Bishop Wester and Catholic Foundation of Utah thank benefactors

Intermountain Catholic

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From left, John Condas, who has established endowments for Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic School; Armando Lujan, president of the Catholic Foundation of Utah Board of Trustees; and Mark Longe, principal of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School, share a laugh during a Catholic Foundation of Utah event at the bishop's residence. IC photo/Marie Mischel

SALT LAKE CITY — The Catholic Foundation of Utah thanked its benefactors at an event Nov. 2 at the bishop’s residence.

Now in its 27th year, CFU manages 268 endowments that benefit various ministries throughout the Diocese of Salt Lake City.

Bob Meyer is among the CFU benefactors who attended the event. He established the Robert and Marie Claire Meyer, Richard Meyer and Elizabeth Meyer Memorial Endowment five years ago to honor his parents, brother and sister.

"I came from a family that gave," said Meyer, who moved to Utah when he was a high school freshman. His father contributed to the building of the current Judge Memorial Catholic High School; one of the classrooms was dedicated in honor of his grandfather. His mother volunteered for "thing after thing after thing," his brother was born with multiple sclerosis and was in a care facility, and his sister donated to any cause that asked, he said.

"When they passed away, I was just devastated," Meyer said. "I wanted to do something to keep them alive. I look at the foundation as something that’s going to be perpetual."

The endowment provides financial assistance to needy Saint Thomas More parishioners and others at the discretion of the pastor.

Similarly, John Condas established the Catherine Meyer Condas Memorial Scholarship Endowment in memory of his first wife. The endowment provides tuition assistance to students at Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic School, which his wife’s parents helped establish, and of which she and her children are alumni.

When Catherine Meyer Condas died in 1999, "we thought this would be a great way to return a little bit of that which provided so much for our family, and a good way to honor my wife," Condas said.

More recently, Condas and his brothers and sister established, in honor of their parents, the George P. and Mary Ellen Condas Family Endowment to provide financial support for the Saint Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen. The senior Condas have worked in the soup kitchen for 20 years, and chose it as the beneficiary when their children proposed establishing an endowment in their name.

"We were at the point where everybody had pretty much what they wanted, so for birthdays and Christmas and celebrations we figured that that would be a gift not only for us but for somebody else also," said Mary Ellen Condas.

Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic School is the beneficiary of nine named endowments, said Principal Mark Longe at the event. On average, the school disperses $80,000 per year in tuition assistance; this year, $23,000 of that came from distribution of income from the invested endowments, he said. "This money goes to those families most in need – struggling single moms, unemployed families, parents with major medical issues, families struggling and in need."

Longe thanked the school’s benefactors, adding that even more important than the monetary gift is that students will realize "that someone cared about them enough to ensure that they received a great education centered in Christ."

The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, also thanked the CFU benefactors and those who are considering establishing endowments. The event, he said, was about deepening existing friendships and making new ones.

"You’ve made so many relationships possible in this diocese," Bishop Wester said. "Relationships with our students, relationships with the poor, relationships with immigrants, relationships with our new priests, deacons and lay ecclesial ministers, relationships in our parishes – all kinds of relationships that have flourished and continue on."