• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Father Michael Kottar, a priest from the Diocese of Charlotte, N.C., gives a 2015 World Meeting of Families homily for pilgrims in Philadelphia from his diocese. Father Kottar was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in 2021, an extremely rare and aggressive brain disease for which there is no effective treatment or cure. (CNS photo/Patricia L. Guilfoyle, Catholic News Herald)

Facing death, priest turns his farewell into teachable moment

May 6, 2021
By Liz Chandler
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Video, Vocations, World News

Father Michael Kottar, a priest from the Diocese of Charlotte, N.C., is seen in this undated photo. He was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in 2021, an extremely rare and aggressive brain disease for which there is no effective treatment or cure. (CNS photo/courtesy Kottar family via Diocese of Charlotte)

MOUNT HOLLY, N.C. (CNS) — As dusk fell April 29, nurses pushed Father Michael Kottar in his wheelchair just outside a North Carolina rehabilitation center where 27 young men studying to become priests stood preparing to say goodbye.

At 53, Father Kottar, a priest from the Diocese of Charlotte, has been diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, an extremely rare and aggressive brain disease for which there is no effective treatment or cure. The next day, the priest of 27 years boarded a medical flight to Ohio, to be with his family and get the end-of-life care he needs.

But on this evening, Father Kottar felt unsettled about leaving the parish families where he had been pastor at St. Mary Help of Christians Parish in Shelby and Christ the King Mission in Kings Mountain. He was pleased, though, to spend a moment with the future priests of the Diocese of Charlotte, since becoming a priest is his most treasured achievement.

The students from St. Joseph College Seminary in Charlotte had come to sing, pray and provide comfort to Father Kottar, but he also had a gift for them.

Born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Father Kottar is the oldest of three children, the big brother of twin girls he simply called “sista” because he couldn’t tell them apart.

Their mother worked as a Catholic school secretary and library tech and their father coordinated an assembly line for General Motors. Father Kottar was a bookworm who graduated at the top of his high school class and shocked his sisters when he announced he wanted to become a priest.

He dived into his studies — first at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio, then earning a philosophy degree from St. Alphonsus Redemptorist Seminary in Connecticut and finally getting a master of divinity degree from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Maryland, in 1994. He was ordained a priest that year for the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey, where he served five years before joining the Charlotte Diocese in 1999.

Father Kottar has served at several parishes throughout the diocese. A fitness buff, he loves to hike and cruise the Caribbean with his compatriot Father Herbert Burke, who leads the neighboring Immaculate Conception Parish in Forest City. He also is known for his slapstick, British-style sense of humor and for his way with words, especially in moving homilies, which made pilgrimages he led particularly meaningful.

He became pastor of St. Mary in Shelby in 2007, which was his longest-running assignment. He said he loved the mix of people and cultures there and the parishioners in turn have appreciated him for his counseling, running the parish Bible study program, overseeing an expansion of the narthex and getting the parking lot paved.

But last December, Father Kottar began feeling dizzy, and at times had to cancel Mass. After what seemed like endless testing, in April he received the terminal diagnosis.

Video follows; story continues below

“It was hard to hear. I thought I’d have a few more years. But if God wants me now, then that’s what will be. I just can’t understand how anyone could get through something like this without faith,” Father Kottar said, just before meeting the seminarians.

Sitting in his wheelchair with a calm demeanor, he listened as fellow priests blessed him, gave him Communion and sprinkled holy water. He smiled as the gathered seminarians and women religious chanted the “Regina Coeli.”

Then, Father Kottar, who had been incapacitated with infection for days, perked up to speak.

“It’s wonderful to see such a growing Diocese of Charlotte,” he said. “In case I die, I have a few words for the future: It’s a good future.”

“There have been some bad times in the church,” he said, noting that the seminarians have work to do and that even if they don’t know what this entails yet: “God has a plan for each one of you.”

Father Michael Kottar, a priest from the Diocese of Charlotte, N.C., is surrounded by priests, seminarians and members of the Daughters of the Virgin Mother at St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly, N.C., April 29, 2021. Father Kottar was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, an extremely rare and aggressive brain disease for which there is no effective treatment or cure. (CNS photo/Liz Chandler, Catholic News Herald)

The priest encouraged them to pray the rosary, to revere the Eucharist and to rise above divisions. Struggling to find the words, he continued, “I wish I could stay a little longer, and maybe I will, but you are going to be the future, and I think liberal, conservative, it’s not that so much. It’s about having faith. Having faith in God.

“So keep the faith,” he added.

Through tears, his sister Renee Selby said she hopes his words and example inspire any young person who is exploring their purpose in life.

On May 2, Charlotte Bishop Peter J. Jugis joined St. Mary’s parishioners to share the news of their pastor’s departure and announce that Father Fidel Melo will serve as parish administrator until a permanent pastor can be appointed.

“Father Kottar has previously said he saw bringing Christ to the world as one of the most important roles of a priest and he became a priest in order to share the love of Christ with everyone,” Bishop Jugis said. “Now it is important for us to carry on doing the same,” he added, quoting the parish motto: “that in all things God may be glorified.”

Before leaving North Carolina, Father Kottar said if he could, he would tell his parish simply: “Adios.” A farewell that translates “To God.”

Father Kottar will return to his parish family, his sister said, when he is buried at nearby Belmont Abbey. He said he’s looking forward to what comes after that: “It will be good to see God, the Lord,” he said.

Also see

Trusted relationships with priests key to fostering vocations, study says

A priesthood for all: Synodal church requires new look at ministry

Seminarians bond over hoops, but off court meals, prayer, Mass offer fellowship too

Registration opens Feb. 15 for 2024 National Eucharistic Congress

Seek nourishment, satisfaction in Eucharist, pope says

Archdiocese of Baltimore concludes Year of the Eucharist with special Corpus Christi Mass

Copyright © 2021 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Liz Chandler

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history
  • RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints
  • Fire guts historic Catholic school in parish connected to St. John Neumann
  • Sister Elizabeth Ellen Kane, O.S.F., dies at 81
  • Notre Dame Cathedral reopening date announced as reconstruction on its famous spire wraps up in eastern France

| Latest Local News |

Catholic Charities’ William J. McCarthy Jr. named Loyola’s Business Leader of the Year

Sister Joan Cooper, O.S.F., dies at 94

Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history

| Latest World News |

Pope, World Council of Churches’ leaders talk about war, divisions

Pre-Vatican II Mass was formed by ‘clericalization,’ says papal preacher

Memorial to modern Christian martyrs opens in Rome

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Pope, World Council of Churches’ leaders talk about war, divisions
  • Pre-Vatican II Mass was formed by ‘clericalization,’ says papal preacher
  • Memorial to modern Christian martyrs opens in Rome
  • Human composting, alkaline hydrolysis not acceptable for burial, say U.S. bishops
  • Pope advances sainthood causes of six candidates
  • Retired Milwaukee priest barred from hearing confessions over support of Delaware ‘repeal of seal’ law
  • Suspect pleads not guilty in murder of LA Auxiliary Bishop O’Connell
  • Avoid polarizing debate, promote healthy scientific discussion, pope says
  • CRS, USAID help Ethiopia ‘at a time of great need’ amid devastating drought

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED