Early life and education Vincent Waters was born on August 15, 1904, in
Roanoke,
Virginia, to Michael Bernard and Mary Frances (née Crowley) Waters. He attended
Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina from 1920 to 1925, and then entered
St. Charles College in Ellicott City, Maryland (1925-1926) and
St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland (1926-1928). Following his return to Virginia in 1932, Waters served as a
curate at Holy Cross Parish in
Lynchburg, Virginia, until 1936, when he was transferred to
Sacred Heart Cathedral in Richmond, Virginia. He described
racial segregation as a product of "darkness," and declared that "the time has come for it to end." He also said, "I am not unmindful, as a Southerner, of the force of this virus of prejudice among some persons in the South, as well as in the North. I know, however, that there is a cure for this virus, and that is our faith." Bishop
Michael Begley said of Waters, "[his] missionary zeal and his concern for God's people cannot be measured. He was a leader in many fields, one of which was civil rights, as he fought for the civil rights of the black people in integrating schools, churches and all Catholic institutions."Waters attended all four sessions of the
Second Vatican Council in Rome between 1962 and 1965. Waters was later accused by some of the diocesan clergy of holding on to idle church property worth millions of dollars while some
parishes were in debt. He also denied requests for the creation of a priests' senate, and had his resignation requested by around twenty percent of the clergy. In 1972, Waters expelled five
Sisters of Providence nuns from the diocese for not wearing their
religious habits while teaching. Vincent Waters died from a
heart attack at his residence in Raleigh on December 3, 1974, at age 70. He is buried in the cemetery of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in
Newton Grove, North Carolina. ==See also==