January 7, 2025 • 24 mins
On this episode of Speaking Of...College of Charleston, Father Gregory West, a 1980 College of Charleston graduate and pastor of Saint Clare of Assisi on Daniel Island, shares his journey from a devout Catholic upbringing on Sullivan's Island to a successful career in the maritime industry and eventually to the priesthood. He discusses the challenges and divine interventions in building the church including financial hurdles.
The initial cost estimate for the church was around 14 million, but due to rising construction costs in the Charleston area, the final bill came closer to 25 million. This escalation required West and his team to rethink parts of the project. For example, the church had planned to include several stained glass windows, but it wasn't financially feasible. According to West, either coincidence or divine providence intervened and they were able to secure the exact number of stained glass windows they needed from a church in Pittsburg that was closing that just happened to include a large stained glass window of Saint Clare of Assisi.
"Einstein said there are no such things as coincidences, just God's way of remaining anonymous," says West.
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Episode Transcript
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Ron Menchaca (00:19):
I'm standing in the narthex of St Clair of
Assisi Catholic Church on DanielIsland, South Carolina. The
church opened in the spring of2023 and everything around me is
sparkling and new. To my left isa statue of the church's
namesake. In her right hand, StClair holds a golden Ciborium
with the Holy Eucharist inside.
In her left hand, she clutches aBible. To my right hangs a huge
(00:41):
altarpiece featuring an image ofthe revered saint. It's a copy
of a well known 13th centurypainting by an unknown Italian
master, St Clair, is framed atits center, surrounded by eight
panels depicting key scenes fromher life, including miracles
that led to her canonization.
(01:04):
I'm engrossed in the painting.
When I hear the echo offootsteps approaching, I turn to
face the imposing figure, FatherGregory West, the church's
pastor, and a 1980 graduate ofthe College of Charleston. He
stands well over six feet andwears a black cassock that
drapes down to his shiny blackshoes, he welcomes me in a
booming baritone, Hello andWelcome to Speaking of College
(01:26):
of Charleston. I'm Ron Menchaca,Vice President of Marketing and
Communications. And on today'sepisode, I'm joined by Father
Gregory West, a proud College ofCharleston alumnus and pastor of
St Clair of Assisi CatholicChurch on Daniel Island, South
Carolina. Father West story isone of faith, perseverance and
purpose, a journey from anidyllic childhood and a tight
(01:50):
knit beach community to asuccessful career in the
maritime industry to answeringthe call to serve the church.
Father Gregory West, has deeproots in the South Carolina low
country, a fifth generationcharlestonian. He grew up on
Sullivan's Island, and threegenerations of his family lived
in the same house in downtownCharleston. My
Unknown (02:13):
great great grandparents, my great
grandparents, and my grandmotherand some of her siblings lived
on East Bay Street above what isnow Magnolia's restaurant, and
altered generations moved theretogether, and so my great, great
grandparents would oftentimesspend summers in moultrieville,
(02:35):
which is the West most end ofSullivan's Island. Sullivan's
Ron Menchaca (02:41):
Island was more than just home to Father west.
It was the foundation of a lifesteeped in family, community and
faith. But as we'll hear, hispath wasn't always
straightforward.
Unknown (02:53):
You know, we really knew we had something special,
but we didn't appreciate howspecial it was. In many ways, we
were kind of beach bumpkins. Iremember when I went to Bishop
England High School, when it wasthen on Calhoun Street, we were
teased by some of the otherstudents who lived in places
like James Island, West Ashley,because we lived all the way out
(03:16):
there, who would possibly liveon Sullivan's Island or even the
allo palms, but it was also suchan enclave of safety and
familiarity, I knew that I couldnever get into trouble, nor
would I want to, because therewere eyes always on me. And back
(03:37):
then, it took only five digitsto ring another telephone on
Sullivan's Island, and somebodywould call my mother. So it was
a very safe, beautiful place tolive. The beach was our
playground, going fishing andgrabbing all of the time. Father
Ron Menchaca (03:54):
West attended Catholic schools, including
Bishop England High School,which at the time was located on
Calhoun Street, on the sitewhere the college's Addlestone
library stands today. I
Unknown (04:04):
had grown up and been educated in a Catholic bubble,
Catholic school all my life upto that point. And so exactly
encountering kids from otherplaces, even beyond South
Carolina, I imagine that andkids who went to other churches
and no churches, Jewish kids. Itwas really kind of eye opening
(04:27):
and widened my panorama a greatdeal, which was a very
educational and beautiful thing.
At the same time, hearing otherpeople's ideas, their
perspectives, and it also helpedme to appreciate what I had
received from my parents after
Ron Menchaca (04:44):
completing high school, West did not travel far
to attend college. His oldersister Christine West graduated
from the College in 1974 and heenrolled there two years later,
and
Unknown (04:56):
I can remember driving into town, mom, driving us in.
