BELMONT — In keeping with the hushed tones of its monastery, Belmont Abbey College has quietly raised $72 million for capital and academic improvements and now opens its historic “Made True” campaign to raise a total of $100 million on the eve of its 150th anniversary.
College leaders unveiled their plans Feb. 18, describing a three-pronged effort to further secure, strengthen and free the college to live out authentic Church teaching and make Catholic higher education more accessible at the only Catholic institution of higher learning between Northern Virginia and Florida.
The campaign includes funding for a new monastery, performing arts center, academic enhancements, growth of the college’s endowment to rely less on federal money, and innovative stewardship programs to help students graduate debt free.
“Our success so far is primarily based on the love and commitment of our benefactors,” said Philip Brach, vice president of college relations. “In the early stages of an ambitious campaign like this, you go to your closest friends – then you offer the opportunity for everyone to become part of our exciting new future.”
College leaders are grateful for the significant number of non-alumni and non-parents who have supported the campaign at large levels – and they hope to hit $100 million by 2026, the college’s milestone 150th anniversary. They are reaching out now to all Belmont Abbey alumni, students and families, and people across the region, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, to help raise the remaining $28 million necessary to fund their plans.
“The abbey had responsibility for the Church in North Carolina before the Raleigh diocese was formed about 100 years ago,” Brach said. “So, we have this deep connection that most colleges don’t have to the local Church and local community.”
Benedictine monks from St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pa., established Belmont Abbey and its college in 1876 – well before the Raleigh (1924) and Charlotte (1972) dioceses were created. The first abbot, Bishop Leo Haid, served as both abbot of Belmont Abbey and as bishop of the mission territory that encompassed all of North Carolina at the time.
Benedictine Father Herman Wolfe arrived with two students in April of 1876 and started classes immediately. Enrollment doubled that fall and has grown steadily ever since, despite not always having the resources to fully accomplish what the college has set out to do.
For almost 15 centuries, Benedictines have lived their charism of hospitality and vows of stability, the disciplines of monastic life and obedience. In North Carolina, their work has offered a quality Catholic education to those who desire it. The monks remain a force at Belmont Abbey nearly 150 years after the first of them arrived. Together with President William Thierfelder and the college community, they continue to offer an education in the liberal arts and sciences and professional fields.
“Our approach is from the Catholic intellectual tradition,” Abbot Placid said. “We seek to answer the questions what is life about, how do we respect people, and how is human life supposed to flourish in community?”
With an enrollment of nearly 1,500, comprised of an even number of Catholic and non-Catholic students, the college seeks to further enter contemporary culture and help shape it. The “Made True” capital campaign will help provide a classical liberal arts and science education to students seeking knowledge and wisdom rooted in objective truth. It aims to do that in three ways:
MADE FREE
The first campaign initiative includes $15 million to help fund a new monastery and performing arts center, as well as personal career, vocation and family programs all aimed at building religious freedom and virtue. The funding will act as seed money to leverage partnerships, naming opportunities and contributions designated for these high-profile projects.
The new performing arts center will give The Abbey Players – the oldest performing arts group in North Carolina – an elegant new venue that can host larger audiences and be used by the local community for events and performances.
The new monastery is a gift to the monks who have served the college for well over a century, and will allow the historic existing monastery to undergo renovations for use by the college.
“Everything begins with the monastic community,” Thierfelder said. “They’ve come here seeking God, and they believe by living and praying and working together in community, they’re going to come to a deeper, more profound love of God. It’s a remarkable vocation and commitment. One of their vows is of stability. To have a religious order stay in one place forever, that’s also quite remarkable.”
MADE STRONG
Another $30 million raised in the campaign will go toward strengthening the school through new academic programs in nursing, public policy and finance, increased advocacy for religious freedom, and enhancements to its successful Belmont House in Washington, D.C.
Belmont Abbey offers nearly 50 undergraduate, graduate, professional and pre-professional fields of study, and has a 95 percent acceptance rate into medical schools. Its Belmont House hosts students, friends, policymakers and religious in the nation’s capital and serves as a meeting place to provide hospitality for
Belmont Abbey students, alumni and guests. The college aims to open similar houses in other cities to provide accommodations and networking that helps influence other public and private sectors, such as finance in New York.
“There’s a movement across the country of like-minded colleges that have focused on classical liberal arts and great-book curriculums,” Brach said. “This has served the Church enormously…The students who go out in the world with the education provided by this campaign are going to make big, big changes in the country and in the Church.”
Thierfelder likened each college commencement to a “beating heart” – sending forth graduates to go out and make an impact in their various careers and vocations.
“When Abbot Leo Haid blessed the cornerstone of this building in 1886, he said, ‘The work and prayers here shall spread God’s blessing over this beautiful country in the years to come when perhaps few of you who are listening will be among the living,’” Thierfelder said. “It’s a beautiful vision.”
MADE SECURE
The remaining $55 million raised in the $100 million campaign will help build the endowment and reduce – and eventually eliminate – federal aid. It’s an effort to help secure the college’s ability to teach and live the Catholic faith without government mandates that might conflict with Church teaching.
“The concept of religious liberty is extremely important to us,” Abbot Placid said, “particularly as it’s become a more contentious issue in recent years.”
About half of Belmont Abbey’s students are Catholic, while the other half hail from a variety of faiths. Students appreciate the Catholic identity of the college as well as the freedom to practice their individual beliefs, Brach said, and they value the quality education, welcoming environment, small size, and pastoral setting of the campus.
The campaign’s third pillar also seeks to attract and retain students and faculty through innovative programs that will make Belmont Abbey an employer of choice and enable students to graduate debt free.
A 2011 graduate of Belmont Abbey College, Dr. Christine J. Basil began her teaching career elsewhere and returned to serve as an assistant professor at the Honors College. She is grateful for what the college offers faculty like herself.
“The first thing the abbot said to me was: ‘Welcome home,’” Basil recalled. “That deep sense of belonging and community gives rise to very honest and vulnerable conversations. Having taught other places, I’ve never seen anything like what is possible here.”
Thierfelder added, “The two fundamental things that every human being wants is to know what’s true and to be loved. I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on…
We’re called to love people, invite them in. That Benedictine charism of welcoming each guest ‘in persona Christi’ (in the person of Christ) is where you see Christ in each person no matter what their background is, their faith or who they are. We say, ‘Come on in’ and ‘We love you.’”
On behalf of himself and his brother monks, Abbot Placid expressed his gratitude to everyone who has – and may still – support the “Made True” campaign.
“We, as founders of the college, are deeply moved by the generous support from the donors of the capital campaign as they join us in ensuring that this type of education – which is more important today than ever before – is available now and for future generations.”
— Annie Ferguson
How to give
At www.madetrue.bac.edu: Get more information and learn how to support Belmont Abbey College’s historic “Made True” campaign
Belmont Abbey College to build new monastery and performing arts center
BELMONT — Belmont’s striking array of buildings glimpsed from Interstate 85 is set to become even more distinctive.
Belmont Abbey College has grand plans to build up its campus – with the addition of a new monastery for the Benedictine monks who founded the college 146 years ago, and a new performing arts center for use by the community and the college.
Each project is expected to cost in the range of $15 million and could exceed that depending on the imagination and support of donors, sponsors and partners. The college’s recently announced fundraising campaign includes seed money that leaders say will help leverage additional support specifically for the two signature projects.
Founded in 1883, The Abbey Players is the longest-running performing arts group in North Carolina and typically produces six shows a year in its 180-seat theater, which shows wear-and-tear and signs of its age. The new venue will allow for much bigger audiences with seats for 2,000 to 3,000 guests.
“The idea that we are growing rapidly enough to require a new Performing Arts Center is breathtaking,” said Abbey Players theater director Christopher Donoghue, who recently assumed the role when his father, Simon Donoghue, retired after 48 seasons. “To be given the opportunity to take us to that next step means the world to me.”
The performing arts center will be built on the college’s main road, Abbey Lane, and provide space for hosting campus-wide events, including high-profile national and international speakers that the college regularly attracts. Community members may also rent the facility for events and productions.
