Father Benjamin Roberts (left) receives a key to the Waxhaw campus building from Father Patrick Cahill, pastor of St. Matthew Church. The two men – friends since seminary – will work together toward creating a new parish. (Troy C. Hull | Catholic News Herald)CHARLOTTE — As the Diocese of Charlotte prepares to create a Catholic parish in Waxhaw, Bishop Michael T. Martin, OFM Conv., is appointing Father Benjamin Roberts to help build what will be the diocese’s first new parish in decades.
Effective July 1, Father Roberts will leave his role as pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Monroe after 14 years to serve the Waxhaw Catholic community alongside Father Patrick Cahill, pastor of St. Matthew Parish. Until the parish is formally erected, Father Roberts will hold the Church title of “Priest in solidum” (meaning “jointly” or “equally”) with Father Cahill serving as “Moderator Priest in solidum.”
Together, the two priests will work with parishioners to form a new community separate from St. Matthew: determining boundaries, dividing resources, and gearing up for staffing, programs and other needs of an independent parish. Currently, the Waxhaw satellite church offers three weekend Masses that draw a total of about 1,600 people, besides youth and adult faith formation classes, confessions, Adoration, community service work, and more.
“Father Roberts is the perfect match for this post,” Father Cahill said. “He grew up in this area. He’s a man of humility and good humor, and a gifted leader. I am looking forward to working with him as the founding pastor there and supporting him in any way I can.”
Father Roberts reflects similar affinity: “Creating a new parish from within an existing parish –especially one as vibrant and active as St. Matthew – will require collaboration and trust, and I am confident this will be a smooth transition.”
“We have such great respect for each other,” he said, “and for the work that we both do.”
The two priests have known each other for years. Both attended St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Pennsylvania and were ordained for the Charlotte diocese two years apart. Both have also guided their parishes through major challenges – Father Roberts rebuilding after a devastating fire at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in 2020, and Father Cahill leading St. Eugene Parish and Asheville Catholic School through Hurricane Helene’s aftermath.
Dr. Carmina Chapp, who taught both priests ecclesiology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, remembers them as gifted priests with a strong sense of vocation.
They “shared a wonderful camaraderie,” she said.
NATIVE SON WHO LOVES HISTORY
Father RobertsFather Roberts is very familiar with the region and its rapid growth.
He grew up in nearby Lancaster, South Carolina, where his parents still live. And since 2012, he has served as pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Monroe, the other Catholic church in Union County.
He has watched the area boom – from southern Mecklenburg and Union counties to neighboring Lancaster County, South Carolina – including the development of Ballantyne and Indian Land spurred by the building of Highway 521.
His mother Patti Roberts says she’s grateful this new assignment will enable him to continue his regular visits home, and she looks forward to seeing how the Waxhaw church will develop under his leadership.
“Ben’s very outgoing and he has a love of people, and God has given him a lot of skills that I know will come in handy. We're very, very proud of him,” she said.
She recalled how young Ben, born during America’s bicentennial in 1976, developed an early love for history while growing up amid the rich heritage of the Waxhaw area – especially the legacy of President Andrew Jackson, who was born nearby. As a boy, he loved exploring the historic cemetery where Jackson was famously captured by British troops, and by kindergarten had memorized the names of every U.S. president.
For Father Roberts, history – like ministry – is about people.
“History tells a whole story,” he said, “and we’ve come to a greater consciousness that with history, there are stories we leave out. It’s important for us to know all the stories.”
In this historic moment for the Waxhaw Catholic community, he said, “I have to listen to a lot of stories, and hear about the stories of the people who are there and all the people who want to come there.”
FROM CONVERT TO PRIEST
Baptized Episcopalian and raised Lutheran, he converted to Catholicism while in college, studying philosophy and seeking answers to life’s questions.
St. Ignatius of Antioch’s Letter to the Romans, written in 107 on his way to Rome to be fed to lions in the Colosseum, deeply influenced him. In it, Ignatius wrote: “Let me be food for the wild beasts … I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread.”
This “very early witness to the whole of the Catholic faith,” he recalled, inspired him to consider Catholicism.
He listed all the reasons he was Lutheran, he said, then “crossed them off. And one day I just drove – I found the Catholic church in Statesville where I was living (at the time) and knocked on the door of the rectory, and Father Peter Fitzgibbons opened the door.”
Their conversations began his journey into the Church and eventually to the seminary for the Charlotte diocese.
He was ordained in 2009 and served at parishes in Greensboro and Salisbury before becoming pastor in Monroe. During his 14-year pastorship, the largely Hispanic parish has grown to 2,000 families, expanded its faith formation programs, and developed a popular annual “Eucharistic Triduum” that attracts more than 1,000 people each June. The campus has also undergone major improvements – including an interior renovation, Marian grotto, and new parish office to replace what was destroyed in the 2020 fire.
Father Roberts also serves as the diocese’s ecumenical officer and vicar forane of the Albemarle Vicariate. He chairs the Presbyteral Council and serves on the College of Consultors, advisory groups for the bishop.
Over the years, he has earned several advanced degrees in preaching, theology and leadership, taught at seminaries across the country, and presented nationally on preaching and pastoral ministry.
Despite his academic work and other responsibilities, the role he says he loves most is parish priest.
PURPOSE OF A PARISH
His years in ministry and his theological background have shaped his understanding of what a parish is, Father Roberts says, and what he hopes to nurture in the Waxhaw community.
He’s excited about the future, especially prospects for a new church and perhaps eventually a school on the 32-acre property along Waxhaw-Marvin Road.
“I already have a hard hat – I know how to build stuff,” he jokes, referencing the rebuilding effort in Monroe after the 2020 fire.
Yet, he emphasizes, a parish “is a People that has buildings, not buildings that have people.”
A parish gathers to worship God and then goes out to share His love with others, he said. As the Waxhaw Catholic community begins this historic new chapter, Roberts says he looks forward to walking alongside its people in faith.
A parish is also a pilgrim community, he said, and “a pilgrim community only moves as fast as we can carry each other.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle
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