‘One big love story’
CHARLOTTE — Call Mom. That was Father Michael Martin’s first thought last month after some of the shock wore off from learning that Pope Francis had appointed him the next Bishop of Charlotte. Moments later, Bev Martin, 84, picked up the phone and heard her son’s voice sharing the monumental news.
“Mike, are you kidding me?’’ she said.
“‘No, Mom, it’s happening!’”
Father Martin, OFM Conv., then mentioned something the pontiff said in his letter.
His mother replied, “Does the pope really know who you are?” He chuckled: “Yeah, he knows a little bit about me. He doesn’t know me personally, but he knows a little bit about me.”
Things started making more sense for Bev when she remembered her son’s award from the Vatican during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI. In 2007, he had received the prestigious Pro
Ecclesia et Pontifice award for his service to the Church.
“I’ve never connected that with the pope. I’ve connected that with an award that goes out to people who have done great things in the Church,” she explains. “I was a little floored when he told me. I was very emotional, as you can imagine. I was so proud of him. Not proud for me. Proud of him.”
The news of his appointment was a watershed moment not only for Bishop-elect Martin and his mother but also for the entire family of sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews, who are very dear to the future bishop. Indeed, their lives would soon have a whole new dimension. Their very own Michael Martin would soon be a bishop, a successor of the apostles.
More than a turning point, however, the announcement was in many ways the fulfillment of the family’s faithfulness and fortitude.
The Martin kids found ways to have fun together – beach trips, listening to comedy, even doing homework. “When you live in a small house with six people, you do everything together,” says sister Jeanne.SIBLING REVELRY
It all began in a rowhouse in Baltimore with Bev and the late Don Martin and their four children. Bev converted at age 16 to marry Don, a lifelong Catholic who was an altar server and sang in the parish choir. Their third child, Michael, had three sisters – Jeanne, Judy and Ellie.
“Jeanne, Ellie and I were jammed in a bedroom, and Michael was in a tiny room with a bed and a desk. He would knock on our bedroom door at night because he just wanted to be with us,” his second-oldest sister, Judy Ercole says. “It was so cute.”
Each of his sisters noted their brother’s kindness and selflessness as a child.
Ellie remembers how Michael once surprised the family by paying for their Christmas tree. He saved for a bike so he could have a paper route to make a little spending money. The Martins also found fun ways to spend time together, vacationing each summer at Ocean City, Maryland, and sitting by the hi-fi to listen to actor/comedian Steve Martin. “Michael has a great sense of humor, but it’s clean humor,” Ellie says.
They also “played church” in the basement with little crackers and Michael serving as priest, but nobody saw the significance at the time.
While he attended Most Precious Blood Catholic School in Baltimore, Michael’s teachers could see that he was bright but not living up to his potential, his mother remembers. The nuns loved him, but his mind was on other things, she says, like sports, with his dad coaching both his little league and rec baseball teams. Michael was a power hitter.
One year, right before Christmas break, Michael received a deficiency notice from his school.
“He tucked it away and didn’t tell my parents until the end of the break,” his eldest sister Jeanne Martin recalls. “Michael was panicking the whole time. He kept saying, ‘I’m dead.’ But when he finally showed my dad to get it signed, Dad said, ‘You’ve been punished enough – you ruined your whole break.’”
It was a good lesson.
Even then his dad knew he was destined for great things. Neither of his parents, however, had any idea God was calling Michael to be a priest. But others saw it.
Family affair: “There was a tremendous amount of love and goodness in my family and extended family,” says Bishop-elect Martin, who credits their support for helping him reach ordination day in 1989.SIGNS OF A PRIESTLY VOCATION
In eighth grade, Michael repeatedly rehearsed his speech titled “I Am Just One” with his sisters – and won the local Rotary Club’s oratorial competition.
“When you live in a small house with six people, you do everything together. We all knew his speech and were so happy when he won,” Jeanne says. “He really learned how to project and make it real.”
Later, even though they don’t have valedictorians in middle school, the pastor of his parish school, the late Father Jack Collopy, insisted they give the honor to Michael because he wanted him to speak at graduation. Father Collopy believed Michael had something to say, and he wanted everyone to hear it.
“I didn’t know what that meant, but Michael gave his speech at graduation, and he did a great job,” his mother recalls.
Afterward, she remembers how Father Collopy approached her and her husband.
“I want to tell you something,” he said. “I think it’s really important. I know this is the beginning of Michael’s journey, but I really believe he has a vocation (to the priesthood).”
His mother remembers that Father Collopy wanted Michael to become a diocesan priest, but it was ultimately the Conventual Franciscan friars at the all-boys Archbishop Curley High School who inspired him to join their order. Many of the friars from the school would spend time with the Martin family enjoying meals and conversation in their home, giving Michael an inside look at the lives of the friars.
In high school, Michael loved sports and remains an avid Baltimore Orioles and Ravens fan. He performed in plays, including “Hello Dolly” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” and still has “a really nice voice,” sister Ellie Proctor says. He also worked as a janitor at the school to help earn tuition, and at a local tailor shop. His sister Judy says he even had a couple girlfriends during his high school years, but religious life was where he found his true calling.
In 1979, he won the Curley Service Award at his high school, chosen from among 300 boys.
Shortly before his high school graduation, he told his parents he was joining the Conventual Franciscan Friars Novitiate in Ellicott City, Maryland. His parents couldn’t believe it and thought he was joking. But Michael told them he had been thinking about joining the Franciscans for a long time.
Bishop-elect Martin has a heart for the poor. On a mission trip to Ghana, his mother says, he was profoundly moved not only by the depth of the poverty, but also because “everyone was so happy with what little they had.”FOLLOWING THE LORD’S CALL
When he broke the news to the rest of the family, his sisters were shocked, but not surprised, Bev says. Michael officially left home in 1979 at just 17. It was hard for the whole family, especially Ellie, to see him go.
“With me being the youngest, he was my mentor, my psychologist, my best friend,” sister Ellie says, choking back tears. “He was just the nicest brother ever.”
Bev kept Michael’s room just as it was for a year while he was discerning religious life. She wanted him to have a safe, familiar place to land in case he changed his mind. His sisters jokingly called his empty room “The Shrine.”
Soon, however, it became clear Michael wasn’t turning back, and despite her initial disbelief, Bev would become the biggest champion of her son’s vocation to the priesthood.
After the year of discernment, he began his studies at St. Hyacinth College in Massachusetts and was eventually sent to the Pontifical University of St. Bonaventure in Rome for four years to study Sacred Theology, which worried his mother who thought it would be too much change for him.
“I’ve always said Michael was very much a local boy. He loves this country and his beloved hometown of Baltimore. He loves people, he loves sports, he loves his family,” she says. “I have to say the Lord again knew what He was doing. Michael went over there a boy and came back a man.”
“He came back with experiences that I’m still told about to this day – the people he met, the people he lived with, the places that he went, including a mission trip to Ghana.”
The people in need on his mission trip from Rome to Ghana made a deep impression on him as a seminarian, as did meeting Pope John Paul II during his years studying at the Pontifical University. His mother keeps a framed picture of the meeting on display along with other items from Rome at her Maryland home.
Michael and his Conventual Franciscan brothers ham it up at the friars’ novitiate in Ellicott City, Maryland.
DEDICATED TO CATHOLIC EDUCATION
Michael was ordained a transitional deacon in Rome in 1988 and a priest in 1989 at St. Casimir Catholic Church in Baltimore.
After helping to grow St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, New York, from 1989 to 1994, the now-Father Martin became a teacher, coach and eventually the head of school at his alma mater, Archbishop Curley High School, serving there from 1994 to 2010.
Under his leadership, the school completed a $7 million capital campaign to build an arts center, downsize the friary, and created a new library, offices, meeting areas, and a modern fitness center. The science labs and the auditorium also received updates. Enrollment grew to 600 students, and the Archdiocese of Baltimore credited him for helping Archbishop Curley become a regional school. The Vatican also took notice, awarding him the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice award in 2007.
As his sister Judy recalls, “He stood out as a leader and knew most of the kids by name. As the head of the school, he wanted them to feel the brotherhood that he experienced when he was a student at Curley.”
His sister Jeanne adds, “He easily engages with students, partly through his sense of humor. He’s real and he’s relevant. So much of that comes from his years teaching and serving as principal and president. You can’t play act in front of a bunch of high school boys or girls. It’s his best attribute aside from his faith.”
His experience at both high schools prepared him to become director of the Duke Catholic Center in Durham from 2010 to 2022, where he effectively reached Catholics and non-Catholics alike. During his tenure, he grew participation in the faith, started “Confession on the Quad,” celebrated Mass in a parking garage during the pandemic, and renovated and built an addition to the Falcone-Arena House, a prayer and study center. They even dedicated the center’s entertainment room to his mother for her instrumental role in Father Martin’s priesthood.
Then-seminarian Michael Martin meets Pope John Paul II, one photo among many mementos from Rome at Bev Martin’s home.
GIVING THE GIFT OF HIMSELF
Bev says her son’s vocation has enriched all their lives.
“We were just normal people, and now our family has friends in all the places Michael has been,” she says. “It’s truly one big love story.”
His sisters agree.
“His designation as Bishop of Charlotte is not surprising when you know what he’s accomplished in all his years as a priest and consider the impact he has had on so many people – family, friends, and acquaintances who are now friends,” Jeanne says.
“He has tremendous leadership skills. He can be a first-line manager and move all the chess pieces that need to be moved in a job like being a bishop. From the spiritual side, he has an ability to connect with people of all kinds and ages, while also staying true to the Church’s teachings. He’s also a phenomenal homilist!”
Judy says she was elated at the news, and their sister Ellie, who has been helping set up her brother’s new residence in Charlotte, laughs about how her brother – because of his Franciscan vow of poverty – teases his sisters about some of their fanciness. “Aren’t you schwanky,” he’ll say. In turn, they call him “Uncle Schwank.”
Bev says she is overjoyed to be here to celebrate this momentous occasion with her family, and although their father is no longer here to share in the good news, he is certainly pleased.
“I can only say that his dad supported Michael in any way that he could, and now he supports him from heaven,” his mother says. “I know he’s up there saying, ‘Look at my boy. Yes, look at my boy.’ I know that he’s very proud at this moment.”
— Annie Ferguson. Liz Chandler contributed.
EWTN will also air the ordination Mass at 3 p.m. Wednesday, May 29.
Come meet Bishop-elect Martin on Tuesday, May 28, during a special “Holy Hour with Benediction: An Evening of Praise and Prayer” at 7 p.m. at St. Mark Church (14740 Stumptown Road, Huntersville). Free, no ticket required.
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