Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte

The Diocese of Charlotte (Dioecesis Carolinana) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in western North Carolina in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Atlanta.

The Diocese of Charlotte is led by its bishop, who serves as pastor of the Cathedral of Saint Patrick in Charlotte. The diocese is home to the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Asheville and the Abbey Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians (Belmont Abbey) in Belmont.

Statistics
The Diocese of Charlotte covers 20700 sqmi in North Carolina and includes 46 counties. It encompasses three main population centers: The diocese has ten vicariates. They are Albemarle, Asheville, Boone, Gastonia, Greensboro, Hickory, Mecklenburg, Salisbury, Smoky Mountain and Winston-Salem.
 * Greensboro, High Point, and Winston-Salem
 * Charlotte
 * The North Carolina mountain region

The Catholic population of the diocese in 2010 was approximately 174,689 registered Catholics. This number did not include an estimated 230,000 undocumented Hispanic or Latino Catholics. St. Matthew Catholic Parish in Charlotte, with over 35,000 members, was the most populous parish in the country as of 2017. In 2024, the total Catholic population reached 530,000.

Early history
Before and during the American Revolutionary War, the Catholics in all of the British colonies in America were under the jurisdiction of the Apostolic Vicariate of the London District in England. Discrimination and persecution of Catholics in the North Carolina colony was common until it became a royal colony in 1729. Anyone wanting to hold public office had to sign an oath stating that Protestantism was the true Christian faith.

With the passage of the U.S. Constitution in 1789 after the American Revolution, Catholics were guaranteed freedom of worship throughout the new nation.

Pope Pius VI erected the Prefecture Apostolic of the United States in 1784, encompassing the entire United States. Five years later, he converted the prefecture into the Diocese of Baltimore. The Diocese of Charleston was erected by Pope Pius VII on July 11, 1820. He removed the states of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina from what was now the Archdiocese of Baltimore

During the early 19th century, Irish Catholic immigrants started entering North Carolina to work on the railroads and other construction projects. St. Peter's Church, founded in Charlotte in 1851, was the first permanent Catholic church in the region. Much of its funding came from Protestants, who were impressed by the preaching ability of the first priest, Jeremiah J. O'Connell.

Vicariate Apostolic of North Carolina and Belmont Abbey
On March 3, 1868, Pope Pius IX erected the Vicariate Apostolic of North Carolina, removing North Carolina from the Diocese of Charleston. At that time, the pope appointed James Gibbons from the Archdiocese of Baltimore as the first vicar apostolic.

When Gibbons became vicar apostolic, North Carolina counted fewer than 700 Catholics. In his first four weeks in office, he traveled almost a thousand miles, visiting towns and mission stations and administering the sacraments. He also befriended many Protestants, who greatly outnumbered Catholics in the state, and preached at their churches. Gibbons made many converts to Catholicism. In 1872, Pius IX appointed Gibbons as bishop of the Diocese of Richmond. The Vatican would not appoint a new vicar apostolic in North Carolina for the next 11 years.

St. Benedict's Church was the first Catholic church in Greensboro, founded in 1877. It later received funding from Sister Katharine Drexel to guarantee seating for African Americans. In 1876, Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, sent a party of Benedictine monks to western North Carolina. They bought land outside of Charlotte and started Belmont priory. Pope Leo XIII in 1884 elevated the Belmont priory to Belmont Abbey. At that time, the monks at Belmont elected Leo Haid as their first abbot.

In 1881, Leo XIII appointed Henry P. Northrop as the new vicar apostolic of North Carolina. Two years later, the pope named Northrup to also serve as bishop of the Diocese of Charleston. Northrup held both positions until 1888, when the Vatican allowed him to resign as vicar apostolic and only serve as bishop of Charleston.

In 1888, Leo XIII appointed Haid to replace Northrup as apostolic vicar of North Carolina, while allow Haid to remain as abbot of Belmont. In 1910, Pope Pius X designated Belmont Abbey as a territorial abbey, giving it control of eight counties from the Vicariate Apostolic of North Carolina to Belmont Abbey. Haid now led two different Catholic jurisdictions in North Carolina. Haid died in 1924.

