A Massachusetts grocery magnate has donated $20-million to efforts to help ailing Catholic schools, The Boston Globe reports.

Patrick Roche, the 80-year-old co-founder of the Roche Brothers supermarket chain, credited the assistance his family received from a parochial school after his mother died as an inspiration for the gift to Boston College’s Center for Catholic Education.

The money will help the center train teachers and administrators and develop curricula for Catholic schools, which are serving an increasingly diverse mix of students. Catholic philanthropists in Boston have recently intensified efforts to aid the local archdiocese’s schools, which saw enrollment plummet by more than 18 percent from 2000 to 2008.

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