CHARLOTTE — New officers and members have been selected for the Diocese of Charlotte’s Presbyteral Council, a group that advises the bishop in governing the diocese.
Officers for the 2025-26 session are:
• Chairman: Father Benjamin Roberts, V.F., pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Monroe
• Vice Chairman: Father Peter Ascik, pastor and rector of St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte
• Secretary: Father David McCanless, Campus Ministry chaplain at Wake Forest University
• Treasurer: Father John Putnam, J.V., pastor of St. Mark Parish in Huntersville and judicial vicar for the diocese
Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv., serves as president of the Presbyteral Council.
Clergy elected by their fellow priests to the Presbyteral Council to serve a three-year term from 2025 to 2028 are: Benedictine Father Elias Correa-Torres of Belmont Abbey; Father John Eckert, V.F., pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Salisbury; Father Patrick Hoare; and Father Matthew Kauth, rector of St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly.
Other members of the Presbyteral Council are listed on the diocese’s website, www.charlottediocese.org.
Required by Church law, the Presbyteral Council represents all priests in the diocese and is “like a senate of the bishop” (Code of Canon Law 495 §1), with about half the members elected by priests and others appointed by the bishop.
— Catholic News Herald
Pictured above are 2025-2026 Presbyteral Council officers (from left) Father John Putnam, Father David McCanless, Bishop Michael Martin, Father Peter Ascik and Father Benjamin Roberts. (Photo provided)