Sallie Kelton honored for reaching hearts during her 23 years at St. Pius X
Sallie Kelton, pictured by her piano, recently retired after serving as St. Pius X Church’s music minister for more than two decades. (Photo provided by Terry Rumley)GREENSBORO — At a retirement luncheon celebrating Sallie Kelton’s 23 years as music minister at St. Pius X, the assistant music minister, Brian Otter, reflected on Kelton’s time at the parish.
“St. Pius X will never be the same,” Otter remembers saying when Kelton arrived in Greensboro more than 20 years ago. This mother of three and Kentucky native has blessed the parish in her vocation as music minister, mother, wife, friend, mentor and more. While most people consider her voice and unique piano style as her gift to the parish, it is her gift of bringing others closer to Christ that is the legacy Kelton leaves St. Pius X.
“Think of this. Sallie has brought thousands of people closer to Christ through her ministry,” said Otter.
Addressing Kelton, he said, “You have been present for almost all the high points in our lives: our children’s baptisms, our first Communions, our confirmations, our weddings, our children’s weddings, anointing of the sick and funerals of our loved ones. I cannot think of a more powerful way to serve the Lord as a lay person,” he said.
The retirement luncheon, held Aug. 1 in the parish’s Simmons Center, was hosted by the parish office staff and Monsignor Anthony Marcaccio, pastor. “What makes our parish so successful is its level of engagement,” Monsignor Marcaccio told Kelton. “Your ministry of music has helped engage our parish towards its goal of full, active participation in the liturgy.”
The celebration was filled with special music, gifts and reflections of gratitude for the musician. Kelton has not only reached hearts at St. Pius X, she is well respected in the Catholic music community at large. She has developed lifelong friendships with Catholic singer/songwriters Sarah Hart and John Angotti, who shared warm regards in a recorded video. Kelton’s close friend Tony Hayes performed “While You’re in the World” by Elton John, and Monsignor Marcaccio presented Kelton with a check to Caring Services Inc., an addiction recovery facility Kelton has supported ever since losing her son Griffin in 2015.
Parishioners Rebecca and Michael Schlosser called Kelton’s 23 years at St. Pius X a gift. “Sallie’s inspirational voice is truly her God-given ministry,” Rebecca Schlosser said. “She played at our son’s funeral and at my mother’s funeral. When we entered the church for our son’s funeral Mass, Sallie played ‘Be Not Afraid.’ I listen to that song and ‘On Eagle’s Wings’ almost every day now when I walk. We love Sallie. We will desperately miss her.”
In 2019, Sarah Hart invited Kelton to share her video testimony at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress as part of Hart’s presentation “The Song of Women: Raising the Voice of the Feminine in our Church.” Five women shared personal testimonies of how God has used their gifts and even their pain to inspire hope in others. Hart was moved by how God has used the loss of Kelton’s son to unveil a new purpose in her life – using her voice not only for song but for prayer and advocacy as well.
Kelton’s hope for the parish community and music ministry of St. Pius X is that they will continue to share God’s love through prayer and song and that people will walk away from each liturgy with gratitude and love in their hearts.
As she always says, “God is good … all the time.”
— Georgianna Penn, Correspondent
Nearly 2,000 donors make St. Joseph’s $20M capital campaign a success
MOUNT HOLLY — Thanks to nearly 2,000 donors, St. Joseph College Seminary has reached its $20 million capital campaign goal.
Donations and pledges raised over the past five years have been used to build the new 30,000-square-foot college seminary, a home for young men who are exploring a vocation to the diocesan priesthood while also pursuing undergraduate degrees at nearby Belmont Abbey College. The college seminary currently houses 25 seminarians and those who are responsible for their formation.
Bishop Peter Jugis blessed the new college seminary Sept. 15, 2020, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, after an official ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“God continues to bestow huge blessings upon the Diocese of Charlotte, and the successful completion of the seminary capital campaign is one of those blessings,” Bishop Jugis said.
“We have a very broad participation from every corner of the diocese, and beyond,” said Fredrik Akerblom, the seminary’s director of development. “When we come together, we can accomplish a lot.”
Akerblom noted that everyone involved helped to realize a complex, comprehensive plan to open the college seminary – the only one of its kind between Washington, D.C., and Miami – providing a unique opportunity for young men in the diocese discerning a call to the priesthood.
“The participation in this capital campaign was as astounding as it was encouraging. It manifests that the Church here in the Charlotte diocese takes seriously the need for strong and holy vocations to the priesthood. We have relied on God’s providence from day one of this project,” said the college seminary’s rector, Father Matthew Kauth.
St. Joseph College Seminary opened in 2016 in a former convent behind St. Ann School in Charlotte, housing an inaugural class of eight college seminarians. Over the course of four years, with a growing number of men entering the program each year, the diocese housed additional students in four separate residences near the St. Ann Church campus while accelerating the construction of a permanent home for the college seminary in Mount Holly. Enrollment has more than tripled since the program began five years ago.
With Gothic architecture and brickwork inspired by nearby Belmont Abbey, where in 1876 Benedictine monks planted the roots of Catholicism in western North Carolina, the new two-story college seminary includes 40 dorm rooms, a chapel, classroom, library, faculty offices, a refectory and kitchen, and a picturesque cloister walk where students can meditate and pray.
The program aims to nurture local vocations among the parishes and families in the Charlotte diocese, close to home. Graduates go on to major seminaries out of state to complete their priestly formation, then return for ordination to serve in the diocese’s growing parishes.
“We are taking responsibility for the men the Lord sends to us,” Father Kauth said. “I feel optimistic of what we can achieve together, pray God, in the future.”
“May we continue to serve the Lord faithfully who has been so generous with us,” Bishop Jugis said. “Special thanks to Father Kauth, our donors, and the entire team for their tremendous work on this campaign.”
Looking ahead, plans at the college seminary include the construction of a chapel large enough to host liturgies with the seminary community and up to 150 visitors.
The current chapel was designed as a lecture and banquet hall and will be used as such once a new chapel is ready.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
Learn more
For information about the St. Joseph College Seminary, go to www.stjcs.org or contact Fredrik Akerblom, seminary director of development, at 704-302-6386 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..