Small Florida parish receives $37,000 Grant from Catholic Extension

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."