By Joseph Kenny, Review Staff Writer

Progress as promised.

Pledges for the capital campaign for Kenrick-Glennon Seminary are being collected and are being put to use, including for building the endowment.

In February, the Archdiocese of St. Louis announced that the "Faith for the Future" campaign exceeded its goal. The effort raised more than $61 million, an amount that was $11 million more than the target.

So far, 46 percent of pledges have been collected. The campaign is far ahead of the anticipated schedule for collecting pledges — an unusual but pleasing circumstance for the first nine months of a five-year collection period.

Because of the pace of collection of pledges, Archbishop Robert J. Carlson has directed staff to:

• Pay all campaign expenses, which were held to 5.1 percent, lower than expected;
• Set aside $3 million for plans and initial stages of building improvements;
• Pay off a loan of $2.3 million to build additional rooms needed for growth experienced by the seminary;
• Deposit more than $19.1 million in the endowment funds. The endowment goal of $20 million is expected to be reached by November.

The campaign was conducted to increase the endowment as well as provide repairs, updates and physical improvements to a building that dates to 1931.

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