News from Catholic Extension


  • Our Sunday Visitor Supports the Hispanic Lay Leadership Partnership
    Posted: 9/19/2011
    Catholic Extension today announced that Our Sunday Visitor Institute has joined other leading Catholic funding organizations to support the Hispanic Lay Leadership Partnership with a $25,000 grant.
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  • Fr. Wall and Joe Boland on Relevant Radio
    Posted: 8/22/2011
    Fr. Wall, President of Catholic Extension, and Joe Boland, Senior Director of Grants Management for Catholic Extension, live on A Closer Look with Sheila Liaugminas.
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  • Joe Boland Interview on The Drew Mariani Show
    Posted: 6/13/2011
    Catholic Extension Senior Director of Grants Management, Joe Boland, was interviewed by The Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio. Download the interview to hear Joe explain the various ways Catholic Extension supports 86 mission dioceses across the United States.
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  • $200,000 Awarded to Diocese of Covington to Support Seminarian Education
    Posted: 1/10/2011
    Catholic Extension announced today it will award $200,000 to the Diocese of Covington to help fund the education of 19 seminarians, thereby building the next generation of ordained Catholic leadership in this northern Kentucky diocese. Catholic Extension has awarded more than $1 million to the Diocese since 2006 to strengthen its Seminarian Education Fund, established in 1993 to educate its growing number of seminarian students.

    "During these past five years, Catholic Extension has provided $1 million dollars to the Diocese of Covington, which has responded by significantly intensifying its own fundraising activity for seminarian education," said Joseph Boland, Senior Director of Grants Management for Catholic Extension. "We are gratified by the results of this partnership."
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  • $125,000 awarded to Archdiocese of Military Services to Support Seminarians
    Posted: 12/22/2010
    Catholic Extension announced today it will award $125,000 to the Archdiocese of Military Services (AMS) to support its Co-Sponsored Seminarian Program, which encourages and educates the next generation of ordained Catholic leadership in the military in cooperation with other U.S. dioceses.

    The program originated in 2008 as part of a long-term strategy to recruit seminarians in response to the severe shortage of Catholic military chaplains. It has quadrupled the number of participating seminarians from seven to 28 in just two years. However, its success has driven up costs to $350,000 annually--an amount the AMS has committed to provide even while it has no funds set aside specifically for the initiative. Catholic Extension's grant will make it possible for the AMS to continue with this hugely successful program.

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  • Nearly $50,000 to support development efforts at St. Ann's Indian Mission Parish
    Posted: 12/20/2010
    Catholic Extension announced today it will award $16,500 per year for the next three years -- a total $49,500 -- to the Diocese of Fargo to fund the salary for the Director of Development at St. Ann?s Indian Mission Parish in Rolette, North Dakota.

    The Director, Doc Brien, has been serving as a part-time volunteer since the Development Office was created in 2006. Bringing him on as a full-time employee will enable the five parishes of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indian Reservation Diocese to create and execute fundraising programs and activities to better support themselves. Approximately 16,000 Native American Catholics belong to these parishes.

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  • Catholics Across Country Called to Respond to 2011 Driehaus Challenge Grant
    Posted: 11/29/2010
    Father Jack Wall, President of Catholic Extension, announced Tuesday night that Richard Driehaus, well-known Chicago philanthropist and founder of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, is issuing a second $500,000 Challenge Grant for 2011 to supporters of the Chicago-based organization. Catholic Extension helps Catholic communities across America flourish by providing support for their faith-building initiatives and ministries.

    The announcement came during Catholic Extension?s annual Thanksgiving reception at the Drake Hotel. Mr. Driehaus explained that his challenge grant is meant to encourage new donors to give while also motivating current donors to increase their level of giving.

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  • $21,293 Awarded to Diocese of Jefferson City to Repair Historic Church
    Posted: 11/23/2010
    Catholic Extension announced today it will award $21,293 to the Diocese of Jefferson City to repair and maintain historic St. Peter Church in Brush Creek, Missouri, where Father Augustine Tolton, a former slave who became the Catholic Church?s first African-American priest in the United States, was baptized 156 years ago.
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  • $35,000 awarded to Diocese of Beaumont to Strengthen Hispanic Ministry
    Posted: 11/15/2010
    Catholic Extension announced today it will award $35,000 to the Office of Hispanic Ministry (OHM) in the Diocese of Beaumont to: subsidize the salary and housing expenses of four women religious and one deacon serving five isolated, rural Hispanic communities within the diocese; and help strengthen Diocesan-wide programs designed to promote the spiritual, physical and emotional health of 65,000 primarily first-generation Hispanic parents and their children.
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  • $60,000 to Mexican American Catholic College in Archdiocese of San Antonio
    Posted: 10/27/2010
    Catholic Extension announced today it will award $60,000 to the Mexican American Catholic College (MACC) in the Archdiocese of San Antonio to support the education and training of leaders among the Catholic Church in America's fastest-growing demographic. MACC is responding to the acute need for higher education among pastoral leaders in Hispanic Ministry.

