October 17, 2011 - Cardinal and the Catholic Schools Office Announces $1.2 Million Gift from the Mos

Braintree, MA – Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley and the Catholic Schools Office for the Archdiocese of Boston announced the awarding of a $1.2 Million Gift from the Mosakowski Family Foundation to benefit Catholic schools in the Gloucester, Lynn, Lowell, and Peabody communities.

The schools that will benefit from the grant are St. Jeanne d'Arc – Lowell, St, Ann – Gloucester, St. John the Baptist- Peabody, St. Pius V – Lynn. Sacred Heart – Lynn and St. Mary's Junior-Senior High School – Lynn.  The grant will fund scholarships, technology upgrades, formative assessments to improve student achievement, introduce an early childhood program, and provide professional development for middle school science teachers.

Cardinal Seán said, “We are very grateful to the Mosakowski Family Foundation for their very generous support of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese.  In particular Bill and Jane Mosakowski give much of their time, treasure and talent to strengthening and enhancing Catholic education.  The Catholic schools to benefit from this $1.2 million grant will be able to greatly improve their programs, scholarships and technology.  We are blessed by the talented and dedicated teachers and staff who will also benefit from this support.”

Dr. Mary Grassa O’Neill, Secretary for Education/Superintendent for Catholic Schools said, “The Mosakowski Family Foundation leads by example.  They are very committed to Catholic education and we are very fortunate to have them as our partner.  Grants of this significance make a huge difference in advancing the Cardinal’s commitment to enhance our Catholic schools programs and professional development.  Students will benefit from the direct scholarship assistance, and from improved teaching and learning through assessment professional development and technology. This gift continues the tradition of the Mosakowski Foundation in supporting Catholic education for which we are all extremely grateful.”

The gift was announced today at St. Mary’s Junior-Senior High School attended by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Dr. Grassa O’Neill, the Mosakowski family, Pastors, Principals, Boards of Trustees, and student representatives from each school.

About the Archdiocese of Boston: The Diocese of Boston was founded on April 8, 1808 and was elevated to Archdiocese in 1875. Currently serving the needs of nearly 2 million Catholics, the Archdiocese of Boston is an ethnically diverse and spiritually enriching faith community consisting of 291 parishes, across 144 communities, educating approximately 42,000 students in its Catholic schools and 156,000 in religious education classes each year, ministering to the needs of 200,000 individuals through its pastoral and social service outreach.   Mass is celebrated in nearly twenty different languages each week. For more information, please visit www.BostonCatholic.org.