PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Ann Rodgers / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh will launch a $125 million fundraising campaign in January, with 40 percent of donations going directly back to the parishes that raise them.
Through quiet conversations with major donors, Bishop David Zubik said, initial pledges have already reached more than $25 million. Planning has been under way for 18 months, with a feasibility study that interviewed most priests and about 350 laity in the 635,000-member diocese.
The response was enthusiastic, the bishop said.
“The overwhelming focus of what they said was that the campaign should focus on the intangibles, all of the things that the church does and needs to be able to do, as opposed to a campaign for buildings,” he said.
Some of the many planned expenditures include creating a $1 million endowment to permanently fund dental care at the Catholic Charities Free Health Care Center, Downtown, $1.5 million for evangelization of fallen-away Catholics, $7 million in grants to isolated needy parishes, $1 million to campus ministry and $2 million to support education of autistic students in parish schools. The single largest allocation is $12 million in needs-based tuition grants for parish children to attend Catholic schools.
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