To drop my sister off forclasses, and all of the walkways
that are now bricked over, Iremember those as actual
streets. And the student bodywas, I think, 800 students at
the time. And of course, thingschanged rapidly. So by the time
I enrolled in 1976 I believe wewere up to about three, maybe
(05:20):
4000 students West
Ron Menchaca (05:22):
was an active student. He joined the Alpha Tau
Omega fraternity and served asone of its officers. Got
involved in student governmentand was president of his senior
class. He also indulged in thefun and freedoms of college life
and began drifting away from hisreligious faith, much to the
disappointment of his parents.
Unknown (05:40):
It happened in high school. Yeah, like you know, so
many teenage kids, the vastmajority probably they see
churches, boring, irrelevant,something older people do, no
value. And my parents, whilevery disappointed that I was
putting up a big fuss like everyother kid, probably allowed me
(06:05):
to just step aside, and I took abig sidestep for eight years.
Had no involvement with thechurch at all when I was in
college for the first couple ofyears after college, and then
gradually made my way back Wes
Ron Menchaca (06:19):
started off as a political science major because
he was interested in attendinglaw school, but he switched to
Urban Studies. It was hisfamily's close ties to
Charleston's storied maritimeindustry that steered him toward
his first job out of college. I
Unknown (06:34):
come from a maritime family. My father's father was a
quarantine officer with thegovernment and was stationed out
of Fort Johnson and would boardvessels. My father was unable to
join the military during WorldWar Two because of a childhood
injury, so instead, he was inthe US maritime and actually saw
(06:57):
quite a bit of military actionin the Southern Pacific,
probably more than many in themilitary saw, and we knew as a
family that it must have beenfairly bad what Dad had
experienced, because he wouldn'tever talk about it. But he
returned to Charleston, and withhis maritime experiences that
(07:18):
far, was licensed to become atugboat Captain here in
Charleston, which he did for 35years.
Ron Menchaca (07:26):
Given his upbringing on Sullivan's Island
and his family's history, West,seemed destined to continue his
family's maritime legacy. I
Unknown (07:34):
worked on the Charleston mortar front. I
worked for a company thatrepresents corporations that
import merchandise into theUnited States. It's called a
custom house broker, and thiswas a position where we had to
file reams and reams ofdocuments, paper documents, back
in before the computer age, withthe US Customs Service and other
(07:56):
federal agencies and the stateports authority and trucking
firms, real firms, to move themerchandise from the docks in
Charleston to their finaldestination. It was, for me,
fascinating, because I learnedabout all sorts of commodities.
I learned about steel and timberand textiles and machinery and
(08:17):
personal household goods and onand on.
Ron Menchaca (08:21):
West did well in the maritime trade. His company
transferred him to the SouthCarolina Upstate, and later to
Atlanta. Despite the successWest was experiencing in his
career, something powerful wasstaring inside him, as we'll
hear, a pivotal event led him tore examine his path.
Unknown (08:37):
My father was a very devout man and was the Head
usher at our parish, andwhenever he was home, not
working, he would be at church.
We lived a block from our churchon Sullivan's Island. My father
died of cancer, and it was avery difficult cancer, and his
transition lasted about 18months. My father was six foot,
(08:59):
five and 260 pounds, kind of aJohn Wayne. And in 18 months, he
lost well over 100 pounds, andhad lost three ages in height
and became a skeleton of hisformer self. But all through it,
he he suffered with such dignityand faith and hope that anyone
who would have known my Fatherduring that period would be
(09:23):
inspired by how he had theextraordinary faith to know that
there was so much more lyingahead. And it also helped me to
reimagine my path forward, thatwhile I was doing all the right
things. I was making money. Ihad the girl, I had the
lifestyle in Atlanta. I washaving fun, I was traveling. But
(09:45):
all that was, in some ways, amirage. It was fun, it was a
good experience, but it wasn'tnecessarily fulfilling.
Something was that. Somethingwas missing. My Christian faith
had experienced such aresurgence that I was beginning
to see my life, the world inwhich I lived, in a far more
(10:09):
kind of eternal sphere, withoutbecoming too philosophical here
or theological. And so I reachedthat point where I understood,
because when I was a smallchild, when I was a young kid in
Catholic school, as the sistersall encouraged us to become
priests, for some reason, thatidea had resurfaced in my
(10:31):
thinking, and, of course, Idismissed it immediately,
multiple times. This is crazy. Imean, this is you're, you're,
you're not holy enough, you'renot smart enough, you're not
religious enough, you're, youknow you this is not for you.
What are you thinking? You knowyou've got this young lady
you're dating. But it just wouldnot go away. And the more I
(10:56):
thought about it, the morenatural it began to seem and so
I informed my bosses that I wasleaving the company and I was
applying to the seminary forformation to become a Catholic
priest. And they weredisappointed, but understood,
and I began that process ofapplication and getting rid of
(11:16):
all my belongings and beinggoing through the process and
all the tests and batteries andall that's necessary, and all of
a sudden, one morning, I findmyself in a Catholic seminary in
upstate Maryland, and a monthlater, asking myself, What have
I done
Ron Menchaca (11:38):
before entering seminary? West had been dating a
woman in Atlanta, and when thetime came to tell her his plans,
he didn't get the response heexpected.
Unknown (11:46):
So I was dating this young lady in Atlanta, and she
would come to church with mefrom time to time. She was not
Catholic, but she would comefrom time to time. And I got to
the point where I knew that Iwas going to be applying to the
seminary, and I had to let herknow. So it was Easter Sunday
that year, and she came tochurch with me, and I was going
to tell her that afternoon. SoI'd made reservations at a
(12:08):
restaurant in Bucha in Atlanta,and was sitting there, and the
waiter said, Would you like somechampagne being Easter Sunday?
Yes, that would be a good idea.
Thank you. And I said to her,there's something I have to tell
you. And she said to me, stop,let me tell you what you're
going to say to me. You're goingto say to me that you're going
(12:29):
to become a priest, at whichpoint I nearly fell off my chair
because only two people in theworld knew, two close friends in
whom I confided, and they didnot know one another.
Ron Menchaca (12:45):
After five years at Mount St Mary's Seminary in
Emmitsburg, Maryland, where heearned a Master of Divinity and
a Master of Arts in churchhistory, West was ordained in
Charleston to serve as a priestat the Cathedral of St John, the
Baptist on Broad Street. Oneday, the bishop called west into
his office and told him to packhis bags for Rome, where he
(13:06):
would study law at thePontifical Gregorian University.
The curriculum was taught inItalian, and he was given just
two months to learn the languagebefore beginning classes. He
graduated from the intense twoyear program with honors, and
today still serves as a Canonlawyer and judge in church
court. The next dozen yearspassed in a blur of prayer,
(13:26):
service and sermons as he crisscrossed the state, starting and
growing parishes beforereturning to Charleston in 2014
the bishop wanted him to start anew parish on Daniel Island,
where his old high school BishopEngland had relocated to in the
late 1990s he had no office, noteven a phone, but he had years
(13:47):
of experience in the church,business acumen and a tireless
work ethic passed down from hisfather. So
Unknown (13:54):
naturally, we need a name. So the bishop at the time
asked us to propose names. Wehad a big meeting of anybody and
everybody who wanted to come.
And so we came up with those,about 35 names that was sent to
our bishop. He whittled it downjob about 21 we then ran it past
the parish again. We came upwith our top three. And of the
(14:15):
top three, St Clair of Assisiwon the contest.
Ron Menchaca (14:24):
St Clair of Assisi was born Chiara ofreduccio In
1194 the daughter of a wealthyfamily in Assisi, Italy. Even
though she was raised innobility, Clare felt drawn to a
life of devotion and povertyafter hearing the sermons of St
Francis of Assisi defying herfamily's wishes for her to
marry. Claire escaped her homeand took refuge with St Francis,
(14:47):
who cut off her hair as a symbolof her renunciation of the
secular world. She went on toestablish her own Franciscan
order, the order of poor ladies,later known as the Poor Clares
in. Claire lived the rest of herlife in a convent, embracing a
strict lifestyle of prayer,fasting and austerity. She
became a powerful spiritualleader, counseling popes and
(15:11):
bishops despite her enclosedexistence, one of the most
famous stories from her life iswhen she defended her convent
from invaders by holding up theEucharist, causing the attackers
to flee. Claire's deep faith andcommitment to poverty inspired
generations of nuns to followher example.
Unknown (15:28):
We had done our homework so we thought we
planned for a much, much biggerchurch than what we wound up
with, just knowing that thegrowth of the area, as we have
since seen, is going to beexponential. So we planned for
1200 seats. We wound up with 850seats. The initial design the
(15:50):
budget was 14 million. The costof this 850 seat church wound up
being 25 million, because of theescalation of prices in a very
short period of time due toconstruction, the demands,
everything happening here in theCharleston area, I
Ron Menchaca (16:06):
imagine that your education at the college and as
well as your business experiencein as a customs broker in the
maritime industry, all of thathad to have come in handy. I
mean, I think there's amisunderstanding that that
pastors, you know, write theirsermons and deliver on say
there's a whole business to itday to day that you're involved
(16:29):
in. So did some of that come tobear in helping plan, begin the
planning for the church?
Unknown (16:34):
It did, you know, again, looking back at my
college education, some of theart appreciation and some of the
history of architecture. ClassesI took all lent themselves
toward the planning of thisproject, and then the skills I
picked up in the workforcehaving to be highly organized,
(16:54):
systems, management, deadlines,accuracy, all those sorts of
things kicked in into overdrive,as they had in previous
positions, but particularly hereas well, because this was going
to be a large scale project thatwas going to be intricate and
involved and expensive, the
Ron Menchaca (17:13):
process of building St Clair of Assisi
church was far from smooth. Likeany large project, it came with
its share of hurdles. Forstarters, there were financial
challenges. The initial costestimate for the church was
around 14 million, but due torising construction costs in the
Charleston area, the final billcame closer to 25 million. This
escalation required West and histeam to rethink parts of the
(17:36):
project. For example, the churchhad planned to include several
stained glass windows, but itwasn't financially feasible,
Unknown (17:43):
and because we were faced with extraordinary cost
escalations, there were thingswe had hoped we could have that
it was going to prove to beimpossible because of costs. And
so the architects designed thewindows. We were going to fill
them with plain glass along intime. We believe somebody could
(18:05):
possibly replace those withstained glass. We had a number
of other design and liturgicalneeds, but again, they would
have to be deferred until somepoint in the future, by either
coincidence or providence. Welearned of the closing of a
mother house just outside ofPittsburgh. This was a an
(18:26):
enormous facility that had beenopened about 120 years ago for
religious order of nuns who hadcome to Pittsburgh in 1865 just
three in the beginning, tominister to the German speaking
immigrants of the area. Theyended up founding the first,
first Catholic hospital inPittsburgh, which grew up
eventually grew to be thelargest hospital in Pittsburgh.
