October 28, 2010 // Local

Bishop D’Arcy Catholic Education Jubilee Fund awards tuition assistance to 29 elementary schools

Todays Catholic

FORT WAYNE — Twenty-nine Catholic elementary schools in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend are being awarded tuition assistance of $215.44 each for school year 2010-2011 from The Bishop D’Arcy Catholic Education Jubilee Fund. Seventeen are Fort Wayne area elementary schools and 12 are South Bend area schools.

The Bishop D’Arcy Catholic Education Jubilee Fund is a restricted endowment fund within the Catholic Community Foundation of Northeast Indiana. Bishop John M. D’Arcy established the fund in 2007 with gifts from the 50th anniversary of his priesthood, from memorials of his late sister, Mary Caprio, and from other special donations. The purpose of the fund is to grant tuition assistance to Catholic students in Catholic elementary schools in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

Schools which have a student receiving an award for the school year 2010-2011 are as follows:
• Fort Wayne area: Huntington Catholic, Huntington; Most Precious Blood, Queen of Angels, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton/St. Joseph, St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph- Hessen Cassel, St. Jude, St. Therese and St. Vincent de Paul, all in Fort Wayne; St. Bernard, Wabash; St. John the Baptist and St. Louis Academy, New Haven; St. Joseph, Decatur; St. Joseph, Garrett; St. Joseph, Monroeville; and St. Mary of the Assumption, Avilla.

• South Bend area: Corpus Christi, Holy Family, Our Lady of Hungary, St. Adalbert, St. John the Baptist, St. Jude and St. Matthew Cathedral, all in South Bend; Queen of Peace and St. Bavo, both in Mishawaka; Sacred Heart, Warsaw; St. Michael, Plymouth; and St. Vincent de Paul, Elkhart.

The fund makes distributions each year based on an annual payout of 6 percent of the value of the fund on June 30. Recipients are awarded financial assistance based on need by a committee that consists of Daniel Fitzpatrick, James Fitzpatrick, John Gaughan, Joseph Ryan and Elisa Smith.

Bishop D’Arcy celebrated 50 years as a priest on Feb. 2, 2007. He contributed gifts that he received from the golden jubilee of his priesthood to create the Bishop D’Arcy Catholic Education Jubilee Fund. In addition, when his sister, Mary Caprio, died in September 2007, Bishop D’Arcy requested that memorials be given to this fund. Moreover, a special gift from a family foundation was contributed to the Bishop D’Arcy Catholic Education Jubilee Fund in May 2008. The total value of the fund was approximately $104,128 as of June 30, 2010.

The committee sent letters and tuition assistance application forms in April 2010 to principals and pastors of all Catholic elementary schools in the diocese, inviting them to recommend one student from the school who qualified for tuition assistance based on financial need. Also, the committee requested a written essay, not more than 100 words, from each student who applied, titled “Why Catholic Education Is Important to Me.”

For each student who is granted an award, it will be for one time and is nonrenewable.