Impact Stories

Admiration for Monsignor James "Fr. Pete" Peterson and Bishop Lawrence Persico inspire gifts to the endowments bearing their names and supporting causes important to them.

It’s wonderful to imagine the number of students’ lives Fr. Joseph Gregorek touched during his long career as a college professor. Now, as he is planning his Catholic legacy, Fr. Joe is ensuring that the breadth of his life’s impact will expand in perpetuity through designated endowments in the Catholic Foundation.

Saint Michael Parish in Greenville is known for providing life-long faith formation activities to the rural community it serves. Finding a way to keep in touch with a parish of over 1,250 families and provide Catholic faith resources to groups all at different stages of their faith life was challenging. A Catholic Foundation 2019 Education Grant enabled the purchase of a subscription to Flocknote/Word on Fire ENGAGE, an online communication and faith formation resource. Little did they know what a blessing it would become.

Jim and Mary Margaret Malue were inspired to give by faith, community and friendship built throughout the years. Seeding a new endowment, and giving to help build another, fulfills their desire to give back.

Mary McCarthy shared her earthly blessings the same way she lived her life -- in faith, with purpose, and making impact. Later in life as she planned her legacy, she described faith as a spark that lights the way for people to look beyond themselves. Today, years after her death, Mary's endowments continue to light the way for the Catholic ministries that meant the most to her.

When Michele Smith, religious education leader at Saint Callistus Parish in Kane applied for a Faith Formation grant with the Catholic Foundation of Northwest Pennsylvania in 2019, she never imagined that a global pandemic would alter her plans for implementing a parish-wide faith-formation plan. With the GIFT program already on her radar, Michele decided to adapt it for use with her elementary religious education students.

Faced with limited resources to lead thirty diverse schools that educate over 5,000 students, as Superintendent of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Erie, Jim Gallagher has an important job at a critical time for Catholic education. Today one of his key supporters is someone he’s never met.

Inspired by legacy gifts from thoughtful donors, and with an eye for the future, the Catholic Charities Legacy Endowment has been established by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Erie, Inc. Bequests from longtime supporters of Catholic Charities, Msgr. William Biebel and Mark Kulyk, seeded this endowment which now offers an open invitation for others to follow their lead.

Last year $55,000 was distributed from the Catholic Foundation’s education endowment to augment the Bishop’s Tuition Assistance Program which helps ensure Catholic education remains affordable for families.