08 Oct Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative: October 2025
Contact: Gordon Rixon, SJ
gordon.rixon@utoronto.ca
October 6, 2025
Jesuit Conference Inc. has received a $997,593 USD grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support Regis College in establishing Walking in Service, a transformative initiative that creates educational resources and programs to support the community-based formation of congregational leadership in Catholic Indigenous Communities in Canada.
The initiative is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, which is intended to help theological schools across the United States and Canada strengthen their educational and financial capacities to prepare and support pastoral leaders for Christian congregations both now and into the future.
Developed in consultation with Roman Catholic Indigenous faith communities in Ontario and Quebec and rooted in the healing journey that has emerged in the wake of Pope Francis’s 2022 Penitential Pilgrimage, the initiative addresses the urgent need for contextualized, trauma-informed theological education that respects Indigenous self-determination, incorporates land-based and culturally relevant pedagogies, and prepares leaders for roles such as catechists, lectors, and acolytes. The curriculum integrates Indigenous Ways of Knowing, traditional spiritualities, and trauma-informed pastoral care, promoting interreligious dialogue and culturally sensitive leadership development.
Regis College and the University of St. Michael’s College collaborate to operate the Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology. The colleges affirm that reconciliation is both a shared spiritual gift and a pressing social task.
Regis College is one of 163 theological schools whose efforts have been funded since 2021 through the Pathways initiative. Together, the schools serve a broad spectrum of Christian traditions in the U.S. and Canada. They are affiliated with evangelical, mainline Protestant, nondenominational, Pentecostal, Orthodox, Catholic, Black church, Latino, Asian American, Indigenous and historic peace church traditions.
“Theological schools have long played a central role for most denominations and church networks in preparing and supporting pastoral leaders who guide congregations,” said Christopher L. Coble, the Endowment’s vice president for religion. “These schools are paying close attention to the challenges churches are facing today and will face in the foreseeable future. The grants will help these schools engage in wide-ranging, innovative efforts to adapt their educational programs and build their financial capacities so they can better prepare pastors and lay ministers to effectively lead the congregations they will serve in the future.”
About Lilly Endowment Inc.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. A principal aim of the Endowment’s religion grantmaking is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment also seeks to improve public understanding of religion and lift up in fair, accurate and balanced ways the roles that people of all faiths and various religious communities play in the United State and around the globe.
About Regis College
Regis College is the Jesuit school of theology in the Toronto School of Theology at the University of Toronto. Regis College and the University of St. Michael’s College federated in 2022 to operate the Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology.