New Evangelization Shark Tank
Friday, October 27th, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Please join us for our second annual Shark Tank! These donor conferences help grow ministries that make missionary disciples which:
evangelize or disciple (or both)
are in person (1-1 or small groups)
have great growth opportunities
Catholic Worldview Fellowship (SE Michigan)
Intensive summer leadership formation of college students (38 in 2023) in Germany and Rome: Intellectual (Catholic history, philosophy, and theology); Spiritual (liturgy and personal prayer); and Mission (evangelizing in the contemporary culture). Fr. Ryan Richardson, chaplain of Benedictine College leads a mostly volunteer staff. CWF seeks $38,000 to launch a second cohort drawn primarily from Michigan colleges including UM, EMU, Wayne State, Hillsdale, & MSU.
Young Catholic Professionals (SE Michigan) 1800 young adults in 32 chapters attend monthly events centered on prayer, fellowship and formation. YCP encourages evangelism in the workplace and mentoring by seasoned Catholic professionals. Seeks $38,000 to further develop the missionary disciple formation program which will be piloted in its chapter serving Ann Arbor and Southeastern Michigan.
Damascus Youth Summer Camps (Brighton)
Highly trained missionaries and excellent worship and liturgy help youth encounter Christ and grow as disciples. Fun and fellowship activities include paintball, climbing, high ropes course, and archery. Seeks $50,000 to increase capacity of weeklong camps in Brighton from 1100 in 2023 to 2000 campers in 2024 by recruiting and training an additional 60 missionaries.
Ut Fidem (Ann Arbor or Flint)
Weekly small groups in Catholic High Schools focus on conversion, personal prayer and sacraments, catechesis, and living one's entire life for God. 58 adult mentors led 341 students in 2022 at Dowling Catholic HS (Iowa) and it expanded to two more HSs in 2023 (including Lansing Catholic). Parental, school, and parish donations sustain a chapter after its initial launch. Ut Fidem seeks $31,000 to launch at Flint Powers or FGR in 2024.
Kateri Institute for Catholic Studies (Serving the University of Michigan) Public lectures and year long seminars helped over 100 UM students discover and explore the Catholic intellectual tradition in 2022-3 and steers students to Catholic parishes. Catholic Evangelical Missionary People of Color (S.E. Michigan) Helps launch Black and Hispanic missionaries, who raise their own support for salary and living expenses, by matching up to $8,000 for their first year. Seeks $40,000 for 5 additional "launches", targeting missionaries in S.E. Michigan as well as to broaden its donor base.
Meet our Chaplain, Father Zach Mabee
We’re blessed to have Fr. Zach Mabee as our Chaplain. Read below for his bio followed by a short interview.
Fr. Zach teaches philosophy and forms priests at Sacred Heart Major Seminary while pastoring St. Joseph’s Shrine in Brooklyn MI on weekends. Affectionately considered not just our chaplain, but our very own high priest (he stands 6’6”), Fr. Zach loves sports and great conversation. Fr. Zach grew up in Toledo and became Catholic while attending the University of Michigan. His younger brother, Fr. Drew, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit. Fr. Zach holds several advanced degrees including a PhD in Philosophy and an STL from the Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained in 2015 after completing his priestly formation at the North American College in Rome and served parishes in Flint prior to his current assignments.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about how you decided to enter the Priesthood?
A: I was brought up Lutheran, and there were some junctures in my childhood where I had voiced interest in ministry. At a couple points I thought I wanted to be a minister. I studied with the Jesuits in high school and even though I wasn’t Catholic I had the inclinations at a few key junctures to explore the Jesuits and what they did, and I found myself drawn to their way of life and ministry. As I went through my undergraduate years and decided to enter the Church and become Catholic, I got to meet a couple priests in Ann Arbor, and I started to think for the first time seriously about a priestly vocation. When it comes down to it, it was shored up and confirmed as I prayed about it and sought counsel. It took hold in the first place when I got to know these priests and could see myself doing this and being edified by their way of life.
Q: What was your thesis and what are some of your interests in philosophy?
A: I’ve long had interest in a host of areas that in contemporary philosophy might be called philosophy of religion, issues relating to faith and reason. I wrote my thesis on this problem of scientism, so how you get into philosophical problems when you overextend scientific explanations of various phenomena. So I wrote about some contemporary proponents of scientism, or naturalism, and made my paper a criticism of these kinds of view and tried to defend a more integral and kind of humanistic outlook as a better alternative. This has gotten me interested in faith and culture, and different forms of knowledge and how they relate to each other, something like epistemology or philosophy of science.
Q: How did you get involved with Mission Capital, and can you tell us why you like being a part of it?
A: Pete is a dear friend and I’ve known him for quite a while. I principally got involved through him, but he and I even before I was officially involved, have had a particularly good rapport and have long tended to talk about and go back and forth on issues relating to evangelization and faith and culture. There was something very natural about my officially becoming involved with Mission Capital, because we had been collaborators on these sorts of fronts for a while. I like the direct focus and orientation of Mission Capital, that they’re there to support the work of evangelization. And they do this without all the intermediary dimensions, or some kind of bureaucracy. I like that they’re here to promote the work of evangelization and it is being done with a directness through them, and they’re striving to cut out the middle men that need not be part of the process. They like to engage straightforwardly groups and people who are trying to do this work. I think the Church stands to benefit from their efforts and I am grateful that I get to be a key spiritual support to them.
Q: What is your passion in the area of discipleship and evangelization?
A: I think especially as one who converted to the faith, I do have a great sympathy for people who are not coming from the vantage point of faith. The Catholic faith can be something that has a lot of intricate dimensions to it, notions and concepts that are rather peculiar to it. So I long have had a great interest and desire to relate to and speak with people who are not so well acquainted with specific things in the Catholic Church.
Q: What’s something random and fun about you?
A: I’m a sucker for sports analytics and I always have been, even since I was a kid. I love listening to talking heads discuss sports and discuss strategy.
Other News
Check out our new website! missioncap.org
Mission Capital Board and Staff
Peter Ziolkowski, Executive Director
James Birchler, Ministry Lead & Treasurer
Fr. Zachary Mabee, PhD, Chaplain
Steve Safranak, Secretary
David Myler, Board Member
Michael Morrissey, Accounting
Bill Pressprich, Board Member
Nicole Carlson, Executive Assistant * We’ve hired Nicole Carlson (nee Hocott) to help with our needs at Mission Capital.
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