Even in sluggish economy, CCF endowments show growth

Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar general, speaks to members of the board of trustees of the Catholic Community Foundation and other guests during the board’s annual meeting on Nov. 10 at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis. The Catholic Community Foundation manages 381 endowments that support parishes, schools, agencies and other ministries across the archdiocese. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)

By Sean Gallagher

Members of the board of trustees of the Catholic Community Foundation (CCF), which manages 381 endowments that support parishes, schools, agencies and other ministries across the archdiocese, had their annual meeting on Nov. 10 at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis.

The gathering occurred during a time when the nation’s economy is still struggling to recover from the significant recession of 2008.

Nonetheless, the CCF’s assets increased over the past fiscal year. As of June 30, they stood at $146.4 million, an increase of 15.5 percent over the previous fiscal year’s $126.7 million in assets.

In addition, $6.4 million from the CCF’s endowments and more than $4 million from the past year’s “Christ Our Hope: Compassion in Community” annual appeal were distributed to parishes, schools and ministries across central and southern Indiana during the past 12 months.

“Despite the continuing desperate economic times, I stand before you this evening filled with hope,” said Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar general “When I look at all the good [that] we were able to accomplish across the archdiocese this past year with the distributions from our Catholic Community Foundation endowments and with our planned gifts, I am confident about the direction we are headed.”

In fact, CCF president Robert Brody noted in his remarks that the near future of its endowments may be rosy.

“If we end this current fiscal year with the kind of returns we saw last year, the total assets of CCF will be at an all-time high, surpassing the peak reached in 2007 of $158.4 million,” Brody said. “To put into perspective how much we’ve grown, just 10 years ago CCF’s total assets stood at about $60 million. We’ve come a long way in the past decade.”

Brody also put into historical perspective the distribution of funds from CCF endowments during the past year.

“Since its founding in 1987, the Catholic Community Foundation has distributed nearly $63 million directly to parishes, schools and ministries of the Church,” Brody said. “We distributed nearly $6.4 million this past fiscal year alone.”

In laying out ministry priorities for the future, Msgr. Schaedel said they fall into three broad categories—proclaiming the word of God, celebrating the sacraments and exercising the ministry of charity.

Catholic schools are a primary way that the Church in central and southern Indiana proclaims God’s word, and Msgr. Schaedel said that the work of the CCF helps families who might otherwise not be able to afford to enroll their children in parochial schools.

Because of the continued sluggish economy, Catholic Charities agencies across the archdiocese will likely continue to experience an increase in demand for assistance, Msgr. Schaedel said. And the support that CCF endowments give to these agencies will continue to be important in the future.

Related to supporting the celebration of the sacraments in the future, Msgr. Schaedel put special emphasis on Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis, which is located at the former Carmelite Monastery of the Resurrection.

He noted that it is now at its housing capacity of 25 seminarians. The men studying there are affiliated with the archdiocese and four other dioceses.

“We don’t want to turn away young men who are interested in the priesthood because we don’t have enough beds for them,” Msgr. Schaedel said. “So we are beginning to look at how much it would cost us to expand the seminary and how we would pay for that expansion.”

Outgoing members of the CCF’s board of trustees were honored at the meeting. They include John Ryan, a member of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Bloomington; Frank Short, a member of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis; and Arthur Wilmes, a member of St. Christopher Parish in Indianapolis.

In praising the hard work of the CCF board members, the growth of its endowments and the archdiocese’s ministry priorities for the future, Msgr. Schaedel returned to the foundation for all of them—prayer.

“ … The first thing, the primary thing and, really, the only thing that’s brought us this far is prayer,” Msgr. Schaedel said. “Everything we have to do must be rooted in prayer.”

(For more information about the Catholic Community Foundation, how to contribute to an endowment or how to create one, log on to www.archindy.org/ccf or call 800-382-9836, ext. 1427, or 317-236-1427.) †