Offbeat: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie Donate $1 Million to (Catholic) Hospital

Friday is offbeat news day at AmP, and this one is perfect because it allows me to draw upon a story reported by US Magazine:

Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and his family donated $1 million to a Missouri hospital over the weekend.

Brad's bro, Doug, announced the generous contribution to St. John's Hospital in his hometown of Springfield Saturday. The money will establish an endowment fund to pay children's cancer specialists, the Springfield News-Leader reports.

The hospital's cancer treatment unit will be renamed the Jane Pitt Pediatric Cancer Center, in honor of Brad's mom, who is passionate about children's issues.

Who are the most generous celebs?

Once completed this summer, St. John's Hospital will become one of six affiliates of the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital (one of Jennifer Aniston's favorite charities).

The endowment fund will also go toward building a new pediatric unit, a 10-bedroom hospital-based Ronald McDonald house and doubling the size of the neonatal and pediatric intensive care units.

Of course, for the more traditional among us, the Associated Press also has the news.

Following the trail begun by the official news release, one finds that Mercy St. John's hospital is part of the Sisters of Mercy Health System, which is sponsored by "Mercy Health Ministry, an entity established by the Catholic Church to oversee the healing ministry and Catholic identity of Mercy."

Ph/t: The Blog of the Courtier.