(18:47):
And they went from three sistersin 1865 to well over 100 within
just 40 years time. So they hadbuilt this beautiful, large
facility to house everyone. Andthese were the sisters, by the
way, who were the doctors andthe nurses and the CPAs and
dressed in their full religioushabits, they were quite a
(19:09):
powerful force and didextraordinary work in western
Pennsylvania. They had to closethe property because their
numbers had dwindled and theycould no longer afford to
maintain this extraordinary andlarge property. So the terms of
sale were that all theliturgical finishings, all the
sacred objects, had to beremoved from the building
because it would become asecular senior living facility.
(19:32):
We happened to learn about thatthrough somebody who's a member
here and a family contact inPittsburgh. So two of us flew up
to Pittsburgh to meet with thesisters to talk about the
possibility of transferringthose items from their chapel to
our church project. So we walkinto the northex of the chapel
that northex being kind of thelobby area, and their standing
(19:55):
guard over that space is a largedevotional statue of St Clair
Assisi. Now I thought that wasvery clever of the sisters
having brought it out fromstorage. So I thought to kind of
make us feel welcome. But thesuperior of the convent told me
very clearly, no that it hadbeen there for many, many years.
(20:15):
But
Ron Menchaca (20:15):
there were more surprises in store. As West
entered the chapel, we walked
Unknown (20:19):
into the chapel proper, extraordinary space, most
beautiful stained glass windows,statuary, paintings, all the
rest, just a sacred, beautifulplace. And I look up and there
is a large stained glass windowof St Clair Assisi. So I
thought, Okay, Lord, this ispretty obvious how this is
(20:40):
supposed to go. To make a longstory short, we were able to
acquire most everything from thechapel from the sisters at maybe
10% of their actual value,because the sisters were so
excited to know that all ofthese furnishings would be going
into a brand new church. Theydid. They knew that they
wouldn't be sitting in awarehouse somewhere, hoping that
someday they might find a home.
And the really curious more, thereally interesting phenomenon
(21:06):
coincidence, is that we needed12 windows, and the sisters had
12 windows, and obviously one ofthem was St Clair Assisi, and
the windows fit our architectsdesign that were going to house
plain glass by just inches, sothe architects had to slightly
tweak the design to accommodatethese more than 100 year old
(21:27):
windows meant to be some wouldsay,
Ron Menchaca (21:32):
Yeah, I've heard you say divine intervention,
potentially, possibly, yeah, Ijust, I mean it just, you can't.
It's almost
Unknown (21:39):
unbelievable. Einstein said there are no such things as
coincidences, just God's way ofremaining anonymous.
Ron Menchaca (21:45):
As Father West stood in the convent, it became
clear that these treasures fromthe past were destined to be
part of the new St Clair ofAssisi Catholic Church in
Charleston. Everything wasfalling into place, but there
was still one thing that, atleast on the surface, didn't
seem to match up. St Clairpracticed extreme poverty, yet
Daniel Island is a very affluentcommunity. I asked Father West
(22:08):
how he reconciles this starkcontrast. Well,
Unknown (22:12):
it's interesting, because she was a woman of great
simplicity and austerity, andshe walked away from her wealth
and the Daniel Island andneighboring demographic is not
exactly that, and so it seemedkind of contrary. But the
reality is, she was so immersedin her understanding of beauty,
(22:37):
beauty in nature, beauty andprayer, beauty in all things
that she understood and receivedin her prayer life, that we knew
that we had to really emphasizebeauty in all things. And while
this is a community that youknow has done well, this is also
a community that isextraordinarily generous in our
(22:59):
work in cane Hoy and ug andWando with with the lease of our
brothers and sisters, the peoplein this parish have been
extraordinarily generous,nearing the $1 million mark in
terms of donations and payingpower bills and fixing up roofs
and, you know, providing foodand all the rest. So we're
(23:20):
living in the Spirit of St ClairAssisi, and we really do focus
in the simplicity of life withGod.
Ron Menchaca (23:30):
From his time at the College of Charleston to his
leadership at St Clair Assisi,Father Gregory West, journey is
a powerful example of faith,service and dedication to
community, and as we've seen,sometimes, life has a way of
offering divine help when youneed it most. Our thanks to
Father West for joining us onspeaking of College of
(23:51):
Charleston, thank you forlistening to this episode of
speaking of College ofCharleston with today's guest
and College of Charlestonalumnus father Gregory West, for
more episodes and read storiesabout our guests, visit the
College of Charleston's officialnews site the college
today@today.charleston.edu Youcan also find this and past
(24:15):
episodes on all major podcastplatforms, including Apple
podcasts and Spotify. If youlike what you hear. Please
subscribe and leave us a review.
