Very Reverend Wilbur N. Thomas, V.F. 

Wilbur Thomas was adopted as an infant and raised in a Methodist household in Lexington. A stroke left his dad bedridden when Thomas was 10.  It was the local priest who came to visit, though. Soon his dad converted to Catholicism. By age 12, Thomas too became Catholic.

At his Catholic H.S., while serving at mass and praying before the Blessed Sacrament, he felt the call of priesthood. His parents, now Catholic, were surprisingly opposed.  He had no siblings and they wanted grandchildren! But they finally agreed to seminary his senior year. He entered Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio and was ordained on March 26, 1973 for the Diocese of Raleigh. He then transferred to the then-new Charlotte diocese to be closer to family.  He has since served as pastor in four parishes, including (for the past 18 years) as rector and pastor of St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville.

As the first newly ordained priest – and first African American — incardinated for the new Charlotte Diocese, Thomas was a trailblazer in many ways.  He began many ministries and programs in which today’s Catholics of the diocese now participate. As Charlotte’s first campus minister (Wake Forest), he created the diocese’s Campus Ministry Program, the Youth Ministry Program and the Diocesan Youth Council.  He became a rock of support (vicar) for fellow priests, for the early Charismatic Renewal Movement, and for ecumenical outreach. Through Thomas came the Rev. Dr. Martin L. King Jr. celebration and the diocese committee of Black Catholic Ministry and Evangelization (now called African American Affairs Ministry).  

From 1979 to 1986, Thomas served as pastor of Our Lady of Consolation, Charlotte’s only Black Catholic parish (founded by Redemptorists in 1955).  Thomas was their first, and to date only, Black pastor. Initiatives begun under him, like their Gospel Choir, remain integral to the vibrancy of that parish. Nationally, Thomas has been a steady contributor to NBCCC, and our faithful liaison to the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests (AUSCP).  In 2018, Thomas retired from active priestly ministry after serving the Church in western North Carolina for 45 years.