Alaskans step up to fund education of their future priests

CatholicAnchor.org
If donor giving is any indication, then Alaskan Catholics value priests and want to see many more.

The first of several events to support the Archdiocese of Anchorage’s growing seminarian population kicked off on June 9 with the “Seminarian Endowment Challenge” at St. Patrick Church in Anchorage. Sold out weeks in advance, some 200 Catholics packed the parish hall in support of their future priests.

The standing-room-only crowd enjoyed appetizers, buffet, wine and a chance to meet several seminarians. In just a matter of hours the event grossed more than $79,000 to help with tuition, room and board, and books for the burgeoning population of Alaskan seminarians — five presently in formation for the Anchorage Archdiocese and two more on the way this fall.

“It really shows that people value having a priest in their community,” said Laurie Evans-Dinneen, director of the archdiocese’s Stewardship and Development office.

In addition to the seminarians now in training, two men in the past three years have been ordained new priests for the archdiocese.

The unprecedented growth in young Alaskan men looking to the priesthood has created a new dilemma of funding their seminarian training. The dinner event was part of a wider-range plan to raise enough funds to pay the cost of training a man for the priesthood — approximately $325,000 total for each seminarian.

Money is being raised with help of parishioner donations and a “challenge grant” from Catholic Extension Society, an organization that supports rural dioceses across the nation. The grant is a matching grant. With every $1,000 raised, Catholic Extension donates an extra $500, up to $50,000. The initial goal set by the archdiocese is raising $100,000 in order to secure the $50,000 from Catholic Extension. Each donation has to be at least $1,000 for the grant to match. So far, Alaskans have given a grand total of $163,143, enough to secure the matching grant for this year.

“[Parishioners] obviously believe that faith communities thrive if there is a priest in every parish, even more than one priest in a parish,” Evans-Dinneen observed. “A young man is giving his life, so we can support him in that — stewardship, it’s what we do.”

The matching grant brings the campaign total to $213,143 — not far off the goal for this year. At $250,000 the archdiocese can launch the new Seminarian Endowment as Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz’s legacy gift to whoever succeeds him as archbishop. Archbishop Schwietz, at 76 as of July 3, is one year past retirement age for bishops. His successor, however, has not been named by Pope Francis.

The overall goal is to raise $5 million in five years, allowing the endowment to spin off earnings to fund eight seminarians a year. The endowment will reside with the Catholic Foundation of Alaska.

Vocations Director Father Leo Walsh explained how important supporting seminarians has been to Archbishop Schwietz.

“It’s very indicative of the efforts of the archbishop to support seminarians — it’s obviously bearing fruit,” Father Walsh said. “He deserves kuddos, to be recognized for his efforts.”

The dinner is planned to be an annual event during the five-year campaign, and Catholic Extension will give the archdiocese an opportunity for a matching grant again next year. Evans-Dinneen said the dinner helped tremendously with this year’s campaign goal.

“This was a first-time event, it’s summertime — we didn’t know what to expect. We were going on the faith that people would support seminarians,” she said. “We will have to change the venue next year because we [already] outgrew this venue; it’s a good problem to have!”

Father Walsh said he was “not surprised at all” at the outcome of the event.

“People in Alaska are very supportive of their priests and are supportive of their future priests,” he observed. “People understand the financial responsibilities of making that happen.”

There will be more opportunities for people to help raise money. Plans are coming together for several parish dinners this fall, and in August the archdiocese will kick off parish boards for this cause in every church across the archdiocese. The boards will be set up to enable parishioners to donate as they are able, whether it be a few hundred dollars to purchase one semester’s worth of books or $25 to help purchase one book. Parishioners are encouraged to sign up for funding specific items based on what they can afford to share.

“We’re very grateful,” Evans-Dinneen emphasized.

Father Walsh voiced appreciation that so many men are stepping up to become priests.

“We want them to become holy priests,” he said.

To make a donation, visit archdioceseofanchorage.org or call (907) 297-7789.