Loving our faith

I’m proud and delighted to be Executive Director of the Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of Saint Cloud—your Foundation.

Originally established in 2002 to hold, manage, and distribute grants from the “Living the Promise” funds that were raised by Bishop Kinney, the Catholic Foundation has best been known for supporting youth and adult faith formation in our parishes and Catholic schools. However, beyond that, we also hold and manage a number of seminarian funds, parish funds, Catholic school funds, funds for organizations (such as Birthline and K-Yes Radio, who are non-profits that share our Catholic values) and Donor-designated, Donor advised funds. (This is where the “your Foundation” statement comes from).

Of late, we’ve been focused on specific needs. For example ~

YOUTH: Unknown numbers of Catholic youth around the diocese have, in the past, missed out on great faith-forming retreats like Castaway, TEC, or NCYC, simply because of the cost. We believe no one should miss faith-building opportunities because of money! Happily, they are able to take part today, thanks to “Generation Next,” a charitable fund we established for just that purpose, built with proceeds from “Bishop’s Charitable Golf Tournament” and the “ACT-Oberfest” variety show.

LIFE: Did you know there are twelve crisis pregnancy organizations within the Diocese of Saint Cloud? I’ve learned that some are quite large, and others very small—with budgets to match. After meeting with principals from these organizations some months ago, we created two funds: “Mother Mary’s Fund for Life”, to support crisis pregnancy organizations directly, and support related teaching (such as chastity and decision-making) in our parishes and Catholic schools; and “Sts. Anna and Joachim Fund, to support education and certification for those willing to teach the Natural Family Planning (NFP) method to couples in our diocese.

God Bless for now!