuition for the 2024-’25 academic year.
The fund was created by C. Philip Johnston with $4 million from his estate at his death in 2017.
Johnston was born in Charlotte but lived all over the country before retiring in the Southeast. He attended Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and earned a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1958. He worked in the entertainment industry, but when acting work became scarce, he took a “temporary job” working for Conrad Hilton in a new credit card venture called Carte Blanche. He rose to success in the emerging industry and, after reaching the position of senior vice president at a large regional bank in St. Louis, he left to lead a nonprofit organization specializing in consumer credit counseling.
Students from 19 Catholic schools in the diocese are eligible for scholarship awards from the fund.
The Johnston Scholarship follows students throughout their time in schools in the diocese.
The schools that students will attend this year are: Immaculate Heart of Mary School in High Point; Our Lady of the Assumption School in Charlotte; Our Lady of Mercy and St. Leo schools in
Winston-Salem; Sacred Heart School in Salisbury; St. Mark School in Huntersville; and Bishop McGuinness High School in Kernersville.
The scholarship awarded to each student ranges from $6,000 to $15,350 depending on the tuition cost and need. Each student can continue receiving assistance through the scholarship fund every year for the length of their academic career as long as they remain eligible.
“I first met with Mr. Johnston back in 1989. He made his decision to put this (scholarship) gift in his estate back then,” said Jim Kelley, diocesan director of development. “He never wavered from that commitment, even though he moved away from the diocese in his later years.”
Kelley noted, “More people like Philip Johnston are recognizing a range of needs in the Church here in western North Carolina – including our Catholic schools, parishes, seminarian education, Catholic Charities and St. Joseph College Seminary – and remembering these ministries in their wills and estates.”
Since 1986, diocesan entities, including parishes, schools and ministries have received 51 gifts of $1 million or more from individuals like Johnston. They typically help fund capital projects or endowments.
— Courtney McLaughlin