OSV APPROVES $1.2 MILLION FOR HISPANIC OUTREACH
The Our Sunday Visitor Institute (OSV Institute) Board of Directors approved the distribution of $1.2 million in grants to 12 Catholic organizations, the largest amount of funding awarded at once in the OSV’s history. The grants were designated through the OSV Institute’s Hispanic Experience Initiative, which supports programs seeking to learn from and incorporate the Hispanic experience into the Church in the United States.
For this grant cycle, the OSV Institute received more than $4 million in requests for funding, which is also the largest number of requests OSV has received to date. The 12 organizations to receive funding for the Hispanic Experience Initiative this year are the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Bishop Luers High School, Catholic Charities of Central Washington, the Catholic Leadership Institute, Corazón Puro, the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Holy Cross College, the Lumen Christi Institute, Natural Family Planning Center of Washington D.C., St. Bartholomew Parish, Southeast Pastoral Institute and Vagabond Missions.
Corazón Puro is an organization formed under the guidance of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal that awakens and accompanies leaders in areas of great need. “I am pleased to accept [this] two-year grant from OSV to create the first formation materials and videos in English and Spanish for Hispanics that will awaken and accompany Hispanic youth and young adults to a path of service within their communities of faith,” said Corazón Puro President Fr. Agustino Torres, C.F.R.
The goals of the OSV Institute’s Hispanic Experience Initiative are to enrich the methods and approaches of ministry to all U.S. Catholics; form and increase new Hispanic/Latino leaders to achieve greater leadership inclusion, ministerial responsiveness and faith-based resources; provide more pastoral support, services and resources to the Hispanic/Latino community; reach and engage second and third generation Hispanic/Latino young people; and keep new immigrants Catholic and thriving.
“SEPI and the young participants from the Southeastern states are grateful to OSV for helping make this Young Latino Summer Leadership Institute a reality,”
said Southeast Pastoral Institute Executive Director Fr. Rafael Capó.
“May this opportunity be the beginning of many other experiences for the formation and empowerment of the new missionary disciples needed to renew the Church in the United States in courageous response to the challenges of our times and in faithfulness to the Lord.”
According to Pew Research Center, approximately half of Catholic millennials are Hispanic. Several organizations receiving grant funding for the OSV Institute’s Hispanic Experience Initiative plan to apply funds toward formation, educational materials and programs for underserved Hispanic youth and young adults.
“We are thrilled about receiving the grant,”
said Andy Lesnefsky, president of Vagabond Missions, an organization that invites inner-city and urban teens into a relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church through contact work, discipleship and solidarity with the poor.
“It will help us to open a second mission location in Wichita, Kansas, where we will focus on serving the Hispanic population.”
The OSV Institute reinvests revenue from OSV printing and publishing each year to the Church and to causes that further her mission and make the most impact. The OSV Institute’s Hispanic Outreach Think Tank will meet in Detroit later this month.
For more information contact OSV Institute President Jason Shanks at jshanks@osv.com.
ABOUT OSV INSTITUTE
In 1915, Fr. John Francis Noll began the OSV Institute to extend the reach of Our Sunday Visitor in service and support of Catholic organizations. With over $75 million returned to Catholic organizations to date, the OSV Institute continues to serve the Church by supporting and encouraging innovative and effective Church-related programs and activities. Three areas of special interest for funding are Unaffiliated Millennials, Hispanic Experience and Parent Project. In 2017 the Institute expanded its reach to provide support for new innovation and to serve as an incubator for new efforts supporting the Catholic Church… Learn more at www.osvinstitute.com.
