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Four County Catholic November 2015
Catholic Foundation Adds St. Edward Endowment On behalf of Bishop Michael R. Cote and the Board of Directors of the Catholic Foundation of the By Mary Ellen Mahoney Major Gifts, Diocese of Norwich Office of Development
Diocese of Norwich, Angela Arnold, Executive Director of The Catholic Foundation, is happy to announce that Saint Edward the Confessor Church, Stafford Springs, has established an endowment to support its parish into the future. On July 1, 2015, the Catholic Foundation entered into an agreement with Saint Edward to establish the Foundation’s 19th endowment. Father Roland Cloutier, Pastor of Saint Edward Church, deposited $117,000 into The Saint Edward Church Endowment Fund. “It has been my firm belief since I first became a pastor that every parish needs to have a substantial and well maintained endowment fund. With our declining attendance in a majority of our parishes such a fund is the only way that a parish will be able, in the near future, to fund the maintenance of its physical plant so that the pastor can concentrate on the spiritual life of the people.” Fr. Roland, Pastor, St. Edward the Confessor, Stafford Springs, CT. Since its inception in 1998, the Catholic Foundation has provided a place where both individuals and parishes may invest their money in the form of an endowment and thereby provide ongoing support for organizations and people within our Diocese. First envisioned by Bishop Daniel Hart, the Catholic Foundation’s mission is to provide a mechanism for the establishment of endowments to benefit the Diocese of Norwich and its parishes, schools, agencies and organizations. The Foundation, through its Board of Directors, invests the assets and distributes earnings according to the wishes of the donors, in accordance with its Spending Policy. The establishment of endowments provides greater financial stability and growth for our Diocese and its organizations. Many private individuals have established endowments within the Catholic Foundation to support
their special interests. Mr. Joseph Morrone who passed away this past September, established the Joseph J. & Elizabeth A. Morrone Endowment Fund to support the needs of St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Storrs. During his lifetime, Mr. Morrone graciously continued to contribute to his endowment to further support St. Thomas Church. Now that he has passed, Mr. Morrone’s legacy of
William F. Jr. and Flora l. O’Neil Scholarship Fund provides tuition assistance to two St. Bernard School students each year. A vari-
ety of options are available for people interested in establishing an endowment. If desired, an endow-
Mercy High School. The Catholic Foundation’s first endowment was the Bishop Daniel A. Hart Fund for the Homeless. This endowment provides support to a variety of organizations in the Diocese that assist people in need by providing f o o d , emergency needs, and other social, educational, and spiritual assistance. Last year, the Bishop Daniel A. Hart Fund for the Homeless made mon-
etary grants totaling $7,908 to St. Vincent de Paul Place, Norwich; Catholic Charities, Middletown, New London, Willimantic and Norwich; St. Vincent de Paul, Middletown and Holy Family Home and Shelter, Willimantic. Each year the Catholic Foundation hosts an Awards Dinner to which it invites all the recipients of its yearly grants as well as the donors who have established endowments within the Foundation. This year, the Foundation celebrated its 15th Awards Celebration with close to 200 people in attendance, many of whom were children receiving tuition assistance from the Foundation. Over the past 15 years, the Foundation has disbursed over three million dollars of assistance. In order to continue its good work, the Foundation plans to establish more endowments in the near future. If interested in doing so, please contact Mary Ellen Mahoney, Development Manager at (860) 886-1928 or by email at memahoney@norwichdiocese.net. In the alternative, if one would like to support the Foundation but not establish an endowment, individual donations are also accepted by the Foundation. The Most Reverend Michael R. Cote, Bishop of Norwich, and Reverend Roland Cloutier, Pastor, St. Edward the Confessor Church, Stafford Springs, announce endowment fund.
giving will continue forever in his name through this endowment. Others have established endowments to help their favorite Catholic school in the form of tuition scholarships. For example, the
ment can be set up to support more than one organization every year. For instance, The Eugene and Anne O’Neill Endowment Fund annually provides funds to both St. James Church, Danielson and
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