January 25, 2017 // Uncategorized

Bishop D’Arcy Catholic Education Jubilee Fund awards tuition assistance

Todays Catholic

Eighteen Catholic elementary schools in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend are being awarded tuition assistance of $500 per student, for a total of 36 students, for the school year 2016-17 from The Bishop D’Arcy Catholic Education Jubilee Fund. Nine recipients are Fort Wayne-area elementary schools and nine 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 that have one or more students receiving an award for school year 2016-17 are as follows.

• Fort Wayne area: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. John the Baptist, St. Vincent de Paul, Most Precious Blood, Queen of Angels, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Joseph-Hessen Cassel and St. Therese, all in Fort Wayne; and St. Aloysius, Yoder.

• South Bend area: St. Matthew Cathedral, Corpus Christi, Holy Family and St. Jude, all in South Bend; Mishawaka Catholic, Mishawaka; Queen of Peace, Mishawaka; St. John the Evangelist, Goshen; St. Thomas the Apostle, Elkhart; 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 Deacon James Fitzpatrick, Chief Financial Officer Joseph Ryan and Superintendent of Catholic Schools Marsha Jordan.

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 $259,277 as of June 30, 2016.

The committee sent letters and tuition assistance application forms in October to principals and pastors of all Catholic elementary schools in the diocese, inviting them to recommend a student from the school who qualified for tuition assistance based on financial need. Also, the committee requested a written essay of 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.

Those who would like to make a current gift of cash or stock or a planned gift such as a will bequest to the Bishop D’Arcy Catholic Education Jubilee Fund, may contact Ryan at (260) 422-4611or [email protected]