Seton Shrine Endowment - Seton Shrine

The Seton Shrine Endowment

Building the Future of the Seton Shrine

A Saint For Our Time

On September 14, 1975, Pope Paul VI canonized Elizabeth Ann Seton as the first native-born American saint, recognizing her extraordinary life of faith and service and the 200-year legacy of her Sisters and Daughters of Charity.

Mother Seton’s life was an answer to God’s call—and her “yes” touched the hearts of millions. As we celebrate her sainthood fifty years later, her witness has never been more relevant—or more urgent.

Our world is filled with people who long for God’s healing and mercy. Tens of thousands of pilgrims visit the Seton Shrine each year, seeking hope, bringing their needs to God, asking Mother Seton to join her prayers to theirs. And they leave with renewed faith and courage.

At her Shrine, pilgrims discover the same truth she experienced in her own life: God’s love is present in every age, and always greater than our hardships and sorrows.

Every day we receive notes and messages of gratitude—signs of God’s grace and blessings, and reminders of why your support today is so essential.

The Seton Shrine Endowment 

The Seton Shrine Endowment has been established to guarantee that this sacred place will remain open, vibrant, and welcoming for generations to come.

The Shrine’s goal is to raise $50 million by September 14, 2035—the 60th anniversary of Mother Seton’s canonization.

To reach the milestone of $25 million by September 2030, the Seton Heritage Ministries Board has designated $8 million to establish the Endowment and inspire others to donate.

Endowment income, professionally invested and carefully stewarded, will provide a permanent and reliable source of support for the Shrine and its mission.

This includes care and development of the Shrine’s Museum, and our sacramental, historical, and educational ministries at the Basilica where Mother Seton is entombed and the historic homes where she lived, as well as our devotional programs, print and digital content, and media outreach that share Mother Seton’s story and spirituality with the world.

Ways to Give

There are many ways to support the Endowment:

These investments will ensure that future generations have the opportunity to know and love Mother Seton, and benefit from her intercession and her spirituality of total trust in God’s love for all people.

Elizabeth Ann Seton: A Saint For Our Time

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FIRST AMERICAN-BORN SAINT

ELIZABETH ANN SETON

The mission of The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton is to bring Mother Seton’s intercession and her message of faith and hope to a world in need of God’s healing love.

For more than two centuries, God has been at work in the hills of Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Here, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton and her spiritual daughters, who would become America’s first new congregation of women religious, built a home and a school.

Here, America’s first native-born saint struggled and suffered, worked and prayed, lived and died.

Here, the religious community she established, the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, trained women to nurse the sick, teach the poor, mother the orphaned, and, above all, follow Christ.

Here, tens of thousands of pilgrims regularly seek comfort, wisdom, and peace. Here, those living in poverty are welcomed, fed, and loved.

Here, miracles happen. Bodies are healed. Faith is restored. Relationships are repaired.

Here, men and women continue to learn about the life of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton—wife, mother, convert, teacher, foundress, and saint—and her courageous witness to Christ in the midst of a culture yearning for mission and purpose.

“In Elizabeth Ann Seton, we have a saint for our times… we have a woman of faith, for a time of doubt and uncertainty… a woman of love, for a time of coldness and division… a woman of hope, for a time of crisis and discouragement. Thanks be to God for this saintly daughter of New York, for this valiant woman of God’s Church.”

–SERVANT OF GOD
CARDINAL TERENCE COOKE

Watch Stories of Lives Touched by the Seton Shrine

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Watch the Seeds of Hope Retreats Video

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JOINED TOGETHER IN CHARITY

THE SETON SHRINE ENDOWMENT

National Leaders Council

THE SHRINE’S NATIONAL LEADERS COUNCIL is a devoted group of community, business, and philanthropic leaders from around North America that champions the mission of the Shrine through its philanthropic work. This distinguished group is chaired by Luci Baines Johnson from Austin, Texas.

The Daughters and Sisters of Charity

AT THE SETON SHRINE, we honor and celebrate those who have continued Mother Seton’s story—the Daughters of Charity here in America and the many Sisters of Charity congregations.

From the time of Mother Seton until today, these Sisters have toiled without fanfare in schools, parishes, hospitals and clinics, social services centers, and impoverished neighborhoods—serving Christ in the poor and suffering.

This Endowment is about the days ahead and how, with your help, we can share the story of Mother Seton and her Sisters in new and innovative ways.

Your support will help ensure that the Seton Shrine will be there for the tens of thousands of seekers, pilgrims, and tourists who visit each year, and the millions we reach through our media and devotional outreach.

SETON SHRINE NATIONAL
LEADERS COUNCIL

Luci Baines Johnson, Austin, TX (Chair)

Mary Bossart, Rockville Centre, NY

Barbara Bozzuto, Baltimore, MD

Vincent Caponi, Indianapolis, IN

Thelma Daley, Pikesville, MD

John Doyle, Richmond Heights, MO

Steve Dufilho, San Antonio, TX

Linda Fiorelli, Atlanta, GA

Liz Foshage, CPA, Ballwin, MO

Lindsay Gallagher, Baltimore, MD

Sr. Louise Grundish, SC, Greensburg, PA

Robert Henkel, Inlet Beach, FL

Laura Kaiser, St. Louis, MO

Loretto Kane, Baltimore, MD

Ellen Kelly, Dunellen, NJ

Robyn Kress, Annapolis, MD

Seamus Lamb, Coral Gables, FL

Peter Leibold, Falls Church, VA

Patti Mays, St. Louis, MO

Anne Merwin, Wilton, CT

Sharon Monahan, Gettysburg, PA

Larry Prybil, Lexington, KY

Sr. Jean Rhoads, DC, Philadelphia, PA

Sr. Sharon Richardt, DC, Baltimore, MD

Michele Ridge, Erie, PA

Geronimo Rodriguez, Austin, TX

Maureen Scalia (Emeritus), McLean, VA

Tom VanOsdol, Indianapolis, IN

David Vela, Bryan, TX

Terri Von Dohlen, Austin, TX

Gregg Wallander, Indianapolis, IN

Monsignor James Watkins, Washington, DC

Ellen Yankellow, PharmD, Lutherville Timonium, MD

Mike Zychinski, St. Louis, MO

SETON HERITAGE MINISTRIES 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sister Donna Geernaert, SC (Chair)

John Fieseler (Vice Chair)

Ray Speciale, Esq., CPA (Secretary-Treasurer)

Lorraine F. Carrano

Sister Donna Dodge, SC

Sister Teresa George, D.C.

Sister Christina Maggi, D.C.

Sister Maureen Shaughnessy, SC

CONGREGATIONS OF THE SISTERS
OF CHARITY FEDERATION

Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati,
Mount St. Joseph, OH

Sisters of Charity – Halifax,
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception,
St. John, NB, Canada

Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth,
Leavenworth, KS

Sisters of Charity of Nazareth,
Nazareth, KY

Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy,
Charleston, SC

Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth,
Convent Station, NJ

Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul,
Bronx, NY

Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill,
Greensburg, PA

Sisters of St. Martha of Antigonish,
Nova Scotia, Canada

Sisters of St. Martha of Prince Edward Island,
Charlottetown, PEI, Canada

Les Religieuses de Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Cœur,
Dieppe, NB, Canada

Daughters of Charity Province of St. Louise,
St. Louis, MO

Daughters of Charity Province of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton,
Los Altos Hills, CA