Catholic Extension Awards First Grant from the Sister Marguerite Bartz Fund

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.

If you are interested in contributing to the Sister Marguerite Bartz Fund, please click here.