HoeflingCHARLOTTE — The Diocese of Charlotte’s Finance Council will expand under new bylaws approved by Bishop Michael T. Martin, OFM Conv., who also appointed Patrick Hoefling as the council’s new chair.
The changes were formally adopted at the finance council’s April 22 meeting.
The updated bylaws establish a more layered governance approach that includes eight standing subcommittees to support the Finance Council – aligning the diocese with governance models already in use at many of the nation’s large dioceses, notes Matthew Ferrante, the diocese’s chief financial officer.
Among the changes, eight standing subcommittees were created: Audit; Financial Planning and Analysis/Benefits and Insurance; IT Systems and Data Management; Real Estate and Facilities; Membership and Governance; Development; Legal; and Investment.
Under Church law, every diocese must have a finance council made up of members of the Christian faithful who are experienced in financial matters. The finance council’s significant expansion builds on its strong foundation by bringing in additional expertise, Ferrante said.
“This new structure allows for much greater engagement in our processes with industry leaders who are among the lay faithful and who serve on our committees,” he said.
Ferrante“By creating these specialized subcommittees, we are able to bring in professionals with deep expertise in areas like real estate, investments, legal affairs and technology – people who are committed to the mission of the Church and who want to contribute their talents to its stewardship,” Ferrante said.
Each committee will be led by a finance council member and may include additional clergy and lay experts. The committees will be introduced in phases over the next year, with all expected to be in place by the end of 2027.
Hoefling is chief financial officer of Charlotte-based global investment firm Barings. He has more than 20 years of experience in the financial sector and holds a B.S. in Accountancy from Villanova University and a Master of Accountancy from North Carolina State University. He is a member of St. Gabriel Parish in Charlotte.
— Catholic News Herald
The House of Mercy’s annual Walk for AIDS raises funds to help program recipients live with HIV/AIDS and works to combat the stigma still associated with the disease.BELMONT — More than 40 supporters gathered April 18 at the House of Mercy on the Sisters of Mercy campus for the 31st annual Walk for AIDS.
Founded by the sisters in 1991, the House of Mercy responded to the AIDS crisis when many were stigmatized and abandoned – providing housing, respite and dignified care without judgment.
The six-room home still delivers wrap-around services for residents and others living with HIV/AIDS, but thanks to medical advances, staff and volunteers are now focused on teaching clients to lead relatively normal lives.
“This walk is about how we get to be individuals that lift the community up and fight against discrimination,” President Latoya Gardner said. “We carry the names of those we lost in our hearts. We carry the hope of those still fighting. Let’s walk together for a future where everyone living with HIV has a place to call home and a community that loves them.”
Oratorian Father Charles Tupta, pastor of All Saints Church in Lake Wylie, South Carolina, started the walk with a prayer and shared his experience as a chaplain at Rush Presbyterian Medical Center in Chicago when the AIDS epidemic emerged.
“Their families would disown them,” Father Tupta recalled. “A lot of times when they passed, no one came to claim the body, and there was really nothing medically that could be done at the time.”
Father Tupta walks for former patients like Joel, whose last breaths were made trying to reconcile with his estranged father, who in return told Joel that God did not love him.
That day still brings tears to Father Tupta’s eyes. “He said to me, ‘I will never stop loving my father. I had trouble figuring all this out, so how could I expect him to? … I know that God loves me because God does not make junk.’”
Other participants shed tears looking back at a history that didn’t treat their loved ones with the respect they deserved.
Gardner got involved after the death of her brother, who died from AIDS but mentally declined long before that.
“Technically he passed from an AIDS-related illness, but it was the stigma and discrimination that killed him before anything else,” Gardner said. “My brother was 21 when he passed away because he could not foresee living a life where people knew about his illness and treated him differently.”
Though dying from AIDS is less common now due to pharmaceuticals that suppress the virus to the point that it is undetectable, the stigma lingers.
This was the case for Mercy resident Kurt (last name withheld for privacy), who found out he had full-blown AIDS after a doctor’s visit for a small rash last August. The diagnosis sent him spiraling into depression, leaving him homeless, hopeless and lonely with nowhere to go. He didn’t want to tell his family about his condition, so he suffered quietly with his secret.
“This place means a lot because I was not in a good spot,” Kurt said. “They were here to help me, and they actually cared.”
Through it all he still rests in his faith, he said. “I grew up in the Church, and I know He wouldn’t put on me more than I can handle. I pray all the time.”
Former resident Robert (last name withheld for privacy) still volunteers and attends every fundraiser. He recalls how his year’s stay at the House of Mercy rescued him from both sickness and homelessness.
“When you have HIV, you get so consumed with medication and taking care of yourself that sometimes you forget to take care of yourself financially,” Robert said. “When I got here, I learned how to live with the virus, not just medication-wise, but day-to-day. If it wasn’t for the House of Mercy, I don’t know where I’d be today.”
Such progress is possible due to staff such as Kimberly Hunter, a parishioner of St. James the Greater in Concord whose nephew died from anxiety the disease caused.
“If Jason would have had a House of Mercy, everything would have been so different. He wouldn’t have been depressed, hungry and living on the streets. This is something I never want to happen to anyone else,” Hunter said. “I feel like I was led here. I love what we do. We can’t save everyone, but we can help people get better, get them undetectable and help them see the future, which is what Jason didn’t see.”
For staff, volunteers, participants and residents, a future without AIDS may soon be possible, but for now, they will continue walking toward a stigma-free community.
“We aren’t just providing housing,” Gardner said. “We are providing a sanctuary and a community where our residents are seen as people, not just a diagnosis.”
— Lisa M. Geraci
More online
At www.thehouseofmercy.org: Get help or support the House of Mercy in its mission