DALLAS - Jim Moroney III, retired publisher of The Dallas Morning News who also served as chairman, president and CEO of A.H. Belo Corporation, the News’ former parent company, has been selected as the 43rd annual recipient of The Catholic Foundation Award.

Moroney will be recognized Feb. 7, 2026, during The Catholic Foundation Award Dinner at the Hilton Anatole for his lifelong Catholic faith and philanthropic influence in support of many organizations, including the Institute for Homiletics, Cistercian Preparatory School in Irving and Young Catholic Professionals.

For more than 40 years, The Catholic Foundation Award has honored an individual, couple or family for their distinguished service and support to advance the religious, charitable and educational needs throughout the local Catholic community.

Moroney, son of Jim Moroney Jr. who received The Catholic Foundation Award in 2003, is the great-grandson of George Bannerman Dealey, the first publisher of The Dallas Morning News.

“Jim transitioned his success in keeping quality journalism alive to fulfilling a sense of duty and service that he learned from his parents, ancestors and Cistercian monks,” said Matt Kramer, president and CEO of The Catholic Foundation. “Jim has served as a sage and trusted advisor and fundraiser for many organizations and his imprint can be felt throughout the Diocese of Dallas and beyond.”

A Dallas native, Jim and his three siblings attended Holy Trinity Catholic Church with their parents as children. He attended Cistercian Preparatory School from fourth grade to graduation. Abbot Denis Farkasfalvy, O. Cist. who received The Catholic Foundation Award in 2016, served as his Form Master. The Form Master leads his Form from fifth grade through graduation and serves as an academic advisor, guidance counselor, disciplinarian, spiritual director, cheerleader and caregiver for each student.

As fate would have it, both Jim and his wife, Barbara, attended Stanford University and participated in a Shakespeare class together with Bonnie, Barbara’s identical twin. Jim and Barbara’s courtship began after their first date to a Cat Stevens concert in February 1976.

After dating several years and obtaining their master’s degrees in business from The University of Texas at Austin, Jim proposed to Barbara following midnight Christmas Mass at Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey. They married in August 1983 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, where they are parishioners. Jim and Barbara are the founders of Sixmilebridge Winery in Paso Robles, Calif., and are celebrating their tenth harvest this year.

Jim and Barbara are the proud parents of five children, Sean, Mae, Kyle and fraternal twins Callie and Jenny, and grandparents of four wonderful grandchildren.

“Education was very important, and we tried to instill in our kids that whatever talents they had intellectually and God-given, that they needed to apply them as best as they could,” said Jim.

Practicing what he preached, Jim has poured his support into many initiatives including:

• Raising more than $7.5 million to help establish the only one-of-its-kind Institute for Homiletics at the University of Dallas in partnership with the Diocese of Dallas and The Catholic Foundation. The Institute’s mission is to renew Catholic preaching in the U.S.
• Founded Cistercian’s alumni association, its alumni publication, its annual alumni award dinner and its planned giving program, as well as serving as the first alumnus on its school board for more than three decades and co-chaired several capital campaigns.
• Helping to make possible the founding and growth of Young Catholic Professionals by introducing donors to the original YCP executive director. YCP now operates more than 43 chapters throughout the country with several more in the works.

Jim serves on the board of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul North Texas and Catholic Charities Dallas. He is a lifetime member of the Advisory Board of the Moody College of Communications at The University of Texas. He also served on the board of The Dallas Foundation for more than 10 years including chairing its board, the State Fair of Texas, the Associated Press, the Newspaper Association of America where he was chairman and was a member of the Bishop’s Finance Council of the Diocese of Dallas.

Apart from the influence of his parents, Jim says he owes much gratitude to his Form Master at Cistercian, Abbot Denis Farkasfalvy.

“He (Abbot Denis) pushed me harder than anybody ever had,” Jim said. “He influenced me tremendously academically and spiritually. He knew me as well, or maybe better, than my parents did. If I was having a personal issue or problem, I would always go to Fr. Denis and talk it through.”

He believes in the Gospel of Luke message that to whom much is given, much is owed.

“I was given a lot by my parents, Cistercian and God,” he said. “I could never repay my parents everything they did for me. I could work every day until I die and not give back what they have given to me.”

While humbled by all his philanthropic work, it’s the effort to establish The Institute for Homiletics and hire its founding executive director, Dr. Karla Bellinger, that he calls his biggest Holy Spirit-driven moment. Next year, the Institute’s third cohort of clergy will commence.

Believing there was a need to help priests and deacons do a better job of connecting people in the pew with the pulpit through homilies, he met with Bishop Edward J. Burns and local priests. He was called to find a solution and worked with Kris Kramer, with the support of Bishop Greg Kelly, to raise $7.5 million from Catholic donors.

Being used as an instrument of God to establish the Institute has fueled his reliance on the Holy Spirit to be a positive force.

“If God allows, I would like to live long enough to see the renewal of Catholic preaching in the U.S. that was started by the Institute for Homiletics,” Jim said. “I want the Institute to make a difference so that people in the pew - through the homily - have a genuine encounter with the living God and walk out of church knowing and wanting to have a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.

“With the Holy Spirit, I believe anything is possible. If the priests pray enough, and we give them a little bit of practical help, I believe that can happen.”

About The Catholic Foundation

The Catholic Foundation is a trusted giving vehicle for the Catholic community. Chartered in 1955, the Foundation was founded by a group of dedicated Catholic laymen with a vision that extended far beyond the charitable needs of the moment and celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2025. The Foundation has spent decades building a strong community, helping donors fulfill their charitable goals, and preserving the founders’ vision and philanthropic legacy. At the end of 2024, the Foundation managed more than $313 million in assets. Today, the Foundation houses more than 600 charitable funds and trusts. Over time, the Foundation has provided more than $325 million in grants to religious, educational and charitable organizations of which more than $219 million has been distributed in the past 10 years alone. In 2024, the Foundation gave $25.6 million through more than 3,000 grants impacting more than 965 organizations. For additional information about The Catholic Foundation, call 972-661-9792 or visit www.catholicfoundation.com.