‘A blessing to all’
Mary Wright has served as the diocesan director of campus and young adult ministry for the past 19 years. Wright has spent her whole adult life in service to the Church. She retires June 30. (Photo provided by Ann Kilkelly)CHARLOTTE — When Mary Wright came on board as the diocesan director of campus and young adult ministry in 2003, she told those who offered her the position that she would stay for three years.
It’s been 19 years, and as she prepares to retire June 30, she’s humbled by how the Lord has given her the grace to serve Him not only in this capacity, but in many other roles over the course of her adult life.
Wright’s formal service to the Church started in 1975, when she entered the Sisters of Mercy in Belmont. Over the course of her 25 years in religious life, Wright put her education in social work to good use in the areas of social services, healthcare, education and administration.
She remembers being assigned to teach and serve as a counselor at Charlotte Catholic High School in the late 1970s-early 1980s as a time of personal growth.
“Sister Paulette (Williams) thought I could do many things, I guess!” Wright recalls. “I was going to the University of Chapel Hill (to earn a master’s degree in social work), was teaching a course in ‘Life and Family Relations’ and was coaching CCHS women’s softball and volleyball. (Juggling all that) was great, because when I stop and think how I managed all that, I think that was a perfect opportunity for God to stretch me.”
Wright then went on to serve as a social worker at five area Catholic elementary schools, then dean of students at Sacred Heart College in Belmont, before moving over to Belmont Abbey College as assistant director of residence life. She rounded out her time there as vice president for student affairs.
“Everywhere I’ve served, the people, and especially the students, would come in with issues and I would work with them to find a solution or provide encouragement,” she says.
This collaborative and willing spirit stood her well when Wright was asked to found and build the first home for persons suffering with AIDS. House of Mercy opened in 1991 on the Sisters of Mercy Sacred Heart Campus in Belmont. It has served hundreds of men and women over the past 31 years.
As founder and CEO, Wright navigated this monumental task with humility. “I didn’t know anything about building, or land or architectural plans. I believe we are always called to learn, though,” Wright explains.
Mercy Sister Jill Weber has known Wright for 50 years. “She didn’t want House of Mercy to be another sterile-looking health facility,” Sister Jill recalls. “She wanted it to be a home. And that is what it became and continues to be today.”
“That time was a real blessing in my life. I learned a great deal. Despite the circumstances, it was a happy house,” Wright says. She was awarded the Office of the North Carolina Governor Longleaf Pine Award by Governor James Martin for her work with House of Mercy.
Her foray into campus ministry began in 2000 when, as a laywoman, she accepted the position as campus minister at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
In August 2003, she assumed her current role as diocesan director of campus ministry.
“Under her leadership, campus ministry in the diocese has grown tremendously,” says Darien Clark, assistant director of Campus and Young Adult Ministry. “She increased the number of campuses served by a professional campus minister. She started initiatives, such as ‘Give Your Heart Away’ to engage college students more deeply with their Catholic faith, and with the social teachings of the Church.”
In 2019 Wright worked tirelessly to open a new Catholic Campus Ministry Center for the students at North Carolina A&T University and Bennett College in Greensboro.
“In her 19 years as director, she has given everything she has to ensure that Catholic college students have a faith community on campus that models the life and ministry of Jesus Christ,” Clark adds.
Erin Brady, former president of Catholic Campus Ministry at High Point University, is one of the college students who benefited from Wright’s leadership. A change in priests led to some challenges scheduling campus Masses in 2017, and Brady received support and encouragement from Wright.
“As a student and young adult, I was most impressed that Mary didn’t see me as a kid trying to figure this out, but rather treated me like an adult and helped me solve these problems side by side. In every interaction, I could always tell that she genuinely cared about those answers, and with any concerns that came up she was determined to help us reach a solution,” Brady says.
Former campus ministers who worked with Wright echoed Brady’s sentiments. “Mary helped to empower the campus ministers and students, which has had a considerable impact on the local churches,” they said in a joint statement. “Students leaving CCM were knowledgeable of the tenets and traditions of our faith.
Many campus ministry alumni are serving their local parish as priests, faith formation teachers, choir directors, youth ministers, lectors and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist.”
Gregg Cecconi, Catholic campus minister in Greensboro, agrees. “Mary made sure college students in the diocese had a supportive community to learn, pray and grow in their faith. She constantly reminded us to have a wide embrace and to not forget the marginalized and the struggling.”
“The Education Vicariate, the diocese and the students at the universities and colleges in the Diocese of Charlotte have been blessed by the dedicated and loyal service Mary Wright has provided over her years of service in many areas of the diocesan ministries,” says Father Roger Arnsparger, diocesan vicar of education for catechetical formation. “Her service as the Director of Campus and Young Adult Ministry for these many years has been a blessing to all of us who have worked with her and been served by her. We thank her and pray for her as she retires, knowing that she will continue to be a blessing to us. God bless her always.”
Wright sums up her time of service to the Church, saying, “I know that as I am on my final journey here, my life has been incredibly blessed. I am grateful for every opportunity I have had. I pray that (as Scripture says) we all ‘act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God.’”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter