News from Catholic Extension


  • $20,000 awarded to develop youth ministry leaders across Diocese of Santa Rosa
    Posted: 8/24/2010
    Catholic Extension will award $20,000 to support a dynamic Youth Ministry Outreach initiative designed to better prepare young people of all cultures in parishes throughout the California diocese to become leaders in their church communities.

    A large number of the diocese's rural parishes have few existing leaders from within their communities. In response to an expressed desire among the parishes to develop youth leadership despite hard times, Catholic Extension is providing funding for initiatives that build the faith of local youth, inspire them to lead, and equip them with the practical tools to reach out to their peers and foster participation in the Church.

    "Youth ministry leaders are critically important to building strong faith communities and the future of our Church," said Joseph Boland, Senior Director of Grants Management for Catholic Extension. "We know these leaders are out there. We believe in their capacity to accept responsibility for the spiritual growth of their communities, and are committed to nurturing that capacity with effective educational programs."
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  • $50,000 awarded to Diocese of Belleville to support community center and shelter
    Posted: 8/6/2010
    Catholic Extension announced today it will award $50,000 to support the Daystar Community Center and the Holy Angels Shelter in the Diocese of Belleville in order to continue to serve southern Illinois' growing needy and homeless populations. In light of the rising cost of goods and services, declining contributions from other sources and state budget cuts, Catholic Extension grants of $25,000 each to the two organizations will contribute to purchasing food and supplies and covering operational expenses.

    "The fact that the recession has evaporated resources in these poverty-stricken areas makes it all the more necessary for us to support the faith-driven missions of Daystar and Holy Angels," said Joseph Boland, Senior Director of Grants Management for Catholic Extension. "At Catholic Extension, we are committed to supporting programs such as these that exemplify the power of faith, not just to meet basic needs but give people hope -- especially in the worst of times."

    Founded by the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ in 1979, the Daystar Community Program provides food, shelter and clothing, as well as financial assistance, crisis intervention and advocacy services to people from the six southernmost counties of Illinois, and bordering counties in Kentucky and Missouri. The number of people seeking help is currently the greatest in Daystar's history. Located in Cairo's Alexander County, the poorest in Illinois, Daystar serves thousands of people each year. The Kitchen Table, Daystar's soup kitchen, receives upwards of 200 visitors each day, and its mobile food pantry delivers food to hundreds of Cairo's elderly and homebound annually.

    Holy Angels Shelter, a ministry of Catholic Urban Programs and the only 24-hour transitional Christian shelter in East St. Louis, has provided emergency food, clothes and shelter to single women and children, as well as intact families, since 1984. With 58% of East St. Louis children living below the poverty line, a child abuse rate of 27% and a violent crime rate of 62%, the demand for advocacy ministry in East St. Louis continues to climb. Holy Angels' supportive services include domestic violence intervention, substance abuse counseling, healthcare, childcare and financial planning assistance designed to stabilize clients' lives and help them successfully re-enter society.

    "Twenty-six of our diocese's 28 counties have an unemployment rate higher than the national average," said Judy Phillips of the Diocese of Belleville's Office of Development. "We are home to the poorest of the poor in Illinois. So many of our programs to aid the needy would disappear were it not for help from Catholic Extension; we are so grateful for their continued support."
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  • $40,700 awarded to expand prison ministry services in 16 mission dioceses
    Posted: 7/28/2010
    Catholic Extension announced today it will award $40,700 to expand prison ministry services in 16 mission dioceses in California, Florida, Ohio and Texas. The funds will support a one-year pilot program created through a strategic partnership with DISMAS Ministry, a national Catholic organization that ministers to the imprisoned, and the American Bible Society, dedicated to increasing the accessibility of the Bible. The program is designed to deepen the spiritual life of Catholic prison inmates in impoverished areas of the country.

    Launched in July 2010, the program focuses on increasing prisoners' access to Scripture and maximizing the benefits of that access by implementing accompanying Bible study sessions. The American Bible Society will coordinate in-kind donations of Catholic Bibles for use in the ministry, and Catholic Extension will access a vast diocesan network of 560 prison chaplains and local pastoral ministers to enable DISMAS to distribute materials and implement prison ministry Scripture Study programs in participating prison facilities.

    "Catholic Extension is pleased to support ministries that actively help build faith," said Joseph Boland, Senior Director of Grants Management at Catholic Extension. "By providing additional Bibles and new study tools to prison chaplains in poor and isolated dioceses, we are helping sustain the work they do to deepen the faith of incarcerated Catholics and encourage spiritual transformation in their lives."

    Approximately 3,700 Catholic inmates will participate in the program, which will serve up to 269 prison facilities, from federal prisons to juvenile detention centers.

    "The help we get from organizations like Catholic Extension is critically important in continuing the work we do," said Ron Zeilinger with DISMAS. "The demand for Bibles and the desire to learn from Scripture is high in criminal justice ministry. This partnership will not only help bring the Word to thousands of inmates desperate for a closer relationship with God, but also help them understand it through the Bible study sessions our ministry provides."
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  • Nearly $1 Million to Increase Self-Sustainability of Dioceses and Parishes
    Posted: 7/15/2010
    Catholic Extension today announced that it has awarded $979,221 in grants to help 59 dioceses and their parishes in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Islands become more self-sustaining by supporting communication and fundraising initiatives, as well as financial and facility management programs. The 106-year-old national organization is helping parish and diocesan leaders improve their ability to meet their churches' fiscal and operational needs from within, creating opportunities for these organizations to forge ahead during the current economic downturn.

    The grants focus on three main areas: 1) diocesan and parish fundraising, which received nearly $600,000 of the total; 2) diocesan and parish financial and facility management, which received approximately $270,000 and 3) diocesan planning and operational efficiency projects, which received $110,000.

    "Dioceses and parishes are better able to accomplish their missions when their leaders soundly manage assets, plan for the future, communicate well and raise money," said Joseph Boland, Senior Grants Director for Catholic Extension. "We have been gratified to witness many dioceses become stronger this year because they have accepted our offer for and made the most of Catholic Extension grants specifically developed to ensure ongoing sustainability during challenging times."
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  • $25,000 Awarded to Fund Hispanic Evangelization Center in Diocese of Charlotte
    Posted: 6/25/2010
    Catholic Extension announced today that it has awarded a $25,000 grant to the Diocese of Charlotte to fund programs at the Hispanic Evangelization Center that will educate and train lay leaders to meet the growing needs of the remote area's nearly 2,000 Hispanics. The grant represents the latest in a serious of grants totaling $750,000 during the past decade which have enabled the Diocese of Charlotte to emerge as a leader in Hispanic Ministry.

    Father Julio Dominguez, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi in Lenoir, N.C., established the Center in 2009. Father Dominguez is the only Spanish-speaking priest in the central region of the diocese, which is acutely aware of the need for well-trained Hispanic laity to help priests who do not speak Spanish meet the pastoral needs of parishes with large Latino populations. The Center teaches the Pontifical Catechetical Institute's School of Faith/Escuela de la Fe curriculum, and hosts retreats, workshops and conferences in faith formation and pastoral preparation. This institute of theological formation and pastoral preparation will serve as a model for other regions of the Diocese.

    "It is my hope that the Center's activities, enhanced by Catholic Extension's support, will help the Hispanic community better understand and live their faith and give them the confidence to share it with others," said Father Julio Dominguez.

    All projects and activities support the Center's mission to recruit, prepare and certify Hispanic lay persons to work in parishes within the diocese. Catholic Extension funds will support the operational expenses of the Center, including supplies for conferences, workshops, retreats, and the School of Faith program, which expects a fall 2010 enrollment of more than 35 students. The Center will continue to operate out of St. Francis of Assisi's facilities until a separate building can be purchased.

    "Father Julio recognizes that leadership must come from within the Hispanic population in order for parishes serving mostly Latinos to grow," Joseph Boland, Senior Grants Director for Catholic Extension. "Catholic Extension is happy to support him and the Center's efforts to equip lay members with the tools they need to minister to their Hispanic faith communities."

    The $25,0000 grant for the Center is part of the $91,000 in funding that Catholic Extension is providing this year alone to support ministerial efforts among the rapidly growing Hispanic community in the Diocese of Charlotte, which is home to more than 300,000 Hispanics. In 2006 the diocese was recognized by the USCCB's Committee for Hispanic Affairs for Excellence, commending its well-established diocesan office and regional structure, effective diocesan coordination of Hispanic youth and young adult ministry, and its strong pastoral plan for Hispanic ministry.

    Catholic Extension is pleased that the over $750,000 invested in Hispanic ministry in the Diocese of Charlotte during the past 10 years has yielded such a successful result.
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  • $120,000 Grant Awarded to Why Catholic? Program Across Diocese of Amarillo
    Posted: 6/14/2010
    Catholic Extension announced today it will award the Diocese of Amarillo a $120,000 grant - $30,000 a year over four years - to fund implementation of RENEW International's Why Catholic? Journey through the Catechism / ¿Por qué ser católico? El Catecismo como camino a bi-lingual program in English and Spanish that aims to strengthen faith in Catholic communities from a pastoral, personal and practical standpoint.

    In electing to institute the program in all of its 50 parishes, the diocese is taking a comprehensive approach to growing people?s faith and developing new lay leaders across the vast expanse of the Texas panhandle, allowing New Jersey-based RENEW International's presentations, workshops, retreat training and follow-up to have maximum impact.

    "The Why Catholic? program will be a boon for our diocese by giving us the education tools we desperately need to help faith flourish and qualities of leadership blossom among our people," Amarillo's Bishop Patrick Zurek said. ?When local people see leaders rise from among them, it awakens their own desire to participate. It's a domino effect that we hope will continue to play out for years to come, and we're so appreciative to Catholic Extension for helping to make it possible."

    Why Catholic?, which will launch in the diocese in the fall of 2010, empowers parishes and all Catholics to better understand and strengthen their faith through a series of 48 small group study sessions. Conducted by local parish volunteers over the course of four years, the sessions encourage reflection on Catholic beliefs, sacraments, morality and prayer. They are intended to give participants the confidence to share their faith with others and serve their communities.

    "We are gratified by Amarillo's desire to partner with us and RENEW International to implement Why Catholic? across the entire diocese, and we see it as a potential model for the dioceses we serve, which often are both poor and remote, to help grow people?s faith in a very personal way despite minimal resources," said Father Jack Wall, President of Catholic Extension. "Parishes need leadership to come from within the community if they are to truly strengthen and become self-sustaining."

    "We are overjoyed that Catholic Extension has committed these funds to support parish development in the Texas Panhandle, ensuring that the Diocese of Amarillo does not have to limit its reach," said Sr. Theresa Rickard, O.P., President and Executive Director of RENEW International. "The experiences of other dioceses across the country assures us that this process will support the missionary needs of the diocese of Amarillo by giving community members the tools they need to understand and live their faith."

    Those interested in learning more or contributing to the project can contact the Development Office at Catholic Extension at catholicextension.org or 800-842-7804.

    The Why Catholic? grant is one of more than 1000 requests Catholic Extension will fulfill this year in poor and isolated communities across the U.S. and its territories. Last year, the organization invested $14 million in the United States? 84 ?mission dioceses,? geographic regions of the country where the Catholic Church is growing and needs are great. Catholic Extension was able to do so through contributions from 47,000 individual donors who share its commitment to strengthen communities and sustain the Catholi
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  • Catholic Extension Awards First Grant from the Sister Marguerite Bartz Fund
    Posted: 6/4/2010
    Father Jack Wall, President of Catholic Extension, has announced that the first grant from the Sister Marguerite Bartz Fund, established in April of this year, is awarded to St. Michael Indian School located on the Navajo Reservation in the Diocese of Gallup. The $41,451 grant will fund renovations to the school's gymnasium, an essential part of the St. Michael campus that is used for physical education as well as student assemblies, events and all-school Masses.

    "It is only fitting that St. Michael Indian School be the first recipient of a grant from the Sister Marguerite Bartz Fund, as Sister Marguerite was a member of the school's board and lived and worked in its community for so many years," Father Wall said at a recent ceremony at which the grant was presented. "Empowering St. Michael to continue a mission that she believed so strongly in--the education of Native American youth--embodies the spirit in which her Fund was founded."

    Catholic Extension established the Sister Marguerite Bartz Fund in honor of the late Sister Marguerite, who worked as a spiritual leader, educator, mentor, activist and community builder for more than 40 years before she was brutally murdered during a robbery in her home on the Navajo Reservation in November 2009. The Fund supports the essential work of women religious and the ministries they create and inspire in the most underserved regions of the United States. The Fund supplements the $1,664,289 Catholic Extension already is committed to distributing in 2010 to support women religious and their ministries in our country's poorest and most isolated dioceses.

    "Thank you for this gift and for honoring Marguerite and all of us," said an emotional Sister Kathleen Kajer, SBS, executive director of St. Michael Indian School, upon receiving the grant. "We have the oldest gym on the Navajo reservation and our students will be so grateful for [this renovation.] I know Sister Marguerite would be so pleased with this gift because she was the chairperson of our facilities committee."

    St. Michael Indian School was founded by St. Katharine Drexel, founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, in 1902 to in order to provide students from local Native American communities with a quality education rooted in Catholic values and sensitive to Native heritage. Sister Marguerite, who entered the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1966, ministered to the students of the school until her life of passionate service was tragically cut short. St. Michael Indian School is the longest continually operating K-12 institution and the sole remaining Catholic school within the Navajo Reservation.

    Catholic Extension has been supporting the ministries of women religious in the mission dioceses since its inception in 1905. In 2010, Catholic Extension will provide more than $1.6 million to support the work of hundreds of sisters in 33 dioceses across the country. Sister Marguerite Bartz was one of the sisters receiving funding from Catholic Extension, in the form of a salary subsidy, to support her presence in one of the poorest areas of our country.
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  • Church destroyed by arsonist in Lamar, MO experiences rebirth
    Posted: 5/21/2010
    Determined to rebuild their historic church and fueled by a $150,000 challenge grant from Catholic Extension, the parishioners of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Lamar, Missouri are sponsoring Lenten fish fries, car raffles, carnivals and chili cook-offs, digging deep into their own pockets, and raising an unprecedented $175,000 within a community beset by economic hardship. Catholic Extension announced today that it is fulfilling its pledge.

    St. Mary's, originally built in 1904, was the spiritual home and social hub for Catholics throughout the region for generations and to date the only Catholic parish in Barton County. The beloved church was set ablaze by an arsonist on February 8, 2009. The cost of rebuilding is $1.2 million, and the community was charged with raising $400,000 not covered by insurance.

    In January 2010, Catholic Extension shared a plan to commit $150,000 to the fundraising effort if the parish could raise at least $90,000 among its 90 families, expecting the parishioners could match the challenge in 6 to 12 months. Yet in just two months, parishioners have accumulated $130,000 in pledges in the small, rural community of 4,500, where the median household family income is $29,000 and 700 residents were laid off from jobs this past year in the manufacturing industry. Recently, parishioners raised $6,000 alone at a Friday Lenten fish fry. A neighboring church in nearby Joplin, also St. Mary's, contributed $10,000 to the cause from its own Lenten fish fry.

    Dr. Gene Aug, director of development and properties for the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, lauded St. Mary's parishioners for their resolve to rebuild and credited Catholic Extension's challenge with inspiring people to give.

    "These faith-filled people have been deeply committed to making this happen from day one, but Extension's involvement and promise definitely spurred them into more action," said Aug, who noted that other parishes in the diocese and local churches of all denominations also have rallied in support. "The congregation's unwavering perseverance has paid off. They are literally responsible for breathing life into their new home."

    Construction has begun on the new church; expected completion is October 2010. The new structure, to seat nearly 200 worshippers, will feature a traditional design and incorporate stones from the old church that survived the fire. In the interim, parishioners are celebrating Mass and gathering together in St. Mary's parish hall, built with Catholic Extension funds in 1978.

    "This past year the parishioners of St. Mary?s have lost their jobs, their income and their church but not their faith," said Joseph Boland, Grants Director for Catholic Extension. "Their story is reminiscent of the events of Holy Week, which Catholics celebrate prior to Easter--a story of great sacrifice, loss and ultimately hope and resurrection. It is Catholic Extension's honor to be a part of this story." Boland also praised the courage of the St. Mary's community for petitioning the courts last year for a merciful sentence for the arsonist, a young man from a troubled background.
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  • Samoan home for elderly and disabled selected for Extension employee fundraiser
    Posted: 1/4/2010
    Hope House, a ministry that provides shelter and care for the elderly and disabled on the island of Samoa, has been chosen as beneficiary of the Catholic Church Extension Society's 2009 employee pledge drive. As a result, the facility will receive more than $2,600 in staff contributions and matching funds from Catholic Extension.

    Operated by religious sisters, Hope House is the only residential facility on the Island of Samoa offering around-the-clock care for the elderly and disabled, the "poor and abandoned" who suffer from a variety of medical situations, including stroke, Parkinson's disease, intellectual disability, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, cerebral palsy, scoliosis, juvenile arthritis, and physical disability due to accident.

    Hope House was also made available for temporary shelter to those in need of a place to stay after the devastating tsunami in late September.

    Sr. Elsa O. Sintilias, OP, Hope House's administrator, thanked Catholic Extension employees for "accepting us as your beneficiary for your Christmas Drive."

    "We always hope and pray that there will be more generous people who will support this ministry here and abroad," Sr. Elsa wrote. "Thank you friends for your love and concern for these poor people here in American Samoa."

    Hope House has 19 caregivers, including two nurses, as well as two cooks, two laundry and housekeepers, and two maintenance workers.

    Given a goal of raising $1,000, the 39 employees of Catholic Extension, collected more than $1,300, matched dollar for dollar at the direction of Fr. Jack Wall, Catholic Extension's president.

    With the extra money, Sr. Elsa plans to buy a new heavy-duty washing machine so her small laundry staff can keep up with the demand for fresh linens and clothing and maintain a clean and dignified environment for the residents of Hope House.

    Hope House supports its staff salaries of $232,000 by securing donations from local businesses, seeking grants from other organizations and hosting an annual "Telethon run" by local townsfolk who want to help. These efforts, though, are still not enough. Hope house also has the goal this year of getting more volunteers, to increase the quality of care to their disabled residents.

    "It is our joy to be here in American Samoa to help the diocese care for these poor and abandoned elderly and handicapped children," Sr. Elsa wrote to Catholic Extension. "We are capable to extend our services on this island as long as the diocese needs us, we are ready to do it!"
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  • Small Florida parish receives $37,000 Grant from Catholic Extension
    Posted: 1/4/2010
    St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Blountstown, Florida has been awarded a $37,000 grant from Catholic Extension. The funds will be used to support Fr. Kurian Manikuttiyil, whose ministries include work at two prisons and a mental health hospital.

    Fr. Manikuttiyil's pastoral duties at St. Francis of Assisi, a small parish with about 45 families, include celebrating two Masses a week, providing for the reception of the other sacraments and helping with religious education.

    At his outside ministries, the populations are considerably larger: he makes it possible for 1,188 prisoners at Calhoun Correctional Institution and 1,289 inmates at the Liberty Correctional Institution to receive the sacraments at five Masses each month. At Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee, a mental facility with an institutionalized population of 1,200, he celebrates one Mass per weekend, which includes counseling and visiting the sick.

    The weekly on site presence of a Catholic priest for liturgy, confessions and counseling continues to be an ongoing plus for these institutionalized communities, but while parish attendance and support at the weekend liturgy at St. Francis continues to improve, it is not enough to cover the priest's salary and total expenses, particularly because a great deal of travel is involved and there is no income from the clients at the prisons or hospitals.

    "In most ministries those who attend Mass or receive some help from the Church are able to give something back, even if it is a small amount. That's not the case here," said Joseph Boland, director of grants. "But at the same time ministering to the imprisoned and those who are psychologically ill is vital if we are to fulfill the mandates of Christ, and that is why we support Fr. Manikuttiyil's work."
  • Extension to commit more than $3 million to seminarian education in FY 2010
    Posted: 1/3/2010
    Catholic Church Extension Society will award $3,058,275 in grants in FY 2010, a significant increase from recent years, to help educate 509 seminarians from America's most underfunded dioceses. The 104-year-old national organization is responding not only to Pope Benedict XVI's "Year for Priests" designation, but to the reality that diocesan endowments for seminarian education have shrunk during the current economic downturn, even as the number of Catholics in poor and isolated regions of the country is growing.

    Seminarian education is usually one of the largest expenses for many of America's 195 dioceses. The Church's 84 "mission dioceses," which comprise the most impoverished and remote areas of the country, spend an average of $30,000 a year per seminarian to train them in philosophy, theology, spirituality and religious life, as well as to prepare future priests for ordination. Costs include tuition, room and board, books and health insurance.

    The greatest rate of Catholic population growth is occurring within mission dioceses, primarily in the Southern and Western United States where much of Catholic Extension's funding is directed. Growth since 1990 has ranged from 45 percent in Arkansas to 111 percent in Nevada.

