CHARLOTTE — On Sept. 8, students at St. Ann Elementary School celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in their classes.
In addition to the all-school Mass for the feast day, each class brought bouquets of flowers to one of the statues of Mary at the school and parish.
They enjoyed special birthday treats in honor of Mary in the afternoon. Students also honored St. Ann, the school’s patron, as the mother of Mary.
Other activities for the feast day in various classes included making a donut rosary, Mary’s “birthday trivia,” drawing and coloring pictures of Mary, making birthday gifts for Mary, and devotional walks.
Several students were spotted stopping to pray individually as they passed statues of Mary on campus.
— Photo provided by Anna Owens
CHARLOTTE — Students in six Catholic schools across the diocese will receive a total of $78,700 in financial aid from the C. Philip Johnston-Aline W. Kaneer Scholarship Fund, paying all their tuition for the 2023-’24 academic year.
The fund was created by Johnston with $4 million from his estate after his death in 2017.
Johnston was born in Charlotte but lived all over the country before retiring in the Southeast. He attended Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., and earned a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1958. He worked in the entertainment industry, but when acting work became scarce, he took a “temporary job” working for Conrad Hilton in a new credit card venture called Carte Blanche. He rose to success in the emerging industry and, after reaching the position of senior vice president at a large regional bank in St. Louis, he left to lead a nonprofit organization specializing in consumer credit counseling.
Students from all 20 Catholic schools in the Diocese of Charlotte are eligible for scholarship awards from the fund.
The Johnston Scholarship follows students throughout their time in schools in the Charlotte diocese.
The schools that students will attend this year are Bishop McGuinness High School in Kernersville; Charlotte Catholic High School; Our Lady of Mercy and St. Leo schools in Winston-Salem; Sacred Heart School in Salisbury; and St. Michael School in Gastonia.
The scholarship awarded to each student ranges from $7,000 to $15,000 depending on the tuition cost and need. Each student can continue receiving assistance through the scholarship fund every year for the length of their academic career as long as they remain eligible.
“I first met with Mr. Johnston back in 1989. He made his decision to put this (scholarship) gift in his estate back then,” said Jim Kelley, diocesan director of development. “He never wavered from that commitment, even though he moved away from the diocese in his later years.”
Kelley noted, “More and more people across the diocese like Philip Johnston are recognizing a range of needs in the Church here in western North Carolina – including our Catholic schools, parishes, seminarian education, Catholic Charities and St. Joseph College Seminary – and remembering these ministries in their wills and estates.”
Since 1986, diocesan entities including parishes, schools and ministries have received 44 gifts of $1 million or more from individuals like Johnston. They typically help fund capital projects or endowments.
— Annie Ferguson
Learn more
Interested in establishing an endowment to benefit the Church in western North Carolina? For details, contact Gina Rhodes at 704-370-3364 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..