The idea for a new monastery arose in recognition of the historic monastery’s increasing signs of age and in gratitude for what the Benedictine monks started here, said Philip Brach, vice president of college relations.
“The greatest gift to Belmont Abbey College – which no one donor can give because it’s priceless – is the monks who have dedicated their time and energy here,” Brach said. “Imagine the value of this gift when you measure the entirety of all of the monks who have dedicated their entire lives to this monastery and the college over the course of almost 150 years.”
Abbot Placid Solari, the eighth abbot of Belmont Abbey, first visited the monastery at about age 4 when his older brother Father James Solari was a monk there.
Abbot Placid returned for a longer stay in 1974 and entered the novitiate. He has served and worked at Belmont Abbey ever since. Today, the monastery is home to 11 monks with three more in formation.
When Brach first raised the idea of building a new monastery next to the Abbey basilica and existing monastery, he said Abbot Placid was very interested, especially when he heard the existing monastery could be repurposed for the college’s growing needs.
“The current building is not all that conducive to community life,” Abbot Placid explained. “It’s 120 yards long in a straight line. Our infirmary space, although the monks get wonderful care, is inadequate. And the rooms, although they have been reconfigured as best as possible, date back to about 1880.”
Also, the kitchen is on two floors. “You could say it’s a great exercise opportunity for the cooks, but it’s not ideal,” Abbot Placid said with a smile.
Thanks to the “Made True” campaign, a new monastery will give the monastic community the space and features it needs to continue serving for another 150 years, he said. “We are so grateful for the help in providing a more adequate living space for the monks and care for our elderly who devoted their lives to others.”
— Annie Ferguson Provided renderings depict Belmont Abbey’s future performing arts center and monastery.
$100 MILLION GOAL — $72 MILLION RAISED
$15 Million — Made Free
* Build a new monastery
* Build a Performing Arts Center
* Build personal freedom and virtue
* Establish additional career, vocation and family programs
$30 Million — Made Strong
* Protect religious freedom
* Mission-aligned academic programs in nursing, public policy, finance
* The Belmont House, American Semester, Responsible Citizenship
$55 Million — Made Secure
* Secure financial freedom
* Establish an innovative scholarship fund and endowment
* Focus on student retention and faculty entrepreneurship
‘Made True’ Campaign
Belmont Abbey College’s “Made True” Campaign is built on three tiers: Made Free, Made Strong and Made Secure. The campaign aims to raise $100 million, with $72 million raised so far.
Voices of Support
“I loved my time at Belmont Abbey. The education I received is the foundation of everything I have done professionally, from my years of working in the corporate world to more recently joining the diocese. Even more importantly, I met my wife and deepened my faith at Belmont Abbey. It’s great news that the college is moving toward the next level.”
– Matt Ferrante ’03, Diocese of Charlotte CFO and CAO
“I’m not Catholic. I’m a Baptist girl, and I probably would have never reached out to students in Campus Ministry, but they have become some of my best friends. I like to attend Mass from time to time. At first, I was nervous, but they have made me feel welcome and helped me follow along. Mass gives me a great sense of peace but also of love. There is a great feeling of togetherness. It’s like a piece of your heart is going to stay here forever.”
— Sekyah Chestnut ’24, a junior from Whiteville, N.C., studying sport management
“Everything that I’ve learned has gradually pushed me closer to what God’s purpose is for me. All of that started by just sitting in the classroom at Belmont Abbey College.”
— Emilia Pippen ’17
“In the Rule of St. Benedict one of the standout passages is that all guests are to be welcomed as Christ, and I think that Belmont Abbey really lives that.”
— Dr. Joseph F. Wysocki ’04, Dean of the Honors College, and associate professor of politics
“If you start with the premise that there’s such a thing as objective truth, then you can pursue it. You can come to understand it better, and you don’t explore that in a 15-minute conversation over coffee. You do it over the course of an education.”
— Robert M. Gallagher ’72, former trustee, parent and grandparent of alumni