Catholic Extension gift to benefit diocesan missions
SALT LAKE CITY — A gift from Catholic Extension to Monsignor J. Terrance Fitzgerald to thank him for his service will soon benefit several of the missions of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Msgr. Fitzgerald, vicar general emeritus, has designated that the gift of $35,000 should go to the diocese’s rural missions for their support.
Msgr. Fitzgerald has worked with Catholic Extension for many years, first as a priest in the parishes, then as vicar general and now as vicar general emeritus.
“It has been an enriching experience working with Catholic Extension and helping them understand our needs. I appreciate the wonderful support we’ve received from them over the years,” he said. “They’re marvelous people, dedicated and hardworking.”
Catholic Extension, a national fundraising organization founded in 1905 by Father Francis Clement Kelley, defines a mission diocese as one where the faith is thriving but the resources are scarce.
Fr. Kelley recognized that “Catholics in geographically isolated areas did not have access to church buildings, or the regular presence of Catholic priests. Without weekly Mass or the sacraments, Catholics in these areas had little participation in the life of the church, and struggled to keep their faith alive and growing,” the CCS website says.
“As American Catholics, we sense a special responsibility to build up the Catholic faith in our own land and among our own people,” Father John J. Wall, Catholic Extension president, said on the organization’s website. “Catholic Extension is the conduit through which we build faith, inspire hope and ignite change in poor and under-resourced dioceses and communities throughout the United States.”
Since its inception, Catholic Extension has contributed more than $500 million to poor mission dioceses across the country. In recent years, internationally Catholic Extension has funded the Church’s purchase of property in Cuba.
Nine years ago Msgr. Fitzgerald was asked to take a more active role by serving on the Catholic Extension mission committee that guides the organization in the distribution of its funds. He served three terms, and recently retired from that commitment.
In the letter announcing the gift to Msgr. Fitzgerald, Fr. Wall wrote, “Your generous spirit has truly invigorated us over the years and we are proud to not only call you a friend of Catholic Extension but a true ambassador of our mission. Thank you for so passionately sharing our dream to see our Church grow and our faith thrive in this land.”
The Diocese of Salt Lake City, one of 87 mission dioceses in the United States, has received many grants over the years from Catholic Extension, most of which went toward mission churches throughout Utah. In the early years that support was critical, and even in recent years it has made an important difference in the growth of the diocese, Msgr. Fitzgerald said.
“There’s hardly an early church in rural Utah that doesn’t have a plaque crediting Catholic Extension,” Msgr. Fitzgerald said.
Among other projects, in the early days of St. George Parish, Catholic Extension provided funding for the parish to purchase a duplex. The pastor lived in of the duplex; the other half was used for the church.
“At that time there were 10 known Catholic families in the area; now there are thousands,” Msgr. Fitzgerald said. A dedicated church building was constructed in 1991, with a social hall added in 1997. St. George Catholic Church was remodeled in 2010.
Catholic Extension has also funded the education of several seminarians from the diocese. In recent years its support has encompassed other Church ministries, including the diocesan Hispanic ministry and the Spanish lay ecclesial formation program.
The financial support of Catholic Extension, which was originally known as the Catholic Church Extension Society, has been critical to the growth of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Since the organization was established in 1905, it has helped fund numerous Church projects throughout Utah. A partial list of projects follows.
A 1934 grant helped pay for the construction of the original St. Joseph Catholic Church in Monticello.
ln 1941 the original St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Logan at 45 East 500 North was funded in large part by Catholic Extension.
The Paulist Fathers, who ministered in the Uintah Basin and Layton beginning in the 1920s until they left the diocese in 1988, received funding for their work from Catholic Extension.
The organization provided significant financial support in 1995 to establish St. Florence Mission in Huntsville.
In 2003, with the help of Catholic Extension, Saint Paul Catholic Center in Hurricane opened.
More recently, Catholic Extension provided a $50,000 grant to renovate St. Christopher Catholic Church in Kanab; the project was completed in 2015. It recently committed another $50,000 to an extension of San Isidro Mission in Elberta, which will provide four new classrooms for parishioners there.
Catholic Extension has also provided funding for several churches along the Wasatch Front and mission churches in other rural areas such as Vernal and Roosevelt.
In addition to funding building projects, Catholic Extension also has supported local Church ministries such as seminarian education and the Spanish-speaking lay ecclesial minister formation program, known as Emaús.
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