This episode was produced by AmyStockwell and ramanchaka from
the Office of marketing andcommunications with recording
and sound engineering by Jessecomes from the Division of
Information Technology. Thanksagain, and we'll see you next
(24:36):
time you
I'm standing in the narthex of St Clair of
Assisi Catholic Church on DanielIsland, South Carolina. The
church opened in the spring of2023 and everything around me is
sparkling and new. To my left isa statue of the church's
namesake. In her right hand, StClair holds a golden Ciborium
with the Holy Eucharist inside.
In her left hand, she clutches aBible. To my right hangs a huge
(00:41):
altarpiece featuring an image ofthe revered saint. It's a copy
of a well known 13th centurypainting by an unknown Italian
master, St Clair, is framed atits center, surrounded by eight
panels depicting key scenes fromher life, including miracles
that led to her canonization.
(01:04):
I'm engrossed in the painting.
When I hear the echo offootsteps approaching, I turn to
face the imposing figure, FatherGregory West, the church's
pastor, and a 1980 graduate ofthe College of Charleston. He
stands well over six feet andwears a black cassock that
drapes down to his shiny blackshoes, he welcomes me in a
booming baritone, Hello andWelcome to Speaking of College
(01:26):
of Charleston. I'm Ron Menchaca,Vice President of Marketing and
Communications. And on today'sepisode, I'm joined by Father
Gregory West, a proud College ofCharleston alumnus and pastor of
St Clair of Assisi CatholicChurch on Daniel Island, South
Carolina. Father West story isone of faith, perseverance and
purpose, a journey from anidyllic childhood and a tight
(01:50):
knit beach community to asuccessful career in the
maritime industry to answeringthe call to serve the church.
Father Gregory West, has deeproots in the South Carolina low
country, a fifth generationcharlestonian. He grew up on
Sullivan's Island, and threegenerations of his family lived
in the same house in downtownCharleston. My
Unknown (02:13):
great great grandparents, my great
grandparents, and my grandmotherand some of her siblings lived
on East Bay Street above what isnow Magnolia's restaurant, and
altered generations moved theretogether, and so my great, great
grandparents would oftentimesspend summers in moultrieville,
(02:35):
which is the West most end ofSullivan's Island. Sullivan's
Ron Menchaca (02:41):
Island was more than just home to Father west.
It was the foundation of a lifesteeped in family, community and
faith. But as we'll hear, hispath wasn't always
straightforward.
Unknown (02:53):
You know, we really knew we had something special,
but we didn't appreciate howspecial it was. In many ways, we
were kind of beach bumpkins. Iremember when I went to Bishop
England High School, when it wasthen on Calhoun Street, we were
teased by some of the otherstudents who lived in places
like James Island, West Ashley,because we lived all the way out
(03:16):
there, who would possibly liveon Sullivan's Island or even the
allo palms, but it was also suchan enclave of safety and
familiarity, I knew that I couldnever get into trouble, nor
would I want to, because therewere eyes always on me. And back
(03:37):
then, it took only five digitsto ring another telephone on
Sullivan's Island, and somebodywould call my mother. So it was
a very safe, beautiful place tolive. The beach was our
playground, going fishing andgrabbing all of the time. Father
Ron Menchaca (03:54):
West attended Catholic schools, including
Bishop England High School,which at the time was located on
Calhoun Street, on the sitewhere the college's Addlestone
library stands today. I
Unknown (04:04):
had grown up and been educated in a Catholic bubble,
Catholic school all my life upto that point. And so exactly
encountering kids from otherplaces, even beyond South
Carolina, I imagine that andkids who went to other churches
and no churches, Jewish kids. Itwas really kind of eye opening
(04:27):
and widened my panorama a greatdeal, which was a very
educational and beautiful thing.
At the same time, hearing otherpeople's ideas, their
perspectives, and it also helpedme to appreciate what I had
received from my parents after
Ron Menchaca (04:44):
completing high school, West did not travel far
to attend college. His oldersister Christine West graduated
from the College in 1974 and heenrolled there two years later,
and
Unknown (04:56):
I can remember driving into town, mom, driving us in.
To drop my sister off forclasses, and all of the walkways
that are now bricked over, Iremember those as actual
streets. And the student bodywas, I think, 800 students at
the time. And of course, thingschanged rapidly. So by the time
I enrolled in 1976 I believe wewere up to about three, maybe
(05:20):
4000 students West
Ron Menchaca (05:22):
was an active student. He joined the Alpha Tau
Omega fraternity and served asone of its officers. Got
involved in student governmentand was president of his senior
class. He also indulged in thefun and freedoms of college life
and began drifting away from hisreligious faith, much to the
disappointment of his parents.
