Catholic Foundation of Utah celebrates silver anniversary

IC photo by Marie Mischel

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Clinton and Ruth Lewis, who fund three endowments for The Catholic Foundation of Utah, are shown at the party celebrating the foundation's 25th anniversary. They are shown with the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake, and Scott A. Czaja, president of the foundation's board of trustees, at the bishop's residence.

The Catholic Foundation of Utah began in November of 1984 with $510,000 from the diocese, including $10,000 from an anonymous donor.

"We can take this step because our financial base is secure," said Bishop William K. Weigand, the foundation's chairman, during the dinner meeting at the Sheraton at which the organization was established.

Twenty-five years later, the foundation's assets have grown to $25 million in 236 endowments that serve a range of diocesan needs, from financial support for seminarians "When we donate to the Catholic Foundation of Utah, we're really donating to a whole host of activities in this local Church," including schools, parishes and the missions, said the Most Rev. John C. Wester on Dec. 15 during a celebration at his residence marking the foundation's anniversary.

The missions in rural Utah are places where people are beginning their lives in Utah, the bishop said. "They're setting their roots here, and you can just see that in time they're going to be successful but right now, at this moment, it's very difficult for them, and so your support and CFU's support is what enables us to build the missions and bring the services into them and bring Christ's message to them."

In the foundation's first decade, endowments provided new facilities and substantial upgrades in rural areas such as Huntington, Delta, Panguitch, Cedar City, Ephraim, Fillmore, Roosevelt, Elberta, Huntsville, Wendover, Tremonton, St. George, Richfield and Torrey, said Scott Czaja, the board president, at the dinner.

Rural church development and missionary outreach is one of the four goals for the foundation established by now Archbishop George Neiderhauer in 1996, Czaja said.

The other three goals are the bishop's future fund, created for the Church in Utah for ongoing future needs; seminarian and priest formation; and youth ministry and Catholic education. "The trustees call them the four pillars of the Catholic Foundation of Utah, and we still use these goals today," Czaja said.

The trustees volunteer their time to visit individuals and parishes to promote the foundation, Czaja said. In 2008, the foundation saw a record of 32 newly established endowments.

Clinton and Ruth Lewis are among those who have funded endowments, one for maintenance at the Cathedral of the Madeleine and another for seminarians. They also fund the Madeleine Choir School.

When the couple decided to establish the endowments, they asked what the needs were, and found a fit with the Cathedral, where they attend Mass regularly and Clinton used to sing in the choir; and the school, where Clinton volunteers as a tutor.

"The needs are real," Clinton Lewis said. "[The Cathedral] is a monster building and it's aging and it needs help. The Choir School's need for funds is limitless. They have so many students that need scholarship help."

The endowments are a way of thanking God, said Ruth Lewis, who regularly serves in the Saint Vincent de Paul Center on the Cathedral's assigned day. "God has given me the most wonderful husband in the world and wonderful children and four grandchildren, and I couldn't do without prayer or the Cathedral, and that's all there is to it. That's just the way it is. I thank him every day for what he gives us. We're very lucky."

"Any way we're privileged to help, we can," Clinton Lewis said, adding that most of the gifts in name of his uncle, Clinton Randall Kidder, USN, ret., who gave the couple some financial help many years ago.

The endowments to Cathedral of the Madeleine and the Choir School are a way of acknowledging his uncle's generosity, Clinton Lewis said.