Diocese of Raleigh
On December 12, 1924, Pope Pius XI elevated the Apostolic Vicariate of North Carolina into the Diocese of Raleigh, making it the first Catholic diocese in North Carolina. The pope appointed Monsignor William Hafey of Baltimore as its first bishop. In 1937, Pius XI named Hafey as coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Scranton. To replace Hafey as bishop of Raleigh, the pope appointed Monsignor Eugene J. McGuinness from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that same year. In 1944, Pope Pius XII transferred seven counties from Belmont Abbey to the Diocese of Raleigh. Later in 1944, Pius XII named McGuiness as bishop of the Diocese of Oklahoma City.

Pius XII appointed Vincent Waters from the Diocese of Richmond as the new bishop of Raleigh in 1944. Waters was accused by some of the diocesan clergy of holding on to idle church property worth millions of dollars while some parishes were in debt. He also denied requests for the creation of a priests' senate; 20% of his priests sent a request to the Vatican asking for Waters' removal.

In 1953, Waters ordered the racial desegregation of all Catholic churches and schools in the diocese. He described racial segregation as a product of "darkness," and declared that "the time has come for it to end." He also said,"'I am not unmindful, as a Southerner, of the force of this virus of prejudice among some persons in the South, as well as in the North. I know, however, that there is a cure for this virus, and that is our faith.'"Pope John XXIII transferred Gaston County, Belmont Abbey's last county, to the Diocese of Raleigh in 1960. Although it remained a territorial abbey, Belmont now only had jurisdiction over its own campus. In 1962, John XXIII elevated the Diocese of Atlanta to the Archdiocese of Atlanta. He designated the Diocese of Raleigh and Belmont Abbey as suffragans of the new archdiocese.

Diocese of Charlotte
Pope Paul VI erected the Diocese of Charlotte in 1971, taking its territory from the Diocese of Raleigh. At that time, the Catholic population of the area was just over 34,000. Paul VI named Monsignor Michael Begley from Raleigh as the first bishop of Charlotte. Paul VI in 1977 ended Belmont Abbey's status as a territorial abbey, making it now just another Catholic institution in the Diocese of Charlotte. Begley retired in 1984.

Pope John Paul II appointed John Donoghue from the Archdiocese of Washington as the second bishop of Charlotte in 1984. The Catholic population in Charlotte continued to grow, leading Donoghue to declare in the early 1990s that it would be the decade of evangelization. In 1993, John Paul II appointed him as archbishop of Atlanta.

Donoghue was succeeded as bishop of Charlotte by Auxiliary Bishop William G. Curlin from the Archdiocese of Washington in 1994. Curtin started the first affordable housing initiative in the diocese and concentrated on ministry to the elderly, sick and dying. As bishop, Curlin continued his ministry to the poor, ordained 28 men to the priesthood and opened numerous Churches throughout the diocese. In 1995, Curlin invited Mother Teresa to speak at the Charlotte Coliseum, drawing a crowd of over 19,000. That same year, Curlin stated that any priest in the diocese accused of sexual abuse of a minor would be immediately removed from ministry. Curlin served until his retirement in 2002. By that year, the diocese had grown to approximately 87,000 Catholics. In 2003, John Paul II appointed Monsignor Peter J. Jugis, judicial vicar of the diocese, as its fourth bishop.

In July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued the apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, which allowed all priests to celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass with some restrictions. In October 2007, Reverend Samuel Weber celebrated this mass, the first held in the diocese since 1969, at Davis Chapel of Wake Forest University. Jugis noted that the diocese was trying to accommodate those with an attachment to the Tridentine mass. In 2008, the Tridentine mass was celebrated for the first time in nearly 40 years at Our Lady Of Grace Church in Greensboro, with Jugis attending.

Lonnie Billard, a substitute teacher at Charlotte Catholic High School, was fired by the diocese in 2014 after announcing his intention on social media to marry another man. Billard sued the diocese for sexual discrimination, but lost in the lower courts. In 2021, he won the case on appeal in a federal court.

Jugis in September 2020 opened St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly to prepare more priests for the diocese. In 2021, citing ideological uses of the Tridentine mass, Pope Francis added new restrictions on its usage.

In 2021, the diocese celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. At the end of the year, Jugis formally requested that the Vatican place the Diocese of Charlotte under the patronage of Mary, the Mother of God.

Jugis in 2023 submitted his resignation as bishop of Charlotte due to a chronic kidney condition that made it impossible to continue working. During his term, the number of Catholics in the diocese doubled to over 530,000. In early 2024, Jugis announced plans to build a new cathedral, citing the space limitations of the current facility. Construction was scheduled to begin in 2030.

Pope Francis on April 9, 2024, appointed Michael Martin as bishop of Charlotte.

Sexual abuse cases
In November 2019, the North Carolina Legislature passed legislation extending the statute of limitations for filing sex abuse lawsuits. While North Carolina had no statute of limitations for criminal sex abuse cases, it still had a statute of limitations for civil sex abuse lawsuits.

In December 2019, the diocese placed Patrick T. Hoare, pastor at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Charlotte, on administrative. It had received an accusation that Hoare had engaged in inappropriate relations with minors before and after entering the priesthood. Hoare denied the charges. The diocese permanently removed Hoare as pastor of St. Matthew in 2020. Hoare appealed his removal to the Vatican Dicastery for the Clergy in Rome, but it was rejected. He then appealed in 2022 to a partial panel of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome, but was rejected again. Hoare in November 2022 made a final appeal to a full panel of the Apostolic Signatura.

Also in December 2019, Bishop Jugis released a list of 14 priests credibly accused of sexual abuse in the diocese since 1972. In March 2020, the diocese added two more names to this list. This list did not include clergy accused of sexual abuse in territory controlled by the diocese prior to 1972; these men were named in a list titled "Western North Carolina." Former clergy who served in the diocese, but were accused of committing sex abuse "elsewhere", were listed separately as well.

Yurgel case
In 2009, Robert Yurgel, a former priest at St. Matthew's Parish, was arrested after pleading guilty to second-degree sexual offense of a minor. Yurgel had sexually abused a 14-year-old altar boy in 1999. In February 2009, Yurgel pleaded guilty to child molestation and was sentenced to seven years in state prison. He was dismissed from the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and laicized by the Vatican in 2000. The victim sued Yurgel and the diocese. The case was settled for $1 million in damages and an additional $40,000 to pay for the victim's therapy. Yurgel was released from prison in August 2016. In December 2020, a California man filed a lawsuit against the diocese, claiming that Robert Yurgel had sexually abused him when he was five to seven years old at St. Mathew's Parish in the late 1990s.

Spangenberg case
On August 14, 2018, a grand jury report released by the Pennsylvania attorney general named 301 priests responsible for allegedly abusing over 1,000 children within six Pennsylvania dioceses over 70 years. One of them was Robert Spangenberg, a Spiritan priest who served in the Dioceses of Charlotte and Raleigh. Spangenberg had been a pastor at St. James Parish in Hamlet, North Carolina, in the 1990s. The Diocese of Charlotte said that it had never received any concerns from Congregation of the Holy Spirit about Spangenberg's behavior in Pennsylvania, and that there had been no complaints about him in North Carolina.

West case
On March 25, 2019, the diocese announced that Mauricio West, its vicar general and chancellor, had resigned from his posts. The diocese had received allegations against West of unwanted sexual advances towards an adult student at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont in the 1980s. Taking a leave of absence, West denied all the accusations. The Lay Review Board of the diocese found these allegations to be credible. In November 2019, four more complaints of sexual misconduct were lodged against West. Two of the accusations came from diocese employees, the other two from Belmont students.

Kelleher and Farwell cases
On April 14, 2020, two sex abuse lawsuits were filed against the diocese. The plaintiffs alleged that the diocese shielded two credibly accused priests, Richard Farwell and Joseph Kelleher. The lawsuits were filed previously, but both were dismissed due to the previous statute of limitations. The plaintiffs were able to sue again because of the 2019 changes to North Carolina state law.


 * The Kelleher lawsuit was filed by a Georgia man who claimed that Kelleher sexual assaulted him multiple times in North Carolina when he was a teenager between 1977 and 1978. A judge dismissed the 2010 lawsuit due to the passing of the statute of limitations.  Another judge dismissed a 2014 criminal case because Kelleher had been diagnosed with dementia and was incompetent to stand trial.
 * The Farwell lawsuit was filed by a North Carolina man who was a teenager in 1977. He alleged that Farwell started abusing him after he went to the priest for counseling. The plaintiff file a lawsuit against Farwell in 2011, but it was dismissed due to the statute of limitations.  Farwell was later accused by a second man.  Farwell was later convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, sentenced to probation, and removed from ministry in 2005.

Baker case
In November 2021, the diocese was sued by man who claimed he had been sexually assaulted by Donald Baker, a diocesan priest, in the 1980s. The plaintiff had made his accusation to the diocese in 2017, saying that Baker abused him starting when he was seven years old between 1985 and 1989. Baker resigned from ministry in 1994; he was added to the list of diocese priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors in 2016.

Gillespie case
A man sued the diocese in November 2021, claiming that he had been sexually assaulted as a minor by Francis Gillespie during the late 1990s when he was serving as pastor at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish. The plaintiff's attorney reported the alleged abuse in September 2021 to Jugis and the Society of Jesus, which immediately suspended the retired priest.

Bishops of Charlotte

 * 1) Michael Joseph Begley (1971–1984)
 * 2) John Francis Donoghue (1984–1993)
 * 3) William G. Curlin (1994–2002)
 * 4) Peter Joseph Jugis (2003–2024)
 * 5) Michael Thomas Martin (2024-present)

Catholic News Herald
Catholic News Herald is the official publication of the Diocese of Charlotte. It publishes news from the diocese, general Catholic and world news with a Catholic perspective. The newspaper was established in 1991 and publishes 26 issues per year. It also carries a regular Spanish supplement within the publication.

Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools (MACS)
The diocese operates nine Catholic schools in the Charlotte area as part of the MACS system.

High schools

 * Charlotte Catholic High School – Charlotte
 * Christ the King Catholic High School – Huntersville

Middle and elementary schools

 * Holy Trinity Catholic Middle School – Charlotte
 * Our Lady of Assumption Catholic School – Charlotte
 * St. Ann Catholic School – Charlotte
 * St. Gabriel Catholic School – Charlotte
 * St. Mark Catholic School – Huntersville
 * St. Matthew Catholic School – Charlotte
 * St. Patrick Catholic School – Charlotte

Non-MACS schools
The diocese operates two high schools and 10 middle and elementary schools outside of the City of Charlotte.

High schools

 * Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School – Kernersville
 * Canongate Catholic High School – Arden

Middle and elementary schools

 * Asheville Catholic School – Asheville
 * Immaculata Catholic School – Hendersonville
 * Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School – High Point
 * Our Lady of Grace Catholic School – Greensboro
 * Our Lady of Mercy Catholic School – Winston-Salem
 * Our Lady of the Assumption – Charlotte
 * Sacred Heart Catholic School – Salisbury
 * St. Leo Catholic School – Winston-Salem
 * St. Michael Catholic School – Gastonia
 * St. Pius X Catholic School – Greensboro

Seminary
St. Joseph College Seminary – Mount Holly

Notable parishes

 * Basilica of Our Lady Mary Help of Christians – Belmont
 * Basilica of St. Lawrence – Asheville
 * Cathedral of St. Patrick – Charlotte
 * Our Lady of Grace – Greensboro
 * St. Benedict – Greensboro
 * St. Matthew – Charlotte
 * St. Peter's – Charlotte
 * St. Philip's – Statesville
 * Sacred Heart – Salisbury