Unknown (05:40):
It happened in high school. Yeah, like you know, so
many teenage kids, the vastmajority probably they see
churches, boring, irrelevant,something older people do, no
value. And my parents, whilevery disappointed that I was
putting up a big fuss like everyother kid, probably allowed me
(06:05):
to just step aside, and I took abig sidestep for eight years.
Had no involvement with thechurch at all when I was in
college for the first couple ofyears after college, and then
gradually made my way back Wes
Ron Menchaca (06:19):
started off as a political science major because
he was interested in attendinglaw school, but he switched to
Urban Studies. It was hisfamily's close ties to
Charleston's storied maritimeindustry that steered him toward
his first job out of college. I
Unknown (06:34):
come from a maritime family. My father's father was a
quarantine officer with thegovernment and was stationed out
of Fort Johnson and would boardvessels. My father was unable to
join the military during WorldWar Two because of a childhood
injury, so instead, he was inthe US maritime and actually saw
(06:57):
quite a bit of military actionin the Southern Pacific,
probably more than many in themilitary saw, and we knew as a
family that it must have beenfairly bad what Dad had
experienced, because he wouldn'tever talk about it. But he
returned to Charleston, and withhis maritime experiences that
(07:18):
far, was licensed to become atugboat Captain here in
Charleston, which he did for 35years.
Ron Menchaca (07:26):
Given his upbringing on Sullivan's Island
and his family's history, West,seemed destined to continue his
family's maritime legacy. I
Unknown (07:34):
worked on the Charleston mortar front. I
worked for a company thatrepresents corporations that
import merchandise into theUnited States. It's called a
custom house broker, and thiswas a position where we had to
file reams and reams ofdocuments, paper documents, back
in before the computer age, withthe US Customs Service and other
(07:56):
federal agencies and the stateports authority and trucking
firms, real firms, to move themerchandise from the docks in
Charleston to their finaldestination. It was, for me,
fascinating, because I learnedabout all sorts of commodities.
I learned about steel and timberand textiles and machinery and
(08:17):
personal household goods and onand on.
Ron Menchaca (08:21):
West did well in the maritime trade. His company
transferred him to the SouthCarolina Upstate, and later to
Atlanta. Despite the successWest was experiencing in his
career, something powerful wasstaring inside him, as we'll
hear, a pivotal event led him tore examine his path.
Unknown (08:37):
My father was a very devout man and was the Head
usher at our parish, andwhenever he was home, not
working, he would be at church.
We lived a block from our churchon Sullivan's Island. My father
died of cancer, and it was avery difficult cancer, and his
transition lasted about 18months. My father was six foot,
(08:59):
five and 260 pounds, kind of aJohn Wayne. And in 18 months, he
lost well over 100 pounds, andhad lost three ages in height
and became a skeleton of hisformer self. But all through it,
he he suffered with such dignityand faith and hope that anyone
who would have known my Fatherduring that period would be
(09:23):
inspired by how he had theextraordinary faith to know that
there was so much more lyingahead. And it also helped me to
reimagine my path forward, thatwhile I was doing all the right
things. I was making money. Ihad the girl, I had the
lifestyle in Atlanta. I washaving fun, I was traveling. But
(09:45):
all that was, in some ways, amirage. It was fun, it was a
good experience, but it wasn'tnecessarily fulfilling.
Something was that. Somethingwas missing. My Christian faith
had experienced such aresurgence that I was beginning
to see my life, the world inwhich I lived, in a far more
(10:09):
kind of eternal sphere, withoutbecoming too philosophical here
or theological. And so I reachedthat point where I understood,
because when I was a smallchild, when I was a young kid in
Catholic school, as the sistersall encouraged us to become
priests, for some reason, thatidea had resurfaced in my
(10:31):
thinking, and, of course, Idismissed it immediately,
multiple times. This is crazy. Imean, this is you're, you're,
you're not holy enough, you'renot smart enough, you're not
religious enough, you're, youknow you this is not for you.
What are you thinking? You knowyou've got this young lady
you're dating. But it just wouldnot go away. And the more I
(10:56):
thought about it, the morenatural it began to seem and so
I informed my bosses that I wasleaving the company and I was
applying to the seminary forformation to become a Catholic
priest. And they weredisappointed, but understood,
and I began that process ofapplication and getting rid of
(11:16):
all my belongings and beinggoing through the process and
all the tests and batteries andall that's necessary, and all of
a sudden, one morning, I findmyself in a Catholic seminary in
upstate Maryland, and a monthlater, asking myself, What have
I done
Ron Menchaca (11:38):
before entering seminary? West had been dating a
woman in Atlanta, and when thetime came to tell her his plans,
he didn't get the response heexpected.
Unknown (11:46):
So I was dating this young lady in Atlanta, and she
would come to church with mefrom time to time. She was not
Catholic, but she would comefrom time to time. And I got to
the point where I knew that Iwas going to be applying to the
seminary, and I had to let herknow. So it was Easter Sunday
that year, and she came tochurch with me, and I was going
to tell her that afternoon. SoI'd made reservations at a
(12:08):
restaurant in Bucha in Atlanta,and was sitting there, and the
waiter said, Would you like somechampagne being Easter Sunday?
Yes, that would be a good idea.
