Extending Bishop Curlin’s Legacy   

The Board of Trustees of Belmont Abbey College wishes to honor Bishop Emeritus William G. Curlin, in recognition of his inspirational life and service to the Catholic Church and society. Bishop Curlin was the third Bishop of Charlotte and known as the champion of the poor, comforter of the sick and the dying, and friend of St. Teresa of Calcutta. Bishop Curlin preached the love of Jesus Christ during his 60 years of priestly ministry which first began in the Archdiocese of Washington.

Bishop Curlin had very significant ties with the Belmont Abbey Monastic and College community. He was buried in the Belmont Abbey cemetery in January 2018.

In my conversations with people about Bishop Curlin, I have heard so many reflections and special memories shared about the kind of person he was. I ask you to reflect a moment on how you may have known Bishop Curlin or Fr. Bill as he was known in his earlier days starting out as a young priest.

You and your family may have been parishioners at one of his earliest parishes in the Arcdiocese of Washington where he pastored; you may have travelled on pilgrimage to Lourdes with him and been at the faucets where Bishop Curlin offered special blessings; he may have offered you pastoral advice or just offered a kind, listening ear that helped to get you through a troubling time; you or a family member may have been visited by Bishop Curlin during a very difficult period of sickness or hardship; or you may have heard him recount one of his miraculous stories or his times with Mother Teresa.

There are countless amazing stories about Bishop Curlin. At Belmont Abbey, we have our own stories about Bishop Curlin too. He thought Belmont Abbey was a special place and visited with us often. When Bishop Curlin came to Charlotte, he came to what was still a missionary diocese. Through the Curlin Scholarship, we want to preserve his legacy and his memory, and support Catholic higher education at the only Catholic college between northern Virginia and Florida. We are reaching out and working to engage people like you to help us launch this scholarship in his honor. We hope you will be inspired to help us and consider finding a way to build this into your own personal philanthropy, and perhaps even consider making a legacy gift to help with the longer term endowment support needed.

On behalf of Belmont Abbey, we ask you to please give prayerful consideration of our invitation for support of this worthwhile endeavor. God Bless.

The College seeks to train young Catholic leaders in Bishop Curlin’s legacy of service by establishing the Bishop William G. Curlin Scholarship and Bishop Curlin Scholars Program. Imbued with the mind of Christ, the Bishop Curlin Scholars will follow his example of speaking the truth in love and the compassionate evangelization of our culture. This Program will be one of the most prestigious and generous scholarship programs at Belmont Abbey College designed to integrate themes of service into academic formation. Those selected to participate in the Program will be students of high moral character with an expressed desire to make a significant impact on our culture when they graduate. 

While the Board of Trustees has committed to offer this scholarship in perpetuity to honor Bishop Curlin, this is a very philanthropy-driven effort being under taken by the College. Over the next four years, the College anticipates having the Bishop Curlin Scholars Program built out with a full complement of 100 students. To support the College’s plans to train young Catholic leaders in Bishop Curlin’s legacy of service, Belmont Abbey has recently launched a fundraising effort to seek philanthropic investment to secure the initial program investment of $2.5M as well as to encourage legacy giving to help endow the program over time.