While much attention has been paid to the closing of Protestant churches in America, a new initiative seeks to preserve the buildings of Catholic churches and schools.
The Pulte Family Charitable Foundation has launched The Catholic Initiative, a Vatican-approved funding model to restore and endow vibrant Catholic churches, schools and parishes.
“The model is the first of its kind in the world in faith-based fundraising and shifts ownership of church buildings and campuses to a newly created nonprofit organization created solely for this purpose,” a news release explained.
Under this model, The Catholic Initiative will assume responsibility for renovating and maintaining selected properties after being granted 200-year leases.
The initiative “ensures that parishes retain exclusive and permanent rights to use the sites as Catholic churches and schools, without the risk of funds being redirected to other priorities,” the release said. “Catholic Initiative fundraising then goes to establishing an endowment to provide for future capital and operational needs, support repairs, routine maintenance, and the financial support of an onsite priest.”
The Pulte Family Charitable Foundation simultaneously announced a $111 million commitment toward “Legacy of Hope” Projects. These projects are “designed to sustain and transform communities for generations, uplift the marginalized, and secure the future of faith and service.”
That investment will fund both The Catholic Initiative and two housing projects for vulnerable populations in Florida.
In the past 30 years, 2,000 Catholic schools have closed, along with 2,600 Catholic parishes.
The Catholic Initiative announced three initial projects aimed at sustaining such at-risk Catholic communities:
- A full restoration of the historic Basilica of St. Anne in Detroit along with an endowment to secure its future. This is the second-oldest continuously operating Roman Catholic parish in the United States. The Gothic Revival cathedral-styled basilica, designed by Albert E. French, dates to 1818.
- Securing the property ownership of Chicago’s oldest Catholic all-girls high school, Josephinum Academy of the Sacred Heart, and establishing an endowment to support the long-term vitality of the school.
- Raising an endowment for Bulldog Catholic, a campus ministry at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
The Pulte Family Charitable Foundation, founded by William J. Pulte, a devout Catholic, master builder and philanthropist, focuses on the inherent dignity of all people and works to meet the basic human needs of the most marginalized members of the human family. The founder created one of the nation’s largest homebuilding companies.