Our Archdiocesan offices and organisations enable the Church to stay vibrant and carry out its evangelising mission in Singapore. Catholic News shows how these organisations work in empowering the Church to spread the Gospel.
In 2012, Catholic Foundation was created by the late Archbishop Nicholas Chia to help build the Catholic Church in Singapore. Three years later, its mandate was expanded – to be the Archdiocese’s fundraising arm, supporting its operations, programmes, and growth.
Roles and responsibilities
Today, the Foundation promotes Christian giving, and also stewarding the funds raised in support of the Archdiocese’s operating and building needs. It ensures the use of these funds is aligned to the Archbishop’s pastoral vision of building a more vibrant, evangelising, and missionary Church.
Its role includes fund-raising for key Archdiocesan Organisations (AOs) that carry out the mission of the Church in Singapore. Currently, it supports the Archdiocesan Commission for Catholic Schools, the Catholic Leadership Centre, the Catholic Theological Institute of Singapore, the Digital Church Office, the Office for Catechesis, the Office for the New Evangelisation and the Office for Young People.
Catholic Foundation also supports building expenses such the lease and building renewals of parish and Archdiocesan properties, clergy welfare, and the funding of key initiatives such as the Catholic Hub, Bethany East Clergy Residence, St Francis Xavier Seminary Building, and the Catholic200SG events.
All this is made possible through the collective efforts of the entire Catholic community, said Executive Director Lilian Kong.
Call to give
Every Advent since 2016, the Foundation calls on the faithful to pray, act, and give – responding to God’s love through its Giving in Faith and Thankfulness (GIFT) programme.
To date, GIFT has raised some $150 million, testament to the generosity of the people in supporting the Church.
Last year, the Foundation disbursed grants of more than $4.4 million to the AOs, $13.4 million for the building of the Catholic Hub, and over $2.1 million to various sinking funds for properties, clergy welfare, and other projects, said Ms Kong.
“Through GIFT, Catholic Foundation enables the vital work of deepening faith and empowering Catholics to evangelise. In a beautiful way, when we give, we are sowing the seeds of faith not only for ourselves, our youth, family, schools, and faith communities, but also for future generations,” said Ms Kong.
Promoting stewardship
Every year, the Foundation organises activities to share its causes and rally more funds.
These include its annual fundraising dinner where guests are invited to sponsor a table. The venue is sponsored by a donor so all funds raised from this event go to the Foundation, said Fundraising Manager Stefanie Herman.
To give donors a sense of where their funds are used and where more are needed, the archbishop, Cardinal William Goh, personally thanks donors at the dinner, and shares how the Archdiocese’s pastoral plan is unfolding.
Another event organised by the Foundation is the biennial Angelico Art Award (AAA), which promotes the Catholic faith through art and raises funds from the sale of selected works.
Its name is inspired by Italian renaissance artist Fra Angelico, whose magnificent works earned him the name Beato Angelico (Italian for Blessed Angel). A devout Dominican friar, he was named patron saint of Catholic artists by Pope St John Paul II in 1984.
The competition is open to all aged 13 and above who reside in Singapore. Shortlisted works are exhibited in the days leading up to the Foundation’s annual fundraising dinner. Last year, more than 20 paintings were auctioned and sold, raising over $80,000.
On alternate years, the Foundation holds FaithWorks, an exhibition and sale of curated three-dimensional art pieces, at the dinner.
To help Catholics learn how to manage their financial resources, the Foundation conducts a five-week stewardship programme called “God, Money & Me”. This was developed in 2021 by a team of Catholic Foundation board directors, volunteers, and staff, who consult with moral theologian and Dominican Fr David Garcia.
To ensure the practicalities of managing money was integrated with Catholic principles and ethos, extensive research was carried out in drafting the materials for the course, said Mr Andrew Chai, a member of the Foundation’s board of directors.
“There are many secular financial management courses and tools whose content is not always aligned to our faith – how we should view money, use and grow it, and why,” said Mr Chai. “We felt the need to develop a programme to help our Catholics manage and grow their financial resources in an ethical and sustainable way.”
The next run of God, Money & Me will be held from February to April 2025.
Responding to new needs
Over the years, Catholic Foundation has played a key part in helping to fund milestone events that shape the Catholic community in Singapore.
These include the Catholic200SG celebrations from 2020-2021, which marked the 200th anniversary of the Church’s presence in Singapore and called on the faithful to “Ignite and Shine with Faith” with over 45 official events, and Pope Francis’ visit in September 2024.
Working closely with the Papal visit’s organising committee, Catholic Foundation drew up a plan early last year, seeking the help of parishes to collect funds for the visit at Masses every second weekend from June to September 2024, said Mr Gregory Lou, who oversees the processing of collections and volunteer management.
“The support of the parish priests, parishioners, and our volunteers helped our Archdiocese raise the money needed to host such a large-scale event,” said Mr Lou.
As part of the fund-raising campaign, the Foundation also designed a range of papal-themed souvenirs. These mementos, bearing the theme of the visit – Unity & Hope – further served as evangelising tools.
A call to commitment
“Beyond fundraising for the Archdiocese, Catholic Foundation’s goal is to ‘Build the Church Today for Tomorrow’,” said Ms Kong.
To this end, the Foundation encourages Catholics to sign up for a GIFT pledge – a monthly contribution that is the most sustainable way of supporting the Archdiocese, said Ms Pauline Goh, chairperson of the Catholic Foundation’s board of directors.
“Giving regularly is a sign of our commitment to our faith and a symbol of our love for the Church,” said Ms Goh. “It is being thankful for what we have received, and sharing blessings to support the Church’s mission.”
As Cardinal Goh urged at the Foundation’s Thanksgiving Mass on Nov 14 last year: “I seek your continued support for the work of Catholic Foundation as they strive to build the Kingdom of God, and to share the mission of bringing more people to encounter Jesus.”
Learn how you can support the needs of our Archdiocese at www.catholicfoundation.sg