CATHOLIC FOUNDATION AWARDS $61,650 IN SPRING 2020 GRANT CYCLE

Sheila Grove
08/04/2020

ERIE — The Catholic foundation has announced the recipients of its Spring Faith Formation and Education Grants.

Father Ross Miceli, pastor of St. Boniface Church,
Kersey, reviews materials available through
Word on Fire.com that his parishioners will be able
to access with grant funding for Word on Fire Engage.
Contributed photo

“Our competitive grant process can help make dreams realities for ministry leaders who are trying new things to expand their programming,” said Lisa Louis, director of the foundation.

Grants are funded through permanent endowments in the foundation that generate funds in perpetuity. Additional gifts make more granting possible.

The Evangelization and Education Endowments that fund these grants are made possible by donations. They increase the foundation’s capacity to impact life-long faith formation and education needs of schools and parishes throughout the Diocese of Erie.

According to Louis, “If you missed applying this year, try next year! Application timelines and guidelines are posted on our website. The new grant cycle begins August 15.”

Two of the recipients of this year’s Spring grants are St. Boniface Parish in Kersey and Mercyhurst Preparatory School in Erie.

St. Boniface Church received a grant of $2,880 to fund subscriptions to Word on Fire’s ENGAGE.

“We are using Word on Fire ENGAGE at St. Boniface parish to share invaluable resources while people are socially distancing and away from traditional ‘church.’ The Word on Fire platform allows us to study great saints and Catholic influencers at the same time even while we are physically apart. It’s a great way to stay connected in a digital world,” shared Father Ross Miceli, pastor.

“I send out a message at least once a week sharing a short video and reflection questions. The parishioners can watch, respond, and share their faith wherever they might be! It has been a blessing to use technology in new and creative ways during the pandemic,” he added.

Sean Baer, IT coordinator at Mercyhurst Preparatory School in Erie, is grateful for the opportunity to add interactive touch screen displays to classrooms that will allow students will see presentations in 4K display.

“Teachers will be able to mirror their laptops wirelessly and switch between applications while standing at the board, allowing for more instruction time. Teachers and students can write directly on top of any document on the screen, which is extremely useful particularly in math and science classrooms. They will also be able to demonstrate concepts by pulling content from the internet, annotate on top of slides, and add video and audio clips.” he said.

More information about the Catholic Foundation of Northwest Pennsylvania for donors and a list of current grant recipients can be found here.