HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – In a celebration that drew more than 1,500 people, including a dozen bishops and a cardinal, Franciscan priest Father Michael Martin was ordained a bishop on Wednesday and will assume leadership of the growing Diocese of Charlotte on Thursday – a historic moment for western North Carolina, now home to 530,000 Catholics.
It is the first time in 20 years the diocese – which includes 46 counties in the western half of North Carolina – has installed a new bishop, as longtime Bishop Peter Jugis announced his retirement in April.
During the three-hour liturgy at St. Mark Catholic Church, percussion instruments and horns heralded a long procession of clergy and other church dignitaries, who joined the people of the diocese in the church, including Martin’s friends, family and Franciscan brothers.
Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer presided over the ordination. Cardinal Christophe Pierre read a letter from Pope Francis appointing Martin as a bishop.
Bishop Martin told the crowd, “I’m yours now,” prompting applause. “It’s a blessing for me. And may the Holy Spirit do whatever God wants to do as we continue to build the Kingdom together.”
Bishop Martin, 62, has deep roots in Catholic education – having served as a teacher, coach and school administrator in Baltimore, New York and Durham – and arrives at a time of unprecedented growth across the diocese.
Martin is a priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual – the religious order founded in 1209 by St. Francis of Assisi – and most recently served as a parish priest outside Atlanta.
Martin will oversee the diocese’s 92 churches, 20 schools and more than 50 ministries and a diverse Catholic population, now more than half of Hispanic origin.
Bishop Jugis, 67, will now serve as bishop emeritus after 20 years as bishop and 40 years as a priest of the diocese.
