Catholic campus ministries such as Newman Ministry and FOCUS are eligible to participate in the Lilly Endowment’s “National Initiative to Strengthen Christian Campus Ministries at Colleges and Universities,” the charitable organization confirmed.
The Lilly Endowment told EWTN News that archdioceses and church-related networks that minister to students on multiple college and university campuses are eligible to apply for grants through the initiative.
According to the grant page, the Lilly Endowment “intends to award grants of up to $7.5 million each to approximately 20 national and regional charitable organizations.”
Matt Zerrusen, Newman Ministry co-founder and chief innovative discipleship officer, told EWTN News that Newman Ministry is in the process of applying for the grant now.
“We’re grateful for the opportunity,” Zerrusen said. “There’s not many times where something like this opens up in campus ministry just because it’s been an overlooked part of ministry in the Church.”
Zerrusen expressed hope that other Catholic campus ministries like FOCUS, St. Paul’s Outreach, and the Catholic Campus Ministry Association would apply for the program as well, calling for ministry organizations to unify their efforts.
“There’s so much competition in the Catholic world that itʼs like, ‘Well, hang on here. What are we doing?’” he said. “Weʼre both trying to solve the same problem.”
Pope Leo XIV appoints Catholic University of America professor to pontifical academy
Pope Leo XIV has appointed Gregory Doolan, the Monsignor John F. Wippel chair in Thomistic metaphysics at The Catholic University of America (CUA), to serve on the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas.
“It is a great honor to have been named to the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas,” Doolan said in a CUA press release on Oct. 16. “The Academy brings together philosophers and theologians from around the world in conversation about Aquinas, and I am grateful for the opportunity both to learn from its members and to contribute my own work in Thomistic metaphysics, showing its enduring relevance in the 21st century.”
“My appointment by Pope Leo XIV has a fitting connection to The Catholic University of America, since another Leo, Leo XIII, founded the Academy in 1879 and also granted Catholic University its pontifical charter just a decade later,” he said.
St. Carlos Acutis’ mother gifts Franciscan University with first-class relic of her son
The mother of St. Carlo Acutis, Antonia Salzano, has given the president of Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, a first-class relic of her son.
“Weʼre deeply grateful to Antonia for this extraordinary gift and for sharing her sonʼs witness with the Franciscan University community,” the university said in an Oct. 15 social media post announcing the gift to Father Dave Pivonka, TOR. The university said Salzano shared a message with the university: “Holiness is for everyone.”
“Carlo became a saint not because he lived an extraordinary life by the worldʼs standards, but because he made Jesus the center of his ordinary life,” the university said. “His secret? The Eucharist. His motherʼs advice? Start small. Make time for prayer. Receive Jesus in the Eucharist. Love the people around you. And remember that you, too, are called to become a saint.”
Archbishop Sample urges ‘significant renewal of Catholic education’ in Portland, Oregon
Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, is calling for the revitalization of “mission passionate Catholic education” in his archdiocese.
“Would we call a Spanish-language immersion school successful if its graduates could barely understand Spanish?” Sample wrote in an Oct. 15 social media post. “We should take the mission of our Catholic schools just as seriously. Academic excellence matters. So does forming students who know Jesus Christ and can understand, articulate and live the faith.”
“Therefore, I am calling for a significant and genuine renewal of Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Portland, beginning in our Catholic elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools and eventually extending to the religious education and faith formation programs in our parishes,” he said.
Sample’s message comes as part of a wider mission renewal initiative in the archdiocese announced on Oct. 1.