Catholic Foundation of Michigan's St. Anne Scholars Fund provides financial aid to students at 42 Detroit-area Catholic schools
ST. CLAIR SHORES — Supporters of Catholic education have donated more than $300,000 to students across 42 schools in the Archdiocese of Detroit through the Catholic Foundation of Michigan during the 2026-27 academic year.
The foundation’s St. Anne Scholars Fund, along with other cause- and school-specific endowments, has made Catholic education more available for families across southeast Michigan, explained John Biskner, president and CEO of the Catholic Foundation of Michigan.
The St. Anne Scholars Fund helps provide scholarships to students and families who might not otherwise have a means of affording a Catholic education, Biskner said, filling in the gaps when additional support is needed.
“The foundation works diligently to receive applications from students who need additional support, and through the recommendations of principals and the input of our Grants and Impact Committee, we assign scholarships to families in need,” Biskner said.
The St. Anne Scholars Fund was established in 2020 by then-Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron to help families who already had explored other avenues of financial assistance and needed additional support to afford Catholic education. In addition to the St. Anne Scholars Fund, the St. Martin de Porres Fund was established to support students of Latin American backgrounds.
The Catholic Foundation of Michigan will host its third annual Igniting Our Future Gala on Oct. 29 at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn in support of the St. Anne Scholars Fund and other educational endowments and programs to support Catholic school students and young people. Tickets are available until Thursday, Oct. 15.
The keynote of this year’s gala will be Curtis Martin, founder of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS).
Christina Shabo, project director for community impact for the Catholic Foundation of Michigan, explained that the St. Anne Scholars Fund began during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to help struggling families, spearheaded initially by Archbishop Vigneron.
“It started originally with the help of the archbishop, but it is now being supported by a lot of families across the Archdiocese of Detroit who want to make a Catholic education viable for families,” Shabo told Detroit Catholic.
This year, the foundation has been able to grant more than $300,000 in scholarships, including a $50,000 gift toward the efforts by Detroit Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger, Biskner said.
For the past several weeks, Biskner, Shabo and bishops from the Archdiocese of Detroit have been visiting local Catholic schools to hand out scholarships, both from the St. Anne Scholars Fund and the St. Martin de Porres Scholarship Fund, as well as individual endowments created to support particular Catholic schools.
Part of the Catholic Foundation of Michigan's work is to help donors establish specific scholarship funds for schools whose missions are near and dear to donors’ hearts, Biskner said.
“A couple of weeks ago, we worked with a particular donor named Ken Hale; he has a scholarship fund dedicated to his wife, Judy, because Judy was very dedicated to the idea of Catholic schools in the city of Detroit, particularly high school Catholic education,” Biskner said. “Mr. Hale sponsored a whole series of scholarships for children at Detroit Cristo Rey High School, and we had a scholarship-granting ceremony on Sept. 23. They were very joyful when we were able to hand out scholarships for students in need in the city.”
The scholarship-granting ceremonies are an opportunity to show students that there is a community of donors who support their education, Biskner said. During an Oct. 12 scholarship granting ceremony at St. Isaac Jogues School at St. Clair Shores, Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Robert J. Fisher told recipients of the generosity of those who care about their education.
“There are a lot of people who make it possible for this school to exist,” Bishop Fisher told the students. “One is your parents, who make sacrifices for you to come here. The second is the parish itself, which helps ensure the school is running. And thirdly, the people who provide the scholarships so that it is possible for you to come here and for this school to assist.”
Bishop Fisher asked the students to thank their parents when they got home, but further down the line, to remember the gifts they had been given.
“I’d like you to remember that somebody when you’re all grown up, and you’re working, and you’re able to be generous, that you could pass on the generosity that you received so that somebody in the future would be able to go to a Catholic school,” Bishop Fisher said.
Earlier that morning, Biskner, Shabo and Bishop Fisher visited St. Anne School in Warren, where Annette Lauria, St. Anne's principal, expressed gratitude on behalf of the school, its teachers and students for helping support a Christ-centered education.
“We welcome everyone to St. Anne on this beautiful morning,” Lauria said. “We are very appreciative of the work of the Catholic Foundation, whether it’s through this scholarship opportunity, or other grants for all the things we do here at St. Anne.”
In addition to the St. Anne scholarships, Lydia Engel, the widow of longtime St. Anne principal Thom Engel, Ph.D., was on hand to present scholarships in her late husband's name for students at St. Anne, another fund facilitated by the Catholic Foundation of Michigan.
“I couldn’t think of a better way to honor my husband, Dr. Engel, who was principal here for almost 25 years at St. Anne, which was always a very special place, not just to him but to our family as well,” Lydia Engel said. “We couldn't have thought of a better way to do it because he grew up in Catholic education. He went to the University of Detroit, he went to Austin High School, and his career was spent in Catholic education. So we’re delighted that we’re able to do this.”
Biskner hopes donors and potential donors will be inspired by the generosity of families like the Engels or the Hales in supporting the future of Catholic education in southeast Michigan, particularly through the St. Anne Scholars Fund, fittingly named for the patroness of the archdiocese.
“The first day French explorers landed the boat in Detroit was on the feast of St. Anne, and that’s when they celebrated the first Mass and the parish of Ste. Anne was started right there on the riverfront,” Biskner said. “Under that patronage, we’ve been blessed to have many kids be able to stay in Catholic education because of these scholarships. When I was a young boy, it was through the generosity of others that I was able to attend private school, so I’m very much aware of how much it changes your life. The foundation is grateful to the generous donors who make days like this possible.”
