BRAINTREE -- Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley and the Catholic Schools Office for the Archdiocese of Boston announced the awarding of a $1.2 Million Gift from the Mosakowski Family Foundation to benefit Catholic schools in the Gloucester, Lynn, Lowell, and Peabody communities.

The grant was announced Oct. 17 at St. Mary's Junior-Senior High School in Lynn and the event was attended by Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley, Archdiocesan Secretary for Education and Superintendent of Schools Mary Grassa O'Neill, the Mosakowski family, as well as pastors, principals and student representatives from each school.

The schools that will benefit from the grant are St. Jeanne d'Arc, Lowell; St, Ann, Gloucester; St. John the Baptist, Peabody; St. Pius V, Lynn; Sacred Heart, Lynn; and St. Mary's Junior-Senior High School. The grant will fund scholarships, technology upgrades, formative assessments to improve student achievement. The grant will also go to introducing an early childhood program and will support professional development for middle school science teachers. In thanking the Mosakowski Family Foundation, Cardinal O'Malley called attention to their generosity with "their time, treasure and talent to [continue] strengthening and enhancing Catholic education."

The cardinal continued by emphasizing that the schools, already "blessed by the talented and dedicated teachers and staff," will now be able to "greatly improve their programs, scholarships and technology."

Dr. Grassa O'Neill thanked the foundation for their partnership and commitment to the cardinal's commitment to Catholic education.

"This gift continues the tradition of the Mosakowski Foundation in supporting Catholic education for which we are all extremely grateful," she added.