September 22, 2025 // Diocese

Golf Event Raises Money for Elkhart Catholic Cemetery

Todays Catholic

 The winning foursome of the 2025 Catholic Open included, from left, Scott Flaharty, Tim Conley, Jacob O’Brien, and Dave Fye. – Photo provided by St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church

On Sunday, September 7, Black Squirrel Golf Course in Goshen hosted the fifth annual Elkhart County Catholic Open, which serves as a fundraiser for St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Cemetery – the only Catholic cemetery in Elkhart County.

Jeff Kendell, who serves on the board of the cemetery, organized the event and told Today’s Catholic that the weather was perfect and they had great fellowship. He said while the Catholic Open is meant to foster participation from the communities of the four Catholic churches in Elkhart County, anyone can play. In 2023, funds from the event helped to pay for a new section of the cemetery, the Garden of the Holy Innocents, where people can bury the cremains of babies lost to miscarriage, abortion, or stillbirth in a special ceremony held on All Souls’ Day. The next big project, which the Catholic Open will help support, is a new 72-niche columbarium and meditation spaces.

The “Conley Brothers” foursome from St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Elkhart won this year’s event and will get to bring the traveling trophy to St. Thomas until next year’s outing.