Thank you. And I said to her,there's something I have to tell
you. And she said to me, stop,let me tell you what you're
going to say to me. You're goingto say to me that you're going
(12:29):
to become a priest, at whichpoint I nearly fell off my chair
because only two people in theworld knew, two close friends in
whom I confided, and they didnot know one another.
Ron Menchaca (12:45):
After five years at Mount St Mary's Seminary in
Emmitsburg, Maryland, where heearned a Master of Divinity and
a Master of Arts in churchhistory, West was ordained in
Charleston to serve as a priestat the Cathedral of St John, the
Baptist on Broad Street. Oneday, the bishop called west into
his office and told him to packhis bags for Rome, where he
(13:06):
would study law at thePontifical Gregorian University.
The curriculum was taught inItalian, and he was given just
two months to learn the languagebefore beginning classes. He
graduated from the intense twoyear program with honors, and
today still serves as a Canonlawyer and judge in church
court. The next dozen yearspassed in a blur of prayer,
(13:26):
service and sermons as he crisscrossed the state, starting and
growing parishes beforereturning to Charleston in 2014
the bishop wanted him to start anew parish on Daniel Island,
where his old high school BishopEngland had relocated to in the
late 1990s he had no office, noteven a phone, but he had years
(13:47):
of experience in the church,business acumen and a tireless
work ethic passed down from hisfather. So
Unknown (13:54):
naturally, we need a name. So the bishop at the time
asked us to propose names. Wehad a big meeting of anybody and
everybody who wanted to come.
And so we came up with those,about 35 names that was sent to
our bishop. He whittled it downjob about 21 we then ran it past
the parish again. We came upwith our top three. And of the
(14:15):
top three, St Clair of Assisiwon the contest.
Ron Menchaca (14:24):
St Clair of Assisi was born Chiara ofreduccio In
1194 the daughter of a wealthyfamily in Assisi, Italy. Even
though she was raised innobility, Clare felt drawn to a
life of devotion and povertyafter hearing the sermons of St
Francis of Assisi defying herfamily's wishes for her to
marry. Claire escaped her homeand took refuge with St Francis,
(14:47):
who cut off her hair as a symbolof her renunciation of the
secular world. She went on toestablish her own Franciscan
order, the order of poor ladies,later known as the Poor Clares
in. Claire lived the rest of herlife in a convent, embracing a
strict lifestyle of prayer,fasting and austerity. She
became a powerful spiritualleader, counseling popes and
(15:11):
bishops despite her enclosedexistence, one of the most
famous stories from her life iswhen she defended her convent
from invaders by holding up theEucharist, causing the attackers
to flee. Claire's deep faith andcommitment to poverty inspired
generations of nuns to followher example.
Unknown (15:28):
We had done our homework so we thought we
planned for a much, much biggerchurch than what we wound up
with, just knowing that thegrowth of the area, as we have
since seen, is going to beexponential. So we planned for
1200 seats. We wound up with 850seats. The initial design the
(15:50):
budget was 14 million. The costof this 850 seat church wound up
being 25 million, because of theescalation of prices in a very
short period of time due toconstruction, the demands,
everything happening here in theCharleston area, I
Ron Menchaca (16:06):
imagine that your education at the college and as
well as your business experiencein as a customs broker in the
maritime industry, all of thathad to have come in handy. I
mean, I think there's amisunderstanding that that
pastors, you know, write theirsermons and deliver on say
there's a whole business to itday to day that you're involved
(16:29):
in. So did some of that come tobear in helping plan, begin the
planning for the church?
Unknown (16:34):
It did, you know, again, looking back at my
college education, some of theart appreciation and some of the
history of architecture. ClassesI took all lent themselves
toward the planning of thisproject, and then the skills I
picked up in the workforcehaving to be highly organized,
(16:54):
systems, management, deadlines,accuracy, all those sorts of
things kicked in into overdrive,as they had in previous
positions, but particularly hereas well, because this was going
to be a large scale project thatwas going to be intricate and
involved and expensive, the
Ron Menchaca (17:13):
process of building St Clair of Assisi
church was far from smooth. Likeany large project, it came with
its share of hurdles. Forstarters, there were financial
challenges. The initial costestimate for the church was
around 14 million, but due torising construction costs in the
Charleston area, the final billcame closer to 25 million. This
escalation required West and histeam to rethink parts of the
(17:36):
project. For example, the churchhad planned to include several
stained glass windows, but itwasn't financially feasible,
Unknown (17:43):
and because we were faced with extraordinary cost
escalations, there were thingswe had hoped we could have that
it was going to prove to beimpossible because of costs. And
so the architects designed thewindows. We were going to fill
them with plain glass along intime. We believe somebody could
(18:05):
possibly replace those withstained glass. We had a number
of other design and liturgicalneeds, but again, they would
have to be deferred until somepoint in the future, by either
coincidence or providence. Welearned of the closing of a
mother house just outside ofPittsburgh. This was a an
(18:26):
enormous facility that had beenopened about 120 years ago for
religious order of nuns who hadcome to Pittsburgh in 1865 just
three in the beginning, tominister to the German speaking
immigrants of the area. Theyended up founding the first,
first Catholic hospital inPittsburgh, which grew up
eventually grew to be thelargest hospital in Pittsburgh.
