Extension magazine - Summer 2023

10
BUILD
News Briefs
Extension | Summer 2023 11
HIGHLIGHTS
Become a parish
partner
Does your parish
want to support the
mission of Catholic
Extension? Visit
catholicextension.
org/parishpartnerships
or
contact Natalie
Donatello at
ndonatello@
catholicextension.org
to learn more.
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media
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about the vibrant
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support!
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Father Jack Wall, president of Catholic Extension, and Sister Fatima Santiago, ICM, visit San Juan Diego
Mission in Citrus City, Texas, a church built with Extension support.
Visionary sister joins Board of Governors
Sister Fatima Santiago, a Missionary Sister of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary, joined Catholic Extension’s Board of Governors at the beginning
of this year. She is the first religious sister of color to ever
serve in this capacity. A native of India, she has served as a missionary
in many parts of the world. Twenty years ago, she arrived in a
destitute neighborhood in southern Texas, where she saw potential.
With two other sisters, she developed Proyecto Desarrollo Humano,
an outreach center devoted to supporting the social, educational,
health and spiritual needs of women and families. In 2014
she and her fellow sisters received Catholic Extension’s Lumen
Christi Award.
As a member of our Board of Governors, Sister Fatima brings her
pioneering spirit and pastoral wisdom to help Catholic Extension
advance its mission across the country.
PHOTO JUAN GUAJARDO
WOMEN TO VOTE
AT SYNOD
ROME
In April the Vatican
announced that—for the
first time—women and
laypeople will be voting
members alongside
bishops at the global
Synod on Synodality
in October 2023. The
announcement occurred
on the same day that Catholic
Extension brought a
delegation of women leaders
to Rome to meet Pope
Francis in a private audience.
Read the story on
page 20.
CELEBRATING NEW
ORDINATIONS
NATIONWIDE
About 100 ordinations of
priests and an estimated
650 ordinations of
permanent deacons will
occur this year in Extension
dioceses. Catholic
Extension has been supporting
the education
of these newly ordained
leaders in more than 50
dioceses. Read a thank
you letter from a soonto-be-ordained
priest
in Tucson, Arizona, on
page 42. Pictured above:
Deacon Kyle Tannehill will
be ordained in Helena,
Montana, in June 2023.
2022
Catholic Extension published its
2022 annual report that features
15 years of progress since Father
Jack Wall began his
tenure as president. Some of
these achievements include
the significant increase in
our financial impact through
our various programs, which
30 YEARS
OF SUPPORT
MONTANA
Little Flower Parish in
Browning, Montana,
which serves the Native
American people of Blackfeet
Nation in the Diocese
of Helena, has the
longest streak of annual
financial support from
Catholic Extension of
any single faith community
in the country
(30 straight years). The
parish and its Catholic
school, De La Salle Blackfeet
School, continue to
provide immense hope
and opportunity to this
community.
ANNUAL REPORT SHOWS REMARKABLE IMPACT
BISHOP FLORES’
IMPORTANT ROLE
TEXAS
Bishop Daniel Flores of
the Diocese of Brownsville,
Texas, a member of
Catholic Extension’s Board
of Governors, is one of
six leaders around the
world named to the
special commission
tasked with preparing
the Vatican’s upcoming
Synod on Synodality in
October. He said, “It’s a
tender responsibility to
remember those voices
and to carry them into
the wider dialogue of
the communion of the
Church.”
totaled $271 million in 2022 alone. The
report focuses on the hope we see for the
future based on the immense amount of
good being done in the name
of the Church, especially in
the most challenging circumstances
and places. Find the
full report at catholicextension.org/annual-report.
NEWS BRIEFS