The Province Announces $ 6 MillionGift

The Province of St. Thomas of Villanova received the single largest gift in its history from Barb and Brian Riley of Chester County, PA. Their gift of $6,000,000 will fund the Barb and Brian Riley Fund for Mission and Ministry, which will strengthen the mission of the Augustinians through the direct support of our Augustinian Friars and their ministries in greatest need for programmatic and personnel needs. “This transformational gift,” remarks Prior Provincial Robert P. Hagan, O.S.A., “will have far-reaching effects not only on our ministries but — more importantly — on the people whom we serve.”

The Riley Fund will assist St. Nicholas of Tolentine Parish in the Bronx (where the Augustinians have been for over one hundred years) to support its large Hispanic and Vietnamese population in a variety of ways — particularly the parish’s soup kitchen and food pantry, which help hundreds of people per week. The fund will also assist the National Shrine of St. Rita of Cascia on Broad Street in South Philadelphia in responding to the needs of its local and regional community. The Shrine provides spiritual direction; a counseling center; and opportunities to pray, walk and be pilgrims in the context of St. Rita of Cascia, peacemaker and healer.

Alongside the Shrine in Philadelphia, the fund will support the Province’s first foundation in North America (St. Augustine Parish), which serves a large Filipino population, and the Augustinian Defenders of the Rights of the Poor (A.D.R.O.P.), an Augustinian ministry that sponsors a Unity Health Clinic that serves an uninsured immigrant population.

Barb Riley was first introduced to the Augustinians through her childhood parish (St. Thomas of Villanova Parish in Villanova, PA) and throughout her grade school years as a student in the parish school. She and her husband Brian later connected with the Augustinians at Malvern Preparatory School, where one of their sons graduated and another is currently enrolled. In addition to being Malvern parents, Brian serves