(18:47):
And they went from three sistersin 1865 to well over 100 within
just 40 years time. So they hadbuilt this beautiful, large
facility to house everyone. Andthese were the sisters, by the
way, who were the doctors andthe nurses and the CPAs and
dressed in their full religioushabits, they were quite a
(19:09):
powerful force and didextraordinary work in western
Pennsylvania. They had to closethe property because their
numbers had dwindled and theycould no longer afford to
maintain this extraordinary andlarge property. So the terms of
sale were that all theliturgical finishings, all the
sacred objects, had to beremoved from the building
because it would become asecular senior living facility.
(19:32):
We happened to learn about thatthrough somebody who's a member
here and a family contact inPittsburgh. So two of us flew up
to Pittsburgh to meet with thesisters to talk about the
possibility of transferringthose items from their chapel to
our church project. So we walkinto the northex of the chapel
that northex being kind of thelobby area, and their standing
(19:55):
guard over that space is a largedevotional statue of St Clair
Assisi. Now I thought that wasvery clever of the sisters
having brought it out fromstorage. So I thought to kind of
make us feel welcome. But thesuperior of the convent told me
very clearly, no that it hadbeen there for many, many years.
(20:15):
But
Ron Menchaca (20:15):
there were more surprises in store. As West
entered the chapel, we walked
Unknown (20:19):
into the chapel proper, extraordinary space, most
beautiful stained glass windows,statuary, paintings, all the
rest, just a sacred, beautifulplace. And I look up and there
is a large stained glass windowof St Clair Assisi. So I
thought, Okay, Lord, this ispretty obvious how this is
(20:40):
supposed to go. To make a longstory short, we were able to
acquire most everything from thechapel from the sisters at maybe
10% of their actual value,because the sisters were so
excited to know that all ofthese furnishings would be going
into a brand new church. Theydid. They knew that they
wouldn't be sitting in awarehouse somewhere, hoping that
someday they might find a home.
And the really curious more, thereally interesting phenomenon
(21:06):
coincidence, is that we needed12 windows, and the sisters had
12 windows, and obviously one ofthem was St Clair Assisi, and
the windows fit our architectsdesign that were going to house
plain glass by just inches, sothe architects had to slightly
tweak the design to accommodatethese more than 100 year old
(21:27):
windows meant to be some wouldsay,
Ron Menchaca (21:32):
Yeah, I've heard you say divine intervention,
potentially, possibly, yeah, Ijust, I mean it just, you can't.
It's almost
Unknown (21:39):
unbelievable. Einstein said there are no such things as
coincidences, just God's way ofremaining anonymous.
Ron Menchaca (21:45):
As Father West stood in the convent, it became
clear that these treasures fromthe past were destined to be
part of the new St Clair ofAssisi Catholic Church in
Charleston. Everything wasfalling into place, but there
was still one thing that, atleast on the surface, didn't
seem to match up. St Clairpracticed extreme poverty, yet
Daniel Island is a very affluentcommunity. I asked Father West
(22:08):
how he reconciles this starkcontrast. Well,
Unknown (22:12):
it's interesting, because she was a woman of great
simplicity and austerity, andshe walked away from her wealth
and the Daniel Island andneighboring demographic is not
exactly that, and so it seemedkind of contrary. But the
reality is, she was so immersedin her understanding of beauty,
(22:37):
beauty in nature, beauty andprayer, beauty in all things
that she understood and receivedin her prayer life, that we knew
that we had to really emphasizebeauty in all things. And while
this is a community that youknow has done well, this is also
a community that isextraordinarily generous in our
(22:59):
work in cane Hoy and ug andWando with with the lease of our
brothers and sisters, the peoplein this parish have been
extraordinarily generous,nearing the $1 million mark in
terms of donations and payingpower bills and fixing up roofs
and, you know, providing foodand all the rest. So we're
(23:20):
living in the Spirit of St ClairAssisi, and we really do focus
in the simplicity of life withGod.
Ron Menchaca (23:30):
From his time at the College of Charleston to his
leadership at St Clair Assisi,Father Gregory West, journey is
a powerful example of faith,service and dedication to
community, and as we've seen,sometimes, life has a way of
offering divine help when youneed it most. Our thanks to
Father West for joining us onspeaking of College of
(23:51):
Charleston, thank you forlistening to this episode of
speaking of College ofCharleston with today's guest
and College of Charlestonalumnus father Gregory West, for
more episodes and read storiesabout our guests, visit the
College of Charleston's officialnews site the college
today@today.charleston.edu Youcan also find this and past
(24:15):
episodes on all major podcastplatforms, including Apple
podcasts and Spotify. If youlike what you hear. Please
subscribe and leave us a review.
This episode was produced by AmyStockwell and ramanchaka from
the Office of marketing andcommunications with recording
and sound engineering by Jessecomes from the Division of
Information Technology. Thanksagain, and we'll see you next
(24:36):
time you
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