    MACC's programs help advance wide ranging higher education opportunities for Hispanics, preparing students to take on multicultural leadership roles in parishes across the country, regardless of ethnic background. An $85,000 grant from Catholic Extension helped MACC establish its BA program in 2009. Since then, the program's enrollment has more than tripled, with 46 students registered for the 2010 semesters. Students include seminarians, women religious, deacons and lay leaders from mission dioceses. Building upon this momentum, MACC is now establishing an MA program to begin in the Fall of 2011, structured specifically for non-traditional students seeking advanced degrees in ministry.
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  • $150,000 Awarded to Diocese of Tucson to Support Priests' Salaries
    Posted: 10/22/2010
    Catholic Extension announced today it will award $150,000 to the Diocese of Tucson in Arizona to subsidize the salaries of four priests serving the four most culturally-rich yet financially-strapped communities in the diocese; and help these parishes cover their operational expenses. The priests serve approximately 6,100 primarily Hispanic and Native American families living in areas with long-term socio-economic challenges that have been exacerbated by the current recession.

    "Many parishes around the country are vibrant communities, such as these, where the ministry of the Church and faith of the people is strong, yet they lack the resources to even staff one priest," said Joseph Boland, Senior Director of Grants Management for Catholic Extension. "Funds for these four parishes are a part of Catholic Extension?s larger effort to enable the ministry of priests to bless parish and mission communities even when those communities cannot afford to have a priest."
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  • More Than $1 Million Awarded to Strengthen Campus Ministries Nationwide
    Posted: 10/19/2010
    Catholic Extension announced today that it has awarded $1,074,450 in grants in an effort to reach more than 500,000 Catholic students at 59 college campuses in 30 dioceses throughout the United States to grow in their faith. Funds will strengthen campus ministry programs that are a critical resource for young Catholics attending secular colleges and universities in the under-resourced dioceses that Catholic Extension serves. Catholic Extension also is supporting aggressive efforts by these campus ministries to encourage and train future leaders in the Catholic Church.
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  • Montana Priest Wins National Lumen Christi Award
    Posted: 10/12/2010
    Catholic Extension today announced that Reverend Edward Kohler of the Diocese of Helena in Montana is the recipient of the 2010 Lumen Christi Award, a prestigious national award given annually to a Catholic who has dedicated his or her life to serving in dioceses across America that need help to sustain themselves.

    Fr. Kohler has ministered to the people of Montana for the past 33 years. Currently he serves the people of the Native American Blackfeet Nation as the pastor of Little Flower Parish in Browning, an area where 70 percent are unemployed, 30 percent have drug or alcohol abuse problems and nine out of 10 children come from broken homes.

    "Catholic Extension is deeply honored to name Father Kohler the recipient of the 2010 Lumen Christi Award for his selfless devotion to the people of the Blackfleet Nation," said Father Jack Wall, President of Catholic Extension. "He is an extraordinary gift to Little Flower Parish community and the Diocese of Helena, and has become a beacon of hope and inspiration to the communities he serves."

    Catholic Extension has provided more than $400,000 to support Little Flower Parish since 1973, including providing for major church and facilities improvements as well as helping sustain pastoral ministries.
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  • Catholic Extension Announces Finalists for Prestigious 2010 Lumen Christi Award
    Posted: 9/27/2010
    Catholic Extension has named six finalists for the 2010 Lumen Christi Award, which is given annually to a Catholic who has dedicated his or her life to building long-lasting ministries and serving those living in America's 86 "mission dioceses," those dioceses located primarily in the Southeast, Southwest, Northwest and West that cannot sustain themselves without support.

    For 33 years, the Lumen Christi Award, Latin for "Light of Christ," has been presented annually to an individual who has demonstrated how the power of faith can transform lives and communities. Both the recipient, chosen from among the six worthy finalists, and his or her diocese, will receive $25,000 to support ministries in the communities the recipient serves.
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  • $25,000 Awarded to Support Standing Rock Reservation Parishes
    Posted: 9/17/2010
    Catholic Extension will award $25,000 to the Diocese of Rapid City to support six churches and their ministerial outreach in the economically-struggling Standing Rock Reservation region of the diocese, which serves approximately 270 families. Catholic Extension's grant will help cover the churches' operational expenses and subsidize salary and housing for the region's two priests, Fr. Jim Hoerter and Fr. Tony Grossenburg to ensure that the presence of the church remains strong and active. The funds will also help sustain pastoral ministry outreach to local tribal communities and vital counseling services.

    According to the Diocese of Rapid City, which oversees these ministries, community members in the region experience high rates of substance abuse, unemployment, depression, suicide and physical illness. However, Catholic Extension's funding will enable the local churches to continue their engagement with the parishioners, who collectively support and minister to one another, and create an even broader network of resources, support and hope for them during these challenging times.

    "The Standing Rock parishes are allowing people to experience the transformative power of faith," said Joseph Boland, Senior Director of Grants Management for Catholic Extension. "Their presence and their services, made available with support from Catholic Extension, help re-affirm for those who are struggling that God is present to their community and to their culture, and the universal church cares deeply about Catholic communities that can otherwise feel forgotten."

    The parishes benefiting from Catholic Extension's grant are: St. Bernards in McLaughlin; St. Bonaventure in McIntosh; Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in Kenel; St. Aloyious in Bullhead; Sacred Heart in Morristwon; St. Bede in Wakpala; and St. Ignatius Loyola in Wanblee.

    "Given the rate of unemployment in this area, it would be impossible for these churches to remain operational without Catholic Extension's support," said Suzanne Lambert, the Finance Manager for the Diocese of Rapid City. "The services provided by these ministries are crucial to helping families find hope in difficult times; we are extremely grateful for Catholic Extension's continued assistance in nurturing the faith in our communities."
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