CFU celebrates 30 years of increasing support

Friday, Nov. 07, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — On Nov. 14, the Catholic Foundation of Utah will celebrate the 30th year since its founding by Bishop William K. Weigand and a group of volunteer board members, who were tasked with investing the proceeds of the sale of Holy Cross Hospital and other assets to help provide a secure financial future for the Diocese of Salt Lake City.

Since then, the foundation has seen the establishment of 306 endowments that benefit everything from individual parishes and schools to the education of seminarians, from the support of social and economic justice programs to aid for home ministry. 

This year, the endowment beneficiaries as a whole received more than half a million dollars, “that without the Catholic Foundation of Utah we would be scrambling to raise through bingo and auctions and spaghetti dinners. Half a million dollars is a lot of spaghetti dinners,” said John B. Wilson, president of the CFU Board of Trustees. “We’re beginning to make a difference in the diocese.” 

Wilson spoke at three events at the end of October that were held to thank CFU donors and welcome potential donors. 

Among those who attended were Darold and Patti LeClaire of Saint Vincent de Paul Parish, who learned about the CFU last year and decided to contribute to an endowment that provides scholarships to the parish school, which their children attended.

Patti LeClaire is a lifelong member of the parish; Darold LeClaire joined the Catholic Church after studying with Monsignor Mark Benvegnu, who was pastor from 1962 to 1986. They met Father Dominic Thuy Dang Ha, now pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, when he was assigned at St. Vincent; Fr. Ha called Patti LeClaire’s mother “Mom” so “we think of him as our brother,” she said.

Fr. Ha also visited Patti LeClaire when she was ill, and he regularly cuts Darold LeClaire’s hair, the couple said; having that personal contact helps when things are difficult, Patti LeClaire said.

They decided to contribute to the CFU because “what little we can do to help others … means a lot to me,” Patti LeClaire said; her husband added that he is so grateful for everything, especially his wife’s support, that “I just had to do it.”

Like the LeClaires, John and Florence Wilson contribute to established endowments rather than creating one of their own, although they support one created by their son and his wife, the John B. and Lynn M. Wilson Family Endowment, which benefits Judge Memorial Catholic High School. All eight of the senior Wilson’s children attended Judge Memorial, as did John and Lynn Wilson’s two children.

“We feel that we have a serious obligation to support the religious institution that we love and wish to support,” said Wilson senior, who with his wife attends daily Mass at Saint Ambrose Parish.

John B. Wilson, the CFU president, served on the Judge Memorial financial board; he established the endowment because “I know how helpful it is to that school to have some income,” he said.

For the diocese, the CFU provides a firm financial footing for the future, he added. “We’re investing $30 million, which we didn’t have 30 years ago when the foundation was created, so we feel very good about the direction that we’re headed.”

In his remarks at the events, Bishop John C. Wester thanked the CFU donors “for being faithful stewards – for sharing the gifts that God has given you, for using them wisely, for acknowledging God as the creator of the gift in the first place, for using your own talents that have certainly enhanced these gifts and embellished the gifts with God’s grace, and then sharing them with us. … Your participation in this local diocese is critical, and it means the world to us.”