Dear Friends

John Paul the Great Catholic University is a massive undertaking - building a 21st century institution to train students to use contemporary media to impact culture for Christ. Born as a response to the call of Pope St John Paul the Great, JPCatholic is just hitting its stride as it nears the completion of its first decade.

On October 1st, 2014, we began our 9th year, with 81 new undergraduate and 54 new graduate students. Students come to acquire a professional competence in Entertainment Media, Business, and Biblical Theology on a campus alive in Christ, and graduate ready to Impact Culture for Christ. We began our 2nd year on our Escondido campus. Creative media students are very much at home in the quaint historic downtown.

We are truly blessed by the extraordinary generosity of our benefactors. Last year, we awarded $1.8M in need and merit scholarships - often the difference between a gifted student attending JPCatholic or not is the scholarship that helps fill the gap between external financial aid and the cost of tuition and living expenses. In addition, the University invested almost $1M to renovate our academic building, which we purchased for $1.85M.

This fiscal year, we will award over $2M in scholarships and continue to invest in our campus infrastructure to build a Student Life Center, and equip our TV production control room and a Video Game programming lab. One of our small projects is to build a dedicated confessional - a much frequented sacrament on campus.

During the week of October 20th, we will have, what we hope to be, our final accreditation review visit prior to achieving initial accreditation. If all goes well, we would receive initial accreditation on Feb 19th, 2015 after a 9-year process. Please keep our faculty, staff and students in your prayers for this critical visit.

I am frequently asked how can people help. One-time and recurring gifts of any size are always welcomed, needed and very much appreciated. Please see our Giving website for ways to give.

Sincerely,

Dr. Derry Connolly