An online art auction this spring will benefit ministries in the Diocese of Scranton.

The auction, taking place Monday through May 1, will feature more than 20 paintings of local Catholic churches and sacred spaces by Archbald resident Austin Burke. It will be hosted by the Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of Scranton.

Proceeds will benefit the foundation’s “Founders Fund,” an initiative designed to expand the foundation’s capacity to serve parishes, schools, and diocesan ministries, and support the long-term pastoral, educational and service ministries of the diocese.

This is the first year the foundation is hosting the auction. Executive Director Mark DiPippa said they decided to do it when Burke approached the foundation last year saying he wanted to donate some of his paintings and support it. The foundation suggested churches for Burke to paint.

Burke, an artist, philanthropist, former president of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce and longtime community leader, said he depicted so many churches in 25 years of painting — including his parish, Christ the King in Archbald — that they were taking up wall space in his home. DiPippa asked him to paint more so there were enough for the auction.

Burke spent the past year painting church buildings in Northeast and North Central Pennsylvania from photographs that he, DiPippa and Joseph Strubeck, diocesan secretary for development, had taken. Although he paints other iconic buildings, he likes painting churches because they are interesting architecturally and from a faith perspective.

“Churches are some … of the nicest real estate, some of the nicest architectural gems that we have to paint here in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and we got good photos of them,” Burke said. “It was inspiring to be able to sit down and work through them and paint them.”

He said he was familiar with some of the churches and got to know others through his work with the foundation.

The paintings up for auction are:

• Annunciation Church in Williamsport

• Cathedral of St. Peter in Scranton

• Epiphany Church in Sayre

• Resurrection Church in Muncy

• Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Mayfield

• Sacred Heart of Mary Church in Jermyn

• St. Ann Basilica and Grotto in Scranton

• St. Catherine of Siena Church in Moscow

• St. John the Evangelist Church in Honesdale

• St. John the Evangelist Church in Pittston

• St. Jude Church in Mountain Top

• St. Luke Church in Stroudsburg

• St. Mary of Czestochowa Church in Eynon

• St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church in Dunmore

• St. Mary of Vilna Church in Eynon

• St. Matthew Church in East Stroudsburg

• St. Nicholas Church in Wilkes-Barre

• St. Patrick Church in Scranton

• St. Rose of Lima Church in Carbondale

• St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Archbald

• Basilica of Padre Pio in Italy

• Cathedral Prayer Garden in Scranton

• Marian Chapel at Marywood University

• The Angel of Agonies statue in Scranton

A preview of several paintings was displayed earlier this year during a bishop’s reception.

Bids will be accepted beginning Monday and the auction will be available via the Diocese of Scranton website at dioceseofscranton.org and the Catholic Foundation website at catholicfoundationscranton.org. Bidding information and a full gallery of the available artwork will also be available on the auction website.

The highest bidder on each piece of artwork will be invited to a reception at the Cathedral Rectory with Bishop Joseph C. Bambera on an evening in May. Burke also agreed to do a painting of a church of the highest bidder’s choice.

DiPippa said the auction is a good way for the public to learn about the foundation, which started in 2023 to sustain and nurture the pastoral, educational and service ministries of the diocese, its parishes, schools and organizations through endowments, planned gifts and other financial contributions. He hopes the money raised will help the organization, which DiPippa said was set up to help start fundraising for the foundation.

“We’re hoping this makes an impact and allows us to do what we can do for the long term … to affect these ministries well into the future,” he said. “My hope is that through the work that we do in the foundation, that we’re setting up for long-term success for the church, not just for today or tomorrow.

“We have an annual appeal that we do and those things for the yearly and the daily operation things, but this foundation is really set up looking toward the future and how people can give and then set a legacy.”