Lilly Endowment Inc. announced Loyola as the recipient of a $10 million grant to support CENTERS

In November 2025, Lilly Endowment Inc. announced Loyola as the recipient of a $10 million grant to support CENTERS. Lilly Endowment made the grant through its Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, which is designed to help theological schools respond to the most pressing challenges in preparing pastoral leaders for Christian congregations both now and into the future. 
 
As a result, Loyola University Chicago, along with 15 partner Catholic colleges and universities, announced the launch of the Catholic Education Network to Enact and Resource Synodality (CENTERS), a collaboration to strengthen active listening, dialogue, and shared decision-making in the Catholic Church in the United States. The CENTERS Initiative is anchored in Loyola’s Institute of Pastoral Studies. 

As part of this effort, Lilly Endowment has committed up to $2.3 million in matching funds to establish an endowed fund supporting the Adsumus Fellowship and core CENTERS activities beyond the grant period. Contributions made during the challenge period, December 1, 2025, through October 31, 2027, will be matched at a 2.5-to-1 ratio, with pledges eligible for fulfillment through June 30, 2029.  Contributions through the Loyola University Chicago Pathways Challenge will be eligible for the match and will to help sustain the network’s long-term impact. 

In November 2025, Lilly Endowment Inc. announced Loyola as the recipient of a $10 million grant to support CENTERS. Lilly Endowment made the grant through its Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, which is designed to help theological schools respond to the most pressing challenges in preparing pastoral leaders for Christian congregations both now and into the future. 

CENTERS will support the Church’s global synodal journey, begun by Pope Francis in 2021. The network will help theological schools renew their internal operations, curricula, and partnerships to recruit, educate, and build a stronger pipeline of pastoral and lay ministers for an evolving Church. 

“We are grateful for the investment of Lilly Endowment in the application of Loyola’s greatest intellectual resources to the formation of a stronger, more responsive Church for the 21st Century,” said Loyola Provost Douglas W. Woods. “This initiative will help shape the role of Jesuit, Catholic education and the ways Loyola can help inform and lead the Church through effective education at both the leadership and grass-roots levels.” 

Thanks to this generous investment, CENTERS will fund local capacity-building projects at each participating institution; support regional retreats, trainings, symposia, and peer learning; convene national assemblies; and endow the Adsumus Fellowship, a national cohort-based ministry leadership formation program for ministry students. 

For more information on giving to this important initiative, please contact Lynee Alves, Associate Director of Development, at lalves@luc.edu or Ted Wick, Associate Director of Development, at ewick@luc.edu.