Increase Our Faith
For a bishop as God's steward must be blameless, not arrogant, not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive, not greedy for sordid gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness, temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled, holding fast to the true message as taught so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute opponents. Timothy 1:7-9
And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you." Luke 17:5-6
Piety
As the U.S. bishops gather in Baltimore, may the qualities envisioned by Titus shine through: “a lover of goodness, temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled, holding fast to the true message as taught so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine.”
Shine like lights in the world.
Study
As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gathers in Baltimore, the birthplace of Catholicism in America, we get an interesting pair of readings. (Your faithful editor is not going to dwell as a “strict constructionist” and question the requirement of celibacy for the priesthood, although I will just point out that presbyters” should be married only once with believing children.”)
However, the First Reading also gives us the qualities of a Bishop. Let us pray that the Bishop’s conference can use this time in Baltimore to begin to affect a “rebirth” of faith by taking concrete actions to set a course for the church rooted in real accountability and transparency with strong involvement from the lay community. Time will tell that old models for leadership must give way to new models. Let us use past human experience – social issues, politics, economics, religion, and art – as a key to understanding the present.
Shortly after the Civil War, the Caldwell Place, a tract of some 500 acres in Gaston County, North Carolina was purchased by the Reverend Jeremiah O’Connell, a missionary priest. It was his desire that this tract of land would be used to develop an institution for the education of youth. At the request of Bishop James Gibbons of Richmond, Virginia, the Benedictine Monks of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania agreed to accept the land and to found a community and school. On April 21, 1876, the Reverend Herman Wolfe, O.S.B., arrived to take possession of the property. The young foundation became an independent abbey on December 19, 1884, with the Right Reverend Leo Haid, O.S.B., elected as the first abbot on July 14, 1885.
Originally chartered as St. Mary’s College by the State of North Carolina on April 1, 1886, the school’s name was changed to Belmont Abbey College in 1913. Reorganized as a junior college in 1928, it became a four-year institution in September 1952, and a coeducational institution for resident students in 1972.
The school was controlled by the Abbot and monks of Belmont Abbey. The Abbot also served as the local “ordinary” for the Catholic diocese of North Carolina. That structure served the school and the changing state for almost 100 years. In 1967, one big sign of change came when the Rev. John Oetgen, O.S.B., college president and Benedictine priest, conferred an honorary degree on the Protestant evangelist Billy Graham, marking what was at the time seen as a bold ecumenical gesture. Such a move would never have been considered just five or ten years earlier.
Originally, the Abbey was a college for young men. However, times changed there, too. Belmont Abbey became a coeducational institution in 1972. In 1987, nearby Sacred Heart College for women merged with the Abbey, and its campus began to host a variety of Abbey classes and programs.
The Abbey Church, the most prominent building on the college's campus, was completed in 1894 under the supervision of Abbot Leo Haid. It served as North Carolina's first and only cathedral prior to the erection of the Diocese of Raleigh in 1924. As more Roman Catholics moved to North Carolina, two dioceses were carved out of the state and independent bishops were appointed seated in Charlotte and Raleigh. Reverend William Joseph Hafey, a priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, was named the first Bishop of Raleigh in 1925. Monsignor Michael J. Begley became the first bishop of the newly formed Diocese of Charlotte in 1972.
Now the monks of Belmont Abbey no longer were the sole administrators of the college. The church on campus which had been know as the Mary Help of Christians Abbey Cathedral was renamed a minor basilica because it was no longer the seat (“cathedra”) of the local bishop.
Around that same time, the college changed its administrative model turning over control of the Board of Directors to a majority of lay people. Today, the Abbot (now Placid Solari, OSB) serves as Chancellor of the college board. With 27 members, only seven are members of the monastery and one is from the Sisters of Mercy.
Action
The management of a college is obviously much less complex than an entire diocese. However, perhaps this evolutionary model is something that can be studied as a way to reorganize the management of the Diocesan model so that our shepherds can be shepherds and they can have capable managers to help oversee the non-spiritual aspects of the Church. With professional management, they may be able to repair the problems of the sexual abuse crisis, seek forgiveness and move forward with a rebirth.
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