Published March 4, 2007

Golf Classic to Benefit Schools Endowment

The Catholic Foundation Golf Classic is set for June 11 at Twin Hills Golf and Country Club in Oklahoma City.

The annual event is a fund-raiser for the Catholic Schools Endowment. Now in its sixth year, the golf classic has returned more than $100,000 toward assuring affordable Catholic education for future generations.

Archbishop Eusebius J. Beltran established the Catholic Schools Endowment with the idea of  capping, reducing and someday eliminating the cost of all Catholic school tuitions in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.  

“Archbishop Beltran is very much committed to affordable Catholic education as evidenced by his annual $500,000 ADF Plus contribution to the schools of the Archdiocese,” said Tom Casso, executive director of the Catholic Foundation.

The role of the Catholic Schools Endowment is to supplement and then replace the ADF Plus payments, so those funds will be freed up to support other Archdiocesan projects.  Eventually, as the Catholic Schools Endowment grows, the income would be substantial enough to eliminate annual tuition increases, which raise tuition costs. In time, tuition costs could be reduced on an annual basis and someday completely done away with in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.

Several dioceses and archdioceses have been successful in doing this.

“With total Catholic school tuitions currently exceeding $16 million annually in the Archdiocese, the goal of building an endowment large enough to generate this kind of income is monumental,” Casso said.  “However, replacing the ADF Plus contributions and capping the need for annual tuition increases in the 3 to 5 percent range is very achievable.  This would require an endowment in the $14 to $15 million range.”  

The Catholic Schools Endowment now has a fund balance of just more than $1 million.

“As more and more Catholics become aware of the need, I am confident that the size of the Catholic Schools Endowment will grow,” Casso said. “Catholic education is too important for people not to respond generously when asked to provide for the next generation of Catholic men and women.”

To learn more about the Catholic Schools Endowment or participate in the golf classic, contact Casso at the Catholic Foundation of Oklahoma Inc. at (405) 721-4115 or tcasso@catharchdioceseokc.org.