MACC is honored to lead the Caminando Juntos: Accompanying Small-Town and Rural Pastoral Leaders Project, a multi-year effort generously funded by the Lilly Endowment. MACC was selected to partner in the Endowment’s Ministry in Rural Areas and Small Towns Initiative, awarding subgrants to support the rural and small-town ministry outreach programs and formation in twelve partnering dioceses.
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Press Release
December 31, 2024
Mexican American Catholic College Receives $6,290,000 Grant for Ministry in Rural Areas and Small Towns
San Antonio, TX – Mexican American Catholic College (MACC) has received a grant of $6,290,000 from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Ministry in Rural Areas and Small Towns Initiative. The grant will support MACC’s project Caminando Juntos: Accompanying Rural and Small-Town Ministry Leaders, an initiative designed to provide resources to help churches in rural areas and small towns enhance the vitality of their ministries and strengthen the leadership of pastors and lay leaders who guide them.
The Caminando Juntos project will focus on strengthening and expanding the outreach of up to twelve Roman Catholic dioceses in rural and small-town areas in the states of Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and others. The project’s central goal is to build local capacity for effective ministry in small-town and rural-serving parishes, with a particular emphasis on developing Hispanic Ministry, young adults, and lay pastoral leaders.
Key Activities of Caminando Juntos include:
- Convening and supporting a regional network of diocesan leaders serving in rural and small-town ministries.
- Facilitating formation programs to address pastoral needs, including Hispanic ministry, young adult leadership, and lay leadership formation.
- Collaborating with dioceses to create outreach programs for rural parishes that may lack resources.
- Building capacity for pastoral leaders and fostering multicultural engagement in rural and small-town ministries.
Dr. Ramon Figueroa, a permanent deacon and alumnus of MACC, welcomed the news and shared his enthusiasm for this new project serving small-towns and rural areas. “We had a wonderful program at MACC. From the very first year, they gave us the tools to exercise our ministry. The preparation is fantastic. That’s the mission of MACC: to train ministers to become faith-filled deacons or lay ecclesial ministers and to serve the people of God. I hope this new project can help many more lay ministers and young adults in rural areas and small towns of our archdiocese and other dioceses in the region.” Bishop Michael Boulette, Auxiliary Bishop of San Antonio, stated “During my time on the Board of Directors for MACC, and now as Chairman of the Board, I have experienced the passion for the formation of folks to serve more faithfully and competently driving the mission. As a priest in the rural areas of the Archdiocese of San Antonio in the past, I was very aware of the both the need for more faithfully formed leaders for the parish and the difficulties of providing for that specialized formation. This generous grant from Lilly Endowment will help form more pastoral leaders and serve many more people in the region.”
Guided by its mission to empower and educate leaders for service and ministry in a culturally diverse society, MACC is honored to have been awarded a grant that will build on MACC’s legacy by strengthening partnerships with dioceses, expand capacity-building efforts, and enhance access to theological education at different levels. This funding will support effective ministry across up to 12 dioceses, ensuring the growth and vitality of small-town churches for generations to come. For more information about Caminando Juntos or MACC’s programs, please visit www.maccsa.org.
Mexican American Catholic College is one of 20 organizations across the United States to receive grants through Lilly Endowment’s Ministry in Rural Areas and Small Towns Initiative. These include colleges, denominational agencies, church networks, and parachurch organizations, all committed to supporting rural and small-town ministry.
“Our hope is that these grants will provide much-needed resources and support to rural and small-town churches, helping them address their challenges while enhancing and expanding the many ways they serve their communities,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly, Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. A primary aim of its grantmaking in religion is to deepen the religious lives of Christians, principally by supporting efforts that enhance congregational vitality and strengthen the leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment values the broad diversity of Christian traditions and endeavors to support them in a wide variety of contexts. The Endowment also seeks to foster public understanding about religion by encouraging fair, accurate and balanced portrayals of the positive and negative effects of religion on the world and lifting up the contributions that people of all faiths make to our greater civic well-being.
For more on this grant, please click here for the full press release.
