Page 34 - Catholic Extension Magazine Summer2020

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Donor Profile

Generous Catholic
Extension donors Recognizing the dignity of the poor
are a blessing to others

hree years ago, John
Shettle Jr. happened
to pick up an issue
of Extension mag-
azine in the back of
T his church in St. Pe-
tersburg, Florida. The timing was
perfect. He’d been volunteering
with people experiencing home-
lessness, helping them get back on
their feet, and Catholic Extension’s
mission to reach out to those who
are marginalized spoke to him.
He wanted to give of himself in a
bigger way and was intrigued by its
many initiatives.
“Catholic Extension is an exten-
sion of what I’d like to do, but
just can’t accomplish by myself,”
he said. “I can’t build a church or
educate seminarians or bring Latin
American sisters to the U.S. to
work in poor parishes—but I can “I had a fascinating career that winter months, and decided to get
help Catholic Extension do it,” he took me all over the world,” he to know them.
said. “My support can really make said.
an impact.” He’s had an interesting But in 2013, he wanted to cut Helping on a small scale
journey to this discovery. back and be home more, so he and John and Abbey began by
his spouse, Abbey, who have three bringing sandwiches to the
A demanding, global career adult children, moved to St. Pe- homeless in a nearby park.
John was raised in Baltimore tersburg, Florida. They became pa- “They were really raggedy people
and educated by the School Sisters rishioners at St. Raphael. John’s who seemed pretty scary on the
of Notre Dame and the Jesuits. faith had been somewhat dormant surface,” he said. But in chatting
He then attended Washington during his rigorous career and he with them, the Shettles realized
and Lee University and received wanted to reengage. He joined the most were just down on their luck.
an MBA at Loyola College. After parish men’s group and a Bible “They were normal people with
joining his father’s business, which study. real lives who had had careers, but
insured small aircraft, he spent de- But he was looking for some- unfortunate circumstances had
cades as an insurance executive thing more. He started noticing led to their being homeless. And
including as CEO of several insur- the migration of homeless people getting reestablished in life was
ance-related entities. in his area, particularly during nearly impossible. They had no ad-