2011 Scholarships - Catholic Youth Foundation USA

Grant Recipients
In January 2011, the CYFUSA Board of Directors
awarded $22,662.50 in grants to the following
recipients:
Our Lady of Loreto Ridgeview Ministry
Archdiocese of Denver
The Our Lady of Loreto Ridgeview Ministry
provides Catholic youth ministry to young men,
age 14-18, currently incarcerated at the Ridgeview
facility in Watkins, Colorado. Both Catholic
and non-Catholics attend services on a weekly
basis including eucharistic services, fellowship,
question and answer sessions, catechesis, penance
services, and prayer groups. The purpose of the
ministry is threefold: to draw these young men
into participation in the Catholic faith community,
to foster their personal and spiritual growth, and
ultimately, to empower them to live as disciples of
Jesus Christ.
As a direct result of the grant from Catholic Youth
Foundation USA and the additional donation of
Bibles from Saint Mary’s
Press, the Our Lady of
Loreto Youth Ministry was
able to provide outreach,
education, support, and
catechesis to hundreds of
young men. Our ministry
was able to offer a Bible and
a copy of the Catechism of
the Catholic Church to each
young man who attended
services. For most of these
young men, it was the first
Bible they ever personally
owned. The young men
were surprised and touched to be able to take their
Bibles with them, and often returned with questions
after doing some reading on their own. The
Catechisms were also very useful to help answer
questions regarding the faith both during our visits
and after we have left the facility.
House of Peace—Hope Is Something You Do
Archdiocese of Milwaukee
“Hope Is Something You Do” is a workshop for
middle school students presented twice a year
by trained high school students on the skills
and concepts of nonviolent conflict resolution.
The training of the high school students is a
collaborative ministry between the House of Peace
and the Leadership Center of Cardinal Stritch
University. The issue of violence is not new to the
city of Milwaukee—often called one of the most
segregated cities in the country. The House of Peace
is an outreach center that has addressed the needs
of the poor in Milwaukee’s inner city since 1968.
Sean Lansing, the program director, shared one
of their success stories—Fernando. Fernando is a
young man who just recently graduated (May 2010.)
He was in the House of Peace Teen Leader Program
for all four years
of high school and
was one of our lead
workshop presenters
for our Hope Is
Something You Do
Workshop. He is the
first in his family to go
to college, and we are
excited to say that he
just finished his first
semester at Harvard
University! He credits
his involvement
as a House of Peace teen leader as critical to his
success, both because of how the program helped
his application stand out, but also the skills and
confidence it gave him to reach his full potential.
The Partnership in Adolescent Catechesis—
Transforming Adolescent Catechesis
Archdiocese of Washington
Last year the Partnership for Adolescent Catechesis
received a grant to purchase software to enable
interactive, online learning for those participating
in Transforming Adolescent Catechesis (TAC). TAC
is an eight-month process that works with parishes
and schools to evaluate and transform how they
think about and engage in adolescent catechesis.
It is critical that those facilitating the process—the
local teams and coaches—are formed in their
understanding of change management, adolescents,
catechesis, and other topics. To ensure that TAC
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