    "Educating the next generation of Catholic leadership is critical, especially for those areas of the country where the Catholic population is growing yet parishes and residential pastoral ministers are few," said Joseph Boland, Grants Director for Catholic Extension. "Catholic Extension's contributions will enable our young people to most effectively answer God's call to service in these poor and isolated areas where the future of the Church is unfolding."

    The grants will educate an estimated 15 percent of America's seminarians from 32 geographically diverse dioceses -- from Juneau, Alaska, to Amarillo, Texas, to Fargo, North Dakota. Grants will also be given to dioceses in the Samoan Islands and Puerto Rico, as well as to fund the seminary program of the Archdiocese of Military Services.

    Catholic Extension is additionally committed to supporting "Year for Priests" which Pope Benedict opened on June 19, 2009--the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the day of sanctification of priests. The Pope also marked the occasion by naming St. John Vianney the Universal Patron of Priests; 2009 was the 150th anniversary of his death. The year will close during a World Meeting of Priests in St. Peter's Square in Rome on June 19, 2010.
  • Kansas church that inspired the Extension movement celebrates centennial
    Posted: 1/1/2010
    Catholic Extension relived a little of its own history this past fall, taking part in the centennial celebration of a small Kansas parish whose plight 100 years ago helped launch the Extension Movement.

    It was 1905 when Father Francis Clement Kelley, a priest from Michigan, visited Ellsworth, Kansas, as he toured Catholic churches on the Midwestern frontier. Visiting St. Bernard Parish, he was shocked when he saw a rundown, weedy church and a pastor living in complete poverty.

    On the train ride home, Fr. Kelley wrote a magazine article titled "I know a little 'shanty' in the West," which caused a sensation when it was published. Urban Catholics immediately heard God's call and wanted to help, prompting Fr. Kelley to form the Catholic Church Extension Society.

    Father Steve Heina, St. Bernard's current pastor, knew the story well and asked Catholic Extension to send someone who could stand in for the countless thousands of those who for 100 years have financially supported Mission America through Catholic Extension.

    Edward Vogel of the Grants Department made the journey from Chicago and took part in the festivities, reading a letter to the parish from Father Jack Wall, Catholic Extension's president.

    "Today, as you celebrate the centennial of this beautiful church of yours, and see how far you have come, be proud of the many who have been helped by the Catholic Church Extension Society that traces its roots to this very place," the letter read in part.

    Vogel also presented Fr. Heina with an original 1910 receipt for $2,000 donated by Catholic Extension to finish St. Bernard Church, which opened in 1909 and is now part of the Diocese of Salina.

    The proud brick building, a far cry from the "shanty" it once was, sits surrounded by well-kept, middle-class Ellsworth. Bishops, pastors and priests associated with St. Bernard's over the years came to celebrate the centennial Mass, and parishioners past and present filled the pews.

    Few could have predicted the scope of the movement launched by a visit to a tiny church in a town a long way from the nation's great Catholic cities: to date, Catholic Extension has raised and granted nearly $500 million, funding the construction, expansion and renovation of 12,000 churches.

    Thanks to a faithful base of 60,000 contributors, Catholic Extension also supports social services, seminarian education and other church-building initiatives.

    But as Fr. Wall said in his letter, the work is far from finished.

    "Remember, too, the many Catholics across this country who are like the residents of Ellsworth in 1905, still lacking the basic needs of good Church," he wrote. "Keep them and all of our missioners in your hearts and in your prayers."
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  • Crookston's Tekakwitha Center to Receive $10,000 Grant from Catholic Extension
    Posted: 12/16/2009
    The Tekakwitha Center will receive a $10,000 grant from the Catholic Church Extension Society, the Chicago-based organization announced today. The funds will be used to support the salary of Darlene Ballard, the Director of Religious Education in the Native American ministry.

    Catholic Extension officials cite Ms. Ballard's passionate commitment to the Center, her devotion to teaching community members over the course of the past year and the need to educate adults in the diocese as motivating factors for Bishop Michael Hoeppner's funding request for this ministry.

    Located in northwestern Minnesota's Crookston Diocese, the Tekakwitha Center is an organization that trains religious education instructors for six local parishes, of which are part of the White Earth Reservation. The only program of its kind on the reservation, Tekakwitha seeks to provide religious education to adults in order that they may be better equipped to pass on strong religious training to their children and grandchildren.

