Miraculous Math

Philanthropy + Vision = 420 Parishes & Countless Catholics Served

During such an unprecedented time for our world, I’ve been feeling the need to spend more time helping my children grow their faith, but also grow as people interested in helping others and their community.

Given what I do as a vocation, I also lean in to sharing with them the power of giving.

Every day I see the power of amazing people doing incredible work in situations that seem challenging or maybe even impossible – all in the name of improving their parishes and celebrating their faith.

I know you see this too. That is what philanthropy is all about.

But how can you explain this to children (or anyone for that matter)?

A great example comes to mind:

Catholic Leadership Institute's newest initiative - Called for More.

Called For More aims to completely transform the priest placement process in arch/dioceses across the country. Not only will it better match priests and parishes, Called For More will provide transition plans and personalized roadmaps for growth, holiness, and leadership.

This endeavor started as an idea amongst Catholic Leadership Institute and the priests and bishops we serve.

How does a major idea like this transform from an idea to a reality? Thus is the power of philanthropy.

A gift from the Lilly Endowment provided the seed funding necessary. Then visionary philanthropists joined Lilly in funding this project and bringing it to more arch/dioceses.

Thanks to philanthropy we are able to touch the following people and parishes (even amidst the global pandemic):

• Diocese of Lansing 66 pastors, 142 priests, 75 parishes
• Diocese of Savannah: 56 pastors, 115 priests, 76 parishes
• Archdiocese of Milwaukee: 123 pastors, 315 priests, 193 parishes
• Diocese of Tulsa: 53 pastors, 76 priests, 76 parishes.

Wow. That kind of math feels almost miraculous… a modern-day loaves and fishes type of exponential impact.

That math makes philanthropy easy to explain. I can say to my children, "A philanthropist is simply someone who gives to help others. By giving to just one project like Called For More, you can help all of the people in 420 parishes. But you can’t do it alone. When you give, you will inspire others to join with you."

Who will Called For More impact next? Well, we have four dioceses up next to participate this year with many others waiting in the wings. All of them depend on philanthropists to make their participation possible.

I hope that these messages inspire you and show you the difference your giving makes. More importantly, I hope that by giving to Catholic Leadership Institute, you inspire others to become philanthropists too.

Imagine if we each inspired just one more person to give who in turn did the same. And so on and so on. Now that is some miraculous math.