by Michael Morrissey
Special to The Leaven
The Catholic Education Foundation was established in 1997 to assist under-resourced Catholic schools in the archdiocese in their efforts to provide a high-quality, Catholic education to any child, regardless of the economic condition of that child’s family. There are 44 schools in the archdiocese; CEF currently supports 19 of those schools.
The CEF stained-glass logo has become a symbol of hope for many of the schools in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.
Catholic schools provide lifelong foundations of faith, compassion and education from which will spring the future leaders of society. Parents enroll their children in Catholics schools because they know that the teachers there are committed to providing each and every child with an outstanding, values-based education. Our challenge is to ensure that a quality Catholic education is available for all people who seek it, especially those less fortunate.
The Catholic Education Foundation has awarded over $11 million in scholarships since its inception. In 2010-11, the Archbishop’s Call to Share supported CEF by providing funds to sponsor scholarships for approximately 243 students. We could not be doing what we are doing today without the support of ACTS!
Students and parents truly appreciate the support and say it best with thank-you notes to CEF like the following:
“Thank you for your scholarship help! If not for you, I could not go to a Catholic school. My dad lost his job and we do not have a lot of money. Some of my friends are getting help, too. It is kind of cool that we are in this together. Because we go to a Catholic school, we can pray in class. We pray that things will get better. When we grow up, we hope to help others.”
“I am a single mother with four children. I work full time at a company that is struggling to keep its doors open. My wages recently got cut by almost half. I have taken on two part-time jobs at night during the week and clean houses on the weekend. Many nights I don’t sleep; I just cry. I cry because of the unknown future for my children. I also cry with tears of gratitude for those that are helping my kids go to Catholic school. I am told that CEF is the reason my children are able to stay in a Catholic school. Thank you!”
