Our Newly Launched Newsletter - By Rose Brennan - Foundations in Faith

Check out Foundations in Faith Monthly Newsletter for November

From the Board

With the board recently launching the Lourdes Fund for Pastoral Care at Catholic Nursing Homes, it was important for Foundations in Faith to ensure all three of the benefitting nursing homes were on the same page.

As a result, Foundations in Faith’s staff met with the pastoral care teams from St. Joseph Center in Trumbull, St. Camillus Center in Stamford, and St. John Paul II Center in Stamford to discuss how grant monies would be distributed and how the teams could access the funds their grants allocated to them.

Also joining the meeting were representatives from the finance department, vicar for clergy Fr. Frank Hoffmann, and Lorraine Carrano, Foundations in Faith’s board advocate for the Lourdes Fund, who has an extensive healthcare background herself.

St. Joseph Center will use most of their grant to fund technology improvements, The upgrade will make current the pastoral care Mass and special event broadcast system. Additional hand held devices will be purchased for spiritual care staff to use with patients.

Meanwhile, St. Camillus Center will largely go toward pastoral and spiritual care, including expanding pastoral care staffing and purchasing much needed department items and chapel needs.

Finally, the St. John Paul II Center will be getting a little bit of both. Their grant will help to expand technology so daily Masses and special services can be live-streamed to patients’ rooms and to families and the community. With funding the Sunday Mass, music ministry will be restored, additional staffing will be provided and educational programs will be enhanced.

Carrano emphasized the importance of the pastoral care teams working together and collaborating on strategies and support for their nursing home residents. As a result, she suggested having a quarterly meeting with herself and the pastoral care teams to understand each other’s successes, challenges, and advice for improving the care they provide.

As foundation director Kelly Weldon said, any new fund has its own challenges and kinks to work out. But the Lourdes Fund team is responsive and ready to take on whatever comes its way, especially if it means improving care for Catholic nursing home residents in as many ways as possible.

Grant Spotlight

Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Quasi Parish

The relatively young Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Quasi Parish already has a youth group that is a force to be reckoned with. And thanks to a grant from Foundations in Faith through the St. John Paul II Fund for Religious Education and Faith Formation, it’s able to provide its near-100 members with activities to strengthen both their faith and their bonds with each other.

Fr. Philip Phan, the quasi parish’s administrator, noted that the group doesn’t actually have youth ministers. Rather, the older members of the group are able to guide and mentor younger ones.

Fr. Phan also noted the group is heavily involved in parish life. In addition to their youth group activities outside the church, they attend Mass each Sunday and have Bible studies, in addition to other duties.

And just because the weather is getting colder doesn’t mean the youth group is slowing down. Fr. Phan said they plan to have a retreat during Advent, and the members are looking forward to it.

“They [are] involved in all liturgical events and play a very important role [in] the parish and serving the community,” Phan said of the youth group.

“Board” of us yet?

Foundations in Faith is usually quite vocal about what it does in the Diocese, but aren’t so much in terms of who we are.

There’s a team that makes the magic of the foundation happen, consisting of two staff members and a board of trustees, all of whom work together to advocate for the best interest of all the groups and organizations within the Diocese. And now, you can get to know them all better!

Keep an eye out on our social media pages for board member and staff profiles, where you can learn a little more about who our team consists of and what we do.

But to tide you over in the meantime, here’s the profile on one of our board advocates for the St. Francis Xavier Fund, Patrick Turner!

Annual report(ing) for duty!

Foundations in Faith’s 2020 annual report is now live on our website! You can click HERE to give it a read.

The annual report is compiled each year so donors and the larger Diocesan community can ensure Foundations in Faith used its donations prudently and wisely.

Learn more at foundationsinfaith.org/financials.

We need you!

This Giving Tuesday, please consider making a donation to the St. Francis Xavier Fund.The St. Francis Xavier Fund for Missionary Parishes’ goal is to provide assistance to nine of the Diocese’s urban parishes that are facing socioeconomic challenges but are nevertheless vibrant communities that are vital to the Diocese of Bridgeport’s longevity.

What sets the St. Francis Xavier Fund apart from Foundations in Faith’s other eight funds is its ability to provide emergency assistance quickly. If a parish meets the criteria for assistance from the fund, it could apply for a grant at the beginning of the week, the St. Francis Xavier committee can look over and approve the application, and work on the necessary project could begin by the end of the week.

That might not seem all that fast to those of you who don’t work in grant management. But trust us when we say: That’s almost unheard of.

As the pandemic continues, many parishes need assistance to make ends meet. And, of course, you never know when a boiler might break, a gutter might clog, or a roof might leak. The St. Francis Xavier Fund helps meet these immediate needs so parish staff and clergy can keep their focus on the pastoral needs of their congregations instead.

To donate to the St. Francis Xavier Fund for Missionary Parishes, please click the button below.

On behalf of Foundations in Faith, thank you for answering the call to help brother and sister parishes in need of your support!

Donate to SFX!

“The one who rules in heaven laughs…”

Alpha and Omega

Here are the grant application periods opening and closing from now until the end of the year.