Endowments provide support for the generations to come, bishop says during CFU thank-you event

Intermountain Catholic

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At the CFU events, The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, said those who have contributed to the Catholic Foundation of Utah are "wonderful people of faith and wonderful people of generosity, and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart." IC photo/Marie Mischel

SALT LAKE CITY — Since its formation 28 years ago, the Catholic Foundation of Utah (CFU) has seen the creation of 282 endowments that support individual parishes, Catholic schools, formation for seminarians and priests, and many other needs in the Diocese of Salt Lake City. In total, the foundation has more than $25 million in assets; this money is invested and the interest distributed to beneficiaries.

Those who have created the endowments or contributed to them were thanked this year, and potential benefactors welcomed, during events Nov. 1 and Nov. 8 at the bishop’s residence.

"When I look around the room tonight and I see all of you, I see ... people who really care and who really do want to make a difference in the lives of others," said the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City. "You’re people who care about others. You’re people who want to make a difference in our Church and in our community and in our world. You’re people who are aware of what’s going on in our community and of the many, many people who do depend either temporarily or for a longer period on us to help them in a tough situation.... Just as Christ reached out to the poor and those on the periphery and those who were ignorant and those who were persecuted, so too does CFU in the long-term do just that."

The three Skaggs Catholic Center schools in Draper – Saint John the Baptist Elementary and Middle schools and Juan Diego Catholic High School – are among the beneficiaries of some of the endowments. During the Nov. 1 CFU event, Monsignor Terence Moore, pastor of Saint John the Baptist Parish, spoke of the benefit the students receive from an endowment created by Lindsey and Laura Atwood.

Last year, $43,000 was given in student aid tuition, representing 21 families whose students wouldn’t be able to continue at the schools because of financial constraints, Msgr. Moore said.

The students who receive the aid are required to be in financial need, to maintain satisfactory grades, to be involved in their parish or community, and are asked to help someone in the future if they are financially able to do so, said Msgr. Moore, adding that he meets with each family that receives the aid.

"Immediately your heart goes out to them because you see how vulnerable they are; you see how important this is to them," Msgr. Moore said. "This scholarship enables them to keep their kids in the school and provides tremendous family stability."

On Nov. 8, Dr. Galey Colosimo, Juan Diego Catholic High School principal, discussed the efforts the school is making to create conditions that will sustain the school’s endowments. Because JDCHS is quite young – its oldest graduate is 27 – officials have worked to lay the groundwork for future support of the endowments, Colosimo said. One way that they do that is to ask graduating students to commit to pledging $5 to an endowment for each year that they are in college.

"Last year, 78 percent of the students who graduated from Juan Diego made a pledge, and of course many of them made greater than a $5 pledge," Colosimo said.

Although the CFU has grown about 45 percent in the past seven years, adding 130 endowments for a total of 282, "as you know, work is never finished," said Armando Lujan, CFU board president. "There is still more work to be done, so we ask you benefactors to continue to support your existing endowments and, if there is a cause dear to your heart and it’s possible, please establish a new endowment to help ensure the future of the Catholic Church in Utah."