To the Heights Award
Recipients of the 2024 To the Heights Award were honored on September 16, 2024, at the annual Church Properties conference on Notre Dame's campus.
Launched in 2023 in collaboration with inaugural sponsor MDKeller and expanded through the generosity of additional benefactors, the To the Heights Award recognizes individuals, groups, or institutions that demonstrate exceptional creativity, vision, and resourcefulness in repurposing Catholic church properties to serve the common good. Recognized projects have a bold vision, are distinctively Catholic, represent an innovative use of church property, fulfill the highest and best use of the properties in question, and have an eye towards scale and sustainability.
The winner of the 2024 first prize is the SSJ Newcomer Housing Alliance, a ministry of the Sisters of Saint Joseph that supports refugees and asylum seekers in securing transitional housing. Following the successful conversion of a 13-bedroom convent into a transitional home for men, the SSJ NHA is working to renovate a 36-bedroom convent into a residence for women and children. The $15,000 first prize will support this new project. SSJ NHA’s model is notable for empowering owners of underused church properties to activate them in partnership with a qualified operator.
The $10,000 second prize is awarded to Catholic Housing and Community Services (CHCS) of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in recognition of its successful track record of revitalizing disused church properties to serve the needs of seniors. The planned St. Katharine Drexel Place will transform a former Franciscan friary on the campus of Archbishop Ryan High School, a current high school of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, into 48 affordable senior apartments. The redevelopment both activates a disused building and creates opportunities for cross-generational collaboration.
The third prize winner, Catholic Community of South Baltimore (CCSB), is a multi-site urban parish that has repositioned one of its historic buildings as the South Baltimore Retreat House. Since opening in early 2022, the South Baltimore Retreat House has hosted 51 retreats, welcoming youth and college ministries, volunteer programs, and social service agencies to encounter, serve, and love the city of Baltimore. The South Baltimore Retreat House is a vibrant expression of local Catholic presence in the challenging context of an Archdiocese-wide restructuring.
History of the Award
The award was launched in 2023 in partnership with MDKeller, a holding company co-founded by Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker and Austin Wright. Five finalists were selected from a field of 130 submissions for the most thorough review, with deep weight placed on the level of impact that the $10,000 would have on the projects. The voting was incredibly close among all five options, with the Serenelli Project ultimately claiming the inaugural award. Meet the finalists here and learn more about how they are putting property to work for the New Evangelization. The Serenelli Project's mission is to create a stable community of prayer, work, discernment of God’s call, and recovery for those coming out of prison. As the inaugural recipient of the To the Heights Award, Marty Arlinghaus, the founder of the Serenelli Project, received $10,000 and a signed cleat from MDKeller co-founder Harrison Butker, a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Kansas City Chiefs.