Contact: Erin McClellan, OCP, 503-460-5363
PORTLAND, Ore., April 2, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- In the latest round of OCP Parish Grants, 85 parishes throughout the United States received over $135,000 of assistance.
A key tenant of OCP's mission statement, the Parish Grant Program serves the Catholic Church by providing financial support, to be used for religious, educational and charitable purposes. Now in its twelfth year, the program has provided over $1,000,000 in direct financial assistance to enhance the worship experience of Roman Catholic parishes in the United States. Parishes in every diocese across country have received benefits.
Rev. Christopher Keahi, ss. cc. of St. Michael in Waialua, Hawaii said, "the award is a dream come true for all of us. We are so appreciative of OCP helping parishes like ours in uplifting our worship services with missals, songbooks and other materials."
"For twelve years we have been blessed to be able to give back to these communities that work so hard to engage and unite followers of Christ by spreading the word of the Gospel," said John Limb, OCP publisher. "We look forward to continuing to provide support to our partners in ministry throughout the country for years to come."
Another 2012 Grant recipient is St. Joseph parish in Beaumont, Texas. "St. Joseph is a multi-cultural parish with a large congregation," said Bishop Curtis Guillory, S.V.D, D.D. of Beaumont Texas. "As in most things, the language and cultural barriers foster separation instead of unification; however, music ministry has proven to be a common ground where all ethnic groups come together to sing the praises of God. The OCP Parish Grant will be used to purchase [bilingual music resources] for this parish."
A full list of the 2012 OCP Parish Grant recipients is available at ocp.org/grants.
Applications for 2013 grants may be submitted online between April 1 and June 30, 2012, at ocp.org/grants. All U.S. Catholic parishes are eligible to apply, even if they don't currently use an OCP worship program. The purpose of the grant must be linked to liturgy and/or music. For more information, please visit ocp.org/grants.
About OCP
OCP, a not-for-profit publisher of liturgical music and worship resources based in Portland, Oregon, has been in operation for more than 80 years. Worship programs produced by OCP are used in two-thirds of Catholic churches in the United States and are distributed worldwide. More information is available at 1-800-LITURGY (548-8749) and ocp.org. Find OCP on Facebook at Facebook.com/OCPmusic.
