Meeting the Daily Needs of Our Seminarians...

by Susan F. Detlefsen, Staff Writer
This story originally appeared in the January/February issue of Catholic Aid Journey magazine.

The Monsignor Schuler Seminarian Charitable Trust was able to bless more than 100 seminarians with grants this year. The Trust gave out $25,200 in major awards and $11,500 in minor awards for a total of 109 grants and $36,700 total dollars awarded.

The numbers are high this year, but the most rewarding part of the grant program is receiving the moving notes of thanks and gratitude from the grant recipients.

Many seminarians said that the grants help them focus on their studies rather than fret about finances. “Time in the seminary is filled with many challenges, not least of which is the occasional financial challenge of books, travel and various other personal expenses. With your generous and prayerful support, it makes it possible for seminary to be a time to be concerned with the study of Theology, formation and especially to be growing in prayer,” wrote Jeremy Vidmar.

Lee Fortin of Watertown, S.D., agrees. “It’s scholarships like the Msgr. Schuler Trust that allows seminarians the time to focus on classes, discernment and formation. I encourage you in this giving because it is becoming ever more apparent to me that our God is never outdone in generosity.”

This is the fourth grant that Matt Wiering has received since starting his studies in Rome more than three years ago. “After my ordination, I will obviously no longer need the grant, but I will always remember the help the Schuler Charitable Trust gave me during my seminary years,” Wiering wrote to the Trust in a letter.

The grants helped seminarians travel back home for holidays. “Thanks to your generosity, I am able to get back to my Diocese for Holy Week to serve and celebrate with our Diocese at our Mass,” said Seth Gogolin of Brainerd, Minn. Gregory Haman of Fargo, N.D., also used his grant money to make a welcome trip home for the holidays.

The grant will help Deacon Alex Carlson travel to Ares, France, where he will prepare for ordination on May 29, 2010.For others, grant monies made sure that some unexpected bills weren’t a burden. “I recently had to replace my glasses; the Msgr. Schuler Grant paid for this unexpected expense,” said Aaron Kalmon of Superior, Wis. “Thanks to your gift I’ll be able to pay my car insurance and for some gas,” said Sean Mulligan of Grand Forks, N.D.

Grant recipient Elliot Huss of Coon Rapids, Minn., testified not only to the importance of the grant he received, but also to his fellow seminarians. “I can personally attest to the quality of men in the seminary currently and want you to know your hard work could not have benefited a greater bunch of young men. Please also know your generosity is greatly appreciated,” said Huss.

Donations to the Schuler Charitable Trust can be made online at: www.catholicaid.org/links/schuler. Click on the blue “Donate Now” button.

Read more about the Schuler Charitable Trust.
Download the photos and names of the 2009 seminarian grant recipients.
Donate now to the Schuler Trust (via www.razoo.com)

The Catholic Aid Association Foundation and Haiti Relief

The Salesian Catholic Missions in Haiti is an organization that The Catholic Aid Association has supported financially for over 20 years. The missions operate orphanages, shelters, hospitals, clinics, nurseries, youth centers, parishes, and schools.

If you are interested in making a financial contribution to the Salesian Missions, please donate by cash, check or credit card directly to the Catholic Aid Association Foundation, Attn: Haiti Relief. The check from the Foundation will be sent to Fr. Mark Hyde and the deadline for donations is February 5, 2010.

The Catholic Aid Association will match up to $1,000 in donations to the campaign.

For more information, please contact Paul Naumann, Executive Director of the Catholic Aid Association Foundation at 651.765.6548 or 877.275.7145 or pnaumann@catholicaid.org.

Catholic schools and supporters win big through Catholic Aid Association’s 2009 Raffle

Photo by Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

Congratulations are in order for our Catholic schools! Students and educators at 18 Catholic schools in Minnesota and South Dakota pounded the pavement and rang doorbells for over a month to sell raffle tickets. Together with raffle sponsor Catholic Aid Association (CAA), these hard workers raised more than $128,575. Every penny of the money raised goes directly into school accounts thanks to CAA providing the promotion, printing and prizes involved in the raffle.

“From the beginning, we wanted every penny raised by this raffle to pay for the needs of our Catholic schools,” said Michael McGovern, president and board chairman of Catholic Aid, a fraternal life insurance and benefits company. “It is our hope that we can repeat this program every year. It fits into our mission of supporting the Catholic faith through our local schools.”

Students, parents and educators sold more than 25,000 tickets from Sept. 14 to Oct. 28. The official drawing ceremony for the CAA School Raffle was held on Oct. 30, 2009 at 11 a.m. Official winners of the raffle drawing will be announced as soon as they are verified and the winners are contacted. A complete list of all raffle winners will be available on CAA’s website, www.catholicaid.org/links/raffle.

However, CAA is happy to announce that the winning didn’t end on Oct. 30.

“The real rock stars of this program were the students, the parents and the teachers who tackled the work involved in this raffle. They did an excellent job,” said Steve Wendorf, Marketing Director for Catholic Aid. “We’re hoping for even more energy and participation from them next year because we’re going to add more schools, and there will be more competition.”

Catholic Aid’s Field Representative will be presenting prizes to the top student ticket sellers and pizza parties for top-performing classrooms at each participating school in the coming weeks.

Catholic Aid Association has been a proud supporter of Catholic schools and religious education for over 50 years.

Photo Information. Photos of the Oct. 30 Raffle Drawing Ceremony are available by calling Susan Detlefsen, 651-490-0170 ext. 169 or email ads@catholicaid.org.

About The Catholic Aid Association. The Catholic Aid Association helps every generation of the Catholic community thrive and grow. By striving to be the provider of choice for life insurance and retirement preparation for its 73,000 members and by giving back to the local communities through its 160 local councils, Catholic Aid has built a relationship with its members stretching back 131 years. Programs that provide matching grants to schools and churches, assistance to members in need, and education scholarships for young members have given millions of dollars to communities throughout Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa and North Dakota. Based in St. Paul, Minn., Catholic Aid is a professional friend, helping its members to plan for the future, for every step of every journey, for life.For more information about The Catholic Aid Association or its Foundation or Credit Union, call 651-490-0170, 1-800-568-6670 or visit online at www.catholicaid.org.

Marketing Contact: Rebecca Redlin
Oct. 30, 2009
651-765-4137 or 1-800-568-6670
Catholic Aid Association
rredlin@catholicaid.org

Catholic Aid School Raffle Drawing is Friday, October 30 at 11 a.m.

ST. PAUL, MINN. – The public is invited to a live ceremony where one Catholic school supporter will walk away with the grand prize of a new 2010 Ford Edge SUV or $20,000!

Sponsored by the Catholic Aid Association, the 2009 Catholic Schools Raffle involves 26 Catholic schools in Minnesota and South Dakota. Students, parents and educators have been selling $5 tickets since Sept. 14, every penny of which goes back to the participating school. Catholic Aid is covering the costs of organizing, printing, and prizes for the raffle program to maximize each school’s final earnings. The raffle officially ends on Oct. 29 at midnight.

The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. Along with the grand prize, Catholic Aid will be drawing winners for vacations at Breezy Point Resort in Breezy Point, Minn., iPod Shuffles, and 32-inch Samsung LCD TVs. CAA President Michael McGovern will be present at the ceremony along with Catholic school students, educators, CAA Spiritual Director Monsignor James Habiger and other special guests. Refreshments will be provided. A complete list of all raffle winners will be posted to CAA’s website, www.catholicaid.org/links/raffle.

About The Catholic Aid Association. The Catholic Aid Association helps every generation of the Catholic community thrive and grow. By striving to be the provider of choice for life insurance and retirement preparation for its 73,000 members and by giving back to the local communities through its 160 local councils, Catholic Aid has built a relationship with its members stretching back 131 years. Programs that provide matching grants to schools and churches, assistance to members in need, and education scholarships for young members have given millions of dollars to communities throughout Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa and North Dakota. Based in St. Paul, Minn., Catholic Aid is a professional friend, helping its members to plan for the future, for every step of every journey, for life.

For more information about The Catholic Aid Association or its Foundation or Credit Union, call 651-490-0170, 1-800-568-6670 or visit online at www.catholicaid.org.

What's In a Name? :: Catholic Aid Association

What’s in a name? For many established members, the Catholic Aid Association stands for tradition and strong Catholic values.

This is the story of our company taking the next step forward to update its image and name to remain relevant for the next 100 years. But in order to move forward with strength and conviction, we must look to our fraternal history to guide our decisions for the next generation.

As Catholic Aid Association embarks on taking the next step forward, we first talked with F.L. “Flip” Spanier, retired past president and CEO of Catholic Aid, to give us an historical perspective on how the organization started and how it evolved.

“When you go back to the 1850s to 1914, that span of time saw the largest influx of European immigrants ever, and they were recently arrived foreigners in this country. They tried to then buy insurance from the commercial companies in this country and they were not able to because they couldn’t speak the language. And so they got the notion that, gee, let’s start our own organization. Then what they did is they formed in 1878…the German Catholic Aid Association of Minnesota...that then evolved into what later on became our organization ever since.”

Is it time to take the next step forward and update our name? It’s clear we have been down this road before and each time we’ve responded. We asked people from presidents and CEOs, to average Catholics on the street, what they thought of Catholic Aid’s name and the possibility of a name update. The message is clear. Together we have an opportunity to ensure the growth and vitality of our organization for the next generation of members.

Joe Schirmers, past Board Member, St. Augusta Council, St. Cloud, Minn.
“Young people are now online with doing different things so it’s hard to get the young people to get involved…There’s a gap there. You’ve always got to change to invite the young people to come in. You’re not going to be there forever. They’ll have to take over.”

Michael McGovern, President and Chairman of CAA
“We aren’t necessarily looking at a total name change. We’re looking at an update, really. The issue becomes that we need to be more descriptive not for our members but for people who would want to join Catholic Aid...Many of the fraternals today are shrinking in membership size. We’re not growing, but we’re not shrinking either. We’re staying about the same size all the time.”

Joseph Annotti, President and CEO, National Fraternal Congress of America
“That’s really up to the individual fraternals whether they are going to be relevant or not. I think there might be 90 total fraternal benefits societies in the United States. The other 25 that are not members of NFCA are extremely small, on their last legs as far as I can tell... The fraternal system could stick around for another 50 years on its own. If it’s going to stick around for another 100 years, we’ve got to figure out ways to grow... We’ve got to be out there in those arenas or we’re going to miss attracting the next generation of members. And if you don’t get the next generation in, you can write the end of the closing chapters of that book.”

Dr. Diane Hinds, professional researcher, Employers Association, Inc. speaks on a study of 2,400 non-member Catholics in Minnesota who were asked what they thought of CAA’s name.
“They told us some interesting things. They mentioned that Catholic Aid Association was a word or phrase that they had heard, but only about 10 percent of the entire group were able to accurately describe what it was. More than 50 percent thought that is was a charitable organization.

“What this says is that a large percentage of people that you would be marketing to when they first hear the term Catholic Aid are going to assume that you are a charitable organization and are not going to understand that you have insurance products....you’re going to have to educate them. You’re going to have to take an additional step to educate them as to what the organization is all about.”

Peter Ryan, FIC, Catholic Aid Field Representative for seven years
“If [our purpose] is part of our name, it’s a lot less to explain, a lot less to go over. From my perspective people would see it in our name and go, ‘Wow, I didn’t know Catholic Aid did that.’ My opinion would be that we need to have something added or changed in our name to make it crystal clear.”

Kathleen Moriarty, Director of Fraternal, CAA
“I think Catholic Aid like any business organization has to change and adapt to reflect the different audiences and the lifestyles of our members...We’re very conscious that young people today have access to many, many different activities beyond Catholic Aid. In order for Catholic Aid to be something that makes it onto their list, it has to be something that will include their friends, and fit well into their schedule and be meaningful to them.”

How about you? What do you think of a name update? This is your time, your company and your future. Please let us know your opinion on the name update process. Call 651-765-6555 or email news@catholicaid.org.

Parent Evening: Teaching our Children CHASTITY & VIRTUE

THURSDAY, MAY 21 -6:30-9:30 PM Church of St. Joseph Great Room – West St. Paul, MN*

Join The Church of St. Joseph’s for this unforgettable evening that is guaranteed to assist in the formation of our children in chastity, virtue and Christian friendship. Refreshments provided. Please RSVP by Wed (5/20) ann.osendorf@churchofstjoseph.org or 651.789.8357. This event is FREE & open to the public. Sponsored by the Junior High Youth Office with the generous assistance of CAA Foundation.

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKERS:

Fr. Thomas Loya: “This is MY Body” ~Speaking a Lie or Telling the Truth Understanding the “language of the Body” as articulated in John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

Father Thomas Knoblach: “The WHY-NOT Culture ~Developing Character & Self-Discipline in our Media-Driven World” The confusing messages of the culture and emerging problems facing the Family and our youth...And what we can do!

Catholic Aid Foundation Golf Tournament

May 18, 2009, Registration Begins at 11:00 AM
River Oaks Golf Course, Cottage Grove, MN

All proceeds of this tournament go toward the Catholic Aid Foundation's three priority funds:
1. Technology Grants for Catholic Education
2. Chastity & Abstinence Education
3. Disaster Relief

Please contact the Catholic Aid Foundation for more information about this event at 651.765.6548.

Sponsor options include:
Dinner Only for $40
Sponsor a Priest to Golf for $110
Individual Golfer for $110
Benefactor Sponsor for $150
Corporate Sponsor for $500
Founder Sponsor for $1000
Additional Options for $1500 - $3000