Bowling Green woman receives grