Paul and Beth Hoeing, recipients of the Bishop William G. Curlin Partners in Hope Award, are pictured with Catholic Charities¹ Piedmont Triad Regional Director Becky DuBois. (Georgianna Penn, correspondent)
WINSTON-SALEM — Supporters and friends of Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte’s work in the Triad gathered for the 15th annual Partners In Hope event March 10 to celebrate the past year and encourage support to meet future needs.
The annual fundraiser offered an overview of Catholic Charities’ services and a glimpse into the lives of some of the clients who have been helped over the past year. Sponsors’ support covered the entire cost of the event, enabling Catholic Charities to raise more than $375,000 in donations that will go directly to funding the programs offered by Catholic Charities in the Triad.
Dr. Gerard A. Carter, executive director and CEO of Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, began the evening with heartfelt thanks for the attendees’ generosity, telling people that he hoped they all understood that their gifts truly mean the world to those who come to Catholic Charities seeking help.
In his keynote address Kevin Mark Kampman, retired publisher of the Winston-Salem Journal and member of Holy Family Church in Clemmons, repeated Catholic Charities’ mission statement: “We are a Christian ministry of charity, service and justice dedicated to providing help to those in need, hope to those in despair, and inspiration for others to follow.”
“It’s really hard to image another organization walking the walk of their mission statement any better than Catholic Charities,” he said.
He said he and his wife Deborah began working with Catholic Charities of Birmingham, Ala., as foster parents more than 20 years ago.
“They taught us a lot more than we ever taught them,” he said, adding that Catholic Charities became the way his family put their faith in action.
Catholic Charities’ tenets of Christ-centered service and treating people with dignity, compassion and love, he said, combined with careful stewardship of its resources, enables the agency to help anyone in need.
Catholic Charities’ Triad office – which moved last year to a new location near St. Benedict the Moor Church in Winston-Salem – continues to have a powerful impact on the community, Kampman noted.
Among other measures, more than 4,000 people – half of whom were vulnerable children and the elderly – received free food and personal items last year, it was reported. Nearly 1,500 people facing a crisis received direct assistance, and 377 families received baby clothing and supplies through the Wee Care Shoppe.
“And the great thing is, we’re just getting started,” Kampman said.
A community garden will be planted this spring to provide much-needed fresh produce for food bank clients, and the Triad office is in the process of developing home gardening mentoring and support as well as a blood pressure education and monitoring program for the wider community.
Also during the event, Monsignor Anthony J. Marcaccio, pastor of St. Pius X in Greensboro, remembered the life of the late Bishop Emeritus William G. Curlin, noting his episcopal motto was “Sentire Cum Christo” (“To Think With Christ”).
If each person thought like Christ and felt with Christ, as Bishop Curlin did, this attitude would become second nature, Monsignor Marcaccio said.
“And then when that intuition is in you, it naturally spills over into action. It spills over into Catholic charity, the charity that we celebrate today,” he said.
Catholic Charities’ award named in honor of the late bishop – the Bishop William J. Curlin Partners in Hope Award – was then presented to Beth and Paul Hoeing by Father Brian J. Cook, pastor of St. Leo the Great Church in Winston-Salem.
The award is given in consideration of the work the Hoeings do for Catholic Charities but also, Father Cook said, in recognition of the charitable work they do for the entire region. Year in and year out, he said, the Hoeings serve as the hands and feet of Christ through their work with Room at the Inn, serving breakfast to the poor, bringing the Eucharist to the sick and homebound, and more.
The Hoeings thanked God for giving them the chance to share His love with others in concrete and practical ways – “to be His instrument, His hands and His heart to others so they can be encouraged, optimistic and respected as they experience trials and hardships in their life,” said Beth Hoeing. “I have witnessed so many examples of faith, courage, perseverance and patience from the many guests who come to Catholic Charities for services.”
Paul Hoeing expressed deep affection for the late Bishop Curlin, calling him a wonderful model for showing people what a life of service should be. He also remembered one of the late bishop’s simple prayers, a prayer that he and his wife strive to live each day: “Your will, O Lord. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.”
— Annette K. Tenny, correspondent
By the numbers
- 193,278 pounds of food and personal items were distributed to 4,395 people – 50% of whom were vulnerable children and the elderly
- 1,473 people received direct assistance when faced with an urgent crisis due to a job loss, health issue, death or problem that threatened safety
- 43 families with babies born to teen parents received support and parenting assistance. 100% of the high school seniors in the program graduated
- 668 direct counseling services helped to save marriages, strengthen families and transform lives by helping those coping with crisis, trauma and anxiety
- 377 households received assistance through the Wee Care Shoppe including: children’s clothing, diapers, baby wipes, formula, books and toys
- 60 direct supportive services were provided to families with teens in crisis as an effort to help them to cope and thrive
- 34 Forsyth Technical Community College students received supportive services through the Stay the Course program to maintain enrollment in college.
- 40 people received immigration and naturalization services
- 123 volunteers provided 10,217 hours of service to the Piedmont Triad Office, which would equal the work of 5.5 full-time people
- 30 people from a diversity of languages have been trained and qualified to work as professional interpreters through the Translation & Interpretation Enterprise (TIE) program
‘So that healing may be had at home’
BELMONT — Friends and supporters paid tribute to the late Bishop William Curlin Feb. 20 as they gathered to dedicate the remodeled and refurbished health clinic at Holy Angels.
Bishop Curlin, who died Dec. 23, 2017, was a frequent visitor to Holy Angels, a home opened in 1955 by the Sisters of Mercy for children and adults with intellectual developmental disabilities and delicate medical conditions.
“Bishop Curlin is one of the many reasons why we are who we are today,” said Regina Moody, Holy Angels’ president and CEO, “because of his love and commitment to our mission.”
Starting not long after he became bishop in 1994, Bishop Curlin came by regularly to bless the residents and staff at Holy Angels, always bringing smiles to their faces. Until he retired as bishop in 2002, he offered Mass there every Christmas Day.
“He would say, ‘This is where I’m meant to be on Christmas morning, with God’s most vulnerable children,” Moody recalled. “We were so blessed for so many years that Bishop Curlin spent Christmas morning with us here at Holy Angels. What better place to be than with the angels?”
In “this very special place,” noted the Rev. Rob Hinman, Holy Angels’ board chair, “it is fitting that we bless and dedicate it to a person who was so caring for our residents. His touch, his presence, brought the hand of God as a reality to our residents.”
The Curlin Clinic features a new dental chair and equipment, as well as a new, wider medical exam chair. New supply cabinets, a nurse’s workstation and a sink were also installed. The room was also repainted and decorated with original artwork by local artist Stephanie Neely.
A plaque and photos of Bishop Curlin occupy a prominent spot on the wall near the clinic’s entrance. The plaque reads: “Bishop Curlin generously shared his love for God’s most special children at Christmas and throughout the years – as bishop and retired bishop. During visits to Holy Angels with the Knights of Malta, he would gently touch each resident, providing a blessing of God’s love, healing and hope. Within the walls of the Bishop Curlin Clinic, physicians and healthcare professionals will share their healing touch with the residents as they provide for their health and well-being.”
Moody described the project to renovate Holy Angels’ clinic and recounted how support for the effort came thanks to the unexpected help of several people at just the right moment, including: Mr. and Mrs. John Spencer, Tony Sandrene and Amy Spencer, Mr. and Mrs. Rafiq H. Lakhany and their family, Dr. William Donigan and friends, Kenneth Branson, and Campania Fine Moulding.
Thanks to their support, Moody said, the Curlin Clinic can better serve the residents who can’t be transported off-site to medical appointments. The clinic hosts than 1,300 exams per year, from primary care appointments to specialists’ visits, she noted.
Present for the dedication were several members of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (the Knights of Malta), who were especially close to Bishop Curlin and often accompanied him on visits to Holy Angels. The order leads annual pilgrimages for the sick to the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, a place of miraculous healing, and Bishop Curlin used holy water from the shrine to bless the Holy Angels residents each year.
Dr. Bill Rice, a Knight of Malta and member of Holy Angels’ board of directors, reminisced about the late bishop’s support of the order as its chaplain.
“Everyone knows that his middle name was Compassion,” Rice said. “His entire life almost was dedicated to the poor, the marginalized and especially the sick.”
Rice recalled Bishop Curlin’s stories and spiritual advice, especially the saying he passed on from a dying mentor of his: “Everything that I have kept, I have lost. Everything I’ve given away, I have forever.”
“Believe me, Bishop Curlin gave it all away.”
Monsignor Anthony Marcaccio, pastor of St. Pius X Church in Greensboro and Bishop Curlin’s personal secretary and close friend, blessed the clinic room with holy water from Lourdes.
He prayed, “Almighty God, we come before You, with hearts open to Your love, minds open to Your healing will, and open hands ready to receive and to share Your blessing for service. God of mercy, we bless You. From of old, You sent Your angels, who minister to You, as messengers of hope and mercy to Your people. We bless You for the wonderful way that this continues today in our midst. We thank You for the doctors, the specialists and health care professionals who are messengers of hope and healing in this place of mercy. Today we dedicate this clinic to the memory of Bishop William Curlin. We thank You for his example of pastoral ministry – always looking for Christ hidden in the poor, especially the sick, for those who might be suffering, and loving and nurturing life wherever it was little and most vulnerable. We thank You for the benefactors who’ve made this clinic possible, so that healing may be had at home for our residents. We ask You, Almighty God, who by Your wondrous ministry of angels guard and govern us, to bless this facility, to bless us, to bless the Holy Angels staff, to bless the Sisters of Mercy, to bless the medical professionals who will minister here, and most importantly, to bless our residents. As we dedicate this Curlin Clinic, we ask that You would command Your angels to stand watch here, that this may forever be a place of health, happiness and peace.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor