One of the reasons the Catholic Education Foundation exists was the young man helping people find their seats at the organization's 20th anniversary celebration June 6 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
Salesian High School letterman Chris Vanacord --- heading for his senior year in 2007-08 --- attends the East Los Angeles boys school with tuition assistance from the Foundation. And is very appreciative of the opportunity.
"There's just me and my mom," says Vanacord, a member of three varsity teams (football, basketball, and baseball) with a 3.2 GPA, and aiming for college. "And I am very grateful that my mom can send me there. Getting assistance from the Foundation helps her a lot. She's happy she can do this for me because she knows how much I love Salesian. It's a great school."
Much like the other 7,000 students attending Catholic elementary and high schools who received tuition assistance from the Catholic Education Foundation this year, Vanacord needs the assistance to be able to attend the school he loves. And for the last 20 years the Catholic Education Foundation, first under the leadership of former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, and with the assistance of many outstanding and generous donors like Dorothy and John Shea, more than 80,000 children have received tuition assistance.
Trustees have raised more $73 million for this effort and are seeking to increase the endowment of these funds. Many of them were present for last week's celebration, which honored Riordan and the Sheas at a Mass and dinner.
"It's a fantastic thing what the Foundation is doing," said retired California Supreme Court Justice Chief Justice Malcolm Lucas, whose wife, Fiorenza Courtwright Lucas, is a CEF Emertius Trustee and a member since the foundation began in 1987.
"Every year," Lucas continued, "it funds the tuition for 7,000 children, who otherwise --- well, God knows what would happen to them. But it would be nothing like the benefits they receive as a result of this Foundation."
Added his wife: "What the foundation does is just incredible! A Catholic education is a benefit and a gift for life. If we can give just a fraction of this wonderful education to just a fraction of the children, they will be the beneficiaries from this help for the rest of their lives."
In his homily at the liturgy, Cardinal Roger Mahony noted that in looking at the face of today's children, "we are looking upon the face of Jesus." The cardinal also expounded on the message in St. Paul's exhortation to the Corinthians: "You cannot outgive God. You cannot be more generous than God - that's a wonderful maxim. Our generosity of spirit, heart; our generosity of our time, abilities, energies; our generosity of our treasures-no matter how much we give away, the more God gives back in abundance. We should never hesitate to give because God will always outgive us."
Riordan, recognized for his many years of service to the Catholic schools of Los Angeles, spoke afterwards about the importance of education and how the foundation has made a difference in the lives of so many. He also thanked those who have so generously given, but added that the building of an endowment is critical to the future of the schools.
And he used the words of Rabbi Hillel the Elder as a further challenge: "If not now, when? If not me, then who?" |