    "The Tekakwitha Center needs a committed director who can effectively manage its religious education efforts to foster and nurture the developing faith in this Native American ministry," said Joseph Boland, Grants Director for Catholic Extension. "This grant will help Ms. Ballard continue doing good work for the community and help educate the next generation of Catholics within the Diocese of Crookston."

    The grant is one of more than 800 Catholic Extension will award this year to faith communities across the U.S. and its territories. Last year the organization invested $18 million in America's 84 "mission dioceses," geographic regions comprising the poorest, most underserved and isolated areas in the U.S. It was able to do so through contributions from nearly 50,000 individual donors who share Catholic Extension's commitment to support people of many ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds who do not have easy access to the Church and its many services.
  • St. Mary's Health Wagon Continues Bringing Health Care to Rural Appalachia
    Posted: 10/27/2009
    Clinchco, Va. -- Unlike the vast majority of healthcare nonprofits in America struggling to serve the poor during the current economic downturn, St. Mary's Health Wagon is now able to expand its care to the medically underserved, thanks in large part to healthy returns from a charitable endowment granted by Catholic Church Extension Society. The regional mobile health provider serving remote areas in the Appalachian Mountains recently learned that a $1 million endowment granted last year by Catholic Extension as a gift from the Thomas H. Maren Foundation has yielded returns in excess of $100,000, or more than a quarter of the organization's annual operating budget.

    "We are in the best position we've ever been in during our 26-year history, and it is because of Catholic Extension and the Marens," said Teresa Gardner, Executive Director of Health Wagon. "We are extremely thankful that they came to our side when we were in jeopardy and restored our future."
    St. Mary's Health Wagon, now in its 25th year, faced uncertain times after the recession forced several of the organization's key donors to withdraw their funding. The Catholic Extension endowment, a 20-year grant awarded in 2008, not only allowed operations to continue but enabled substantial organizational growth. Health Wagon has recently added staff and secured a partnership with a local hospital to meet increased demand for its services and promote a healthier community.

    "Catholic Extension is gratified that our wise investment strategy is making such a huge difference for Health Wagon," said Joe Boland, Director of Grants Management at Catholic Extension. "By extending beyond traditional monetary methods of supporting organizations that serve the poor and isolated, we were able to convert a generous, sizable gift into a larger one that not only helped save a struggling organization, but actually stimulated substantial growth. Ultimately, it's the sick and poor who benefit, and that's so rewarding."

    Health Wagon's unique service has garnered the attention of both national media and those in need of health care across America. In January, the CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes" aired a segment featuring the organization. As a result, sick and poor individuals have traveled across the country to receive free medical attention. In one instance, a couple from the state of Washington used frequent flyer miles to travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, to receive medical attention from Health Wagon.

    The Health Wagon is active in the rural areas surrounding Richmond, Virginia; Knoxville, Tennessee, and Lexington, Kentucky. It visits eight sites in Southwest Virginia's Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Wise Counties on a weekly, biweekly, and monthly basis.

    To learn more, visit thehealthwagon.org.
  • Arkansas church gets $100K for expansion project
    Posted: 10/20/2009
    Catholic Extension has awarded $100,000 to St. Augustine Church in Dardanelle, Ark., President Fr. Jack Wall said this week. The money will allow the rapidly growing congregation to increase seating by 75 percent, to 280 from 160.

    "People have been standing outside in the cold, heat and rain," said Father Clayton Gould, St. Augustine's pastor. "This will alleviate much of the congestion."

    The congregation is growing largely because of Latino workers who have come to work at livestock-processing plants in the area. St. Augustine is the only church with Spanish liturgy in the area and covers a 15- to 20-mile radius, but English Masses are also drawing more Hispanic worshippers, Gould said.

    The construction project will also expand the sacristy, bathrooms and vestibule.

    The congregation had already raised the majority of the funding, Fr. Gould said. But other costs, such as repaving the parking lot and architect fees, increased the tab.

    "So we were $100,000 short--until now!" Fr. Gould said.

    Fundraising activities included an event with Mexican food and rides that drew people from all over the area and netted $11,000 in one day.

    "They've been working so hard to raise money,"Fr. Gould said. "This is just going to be a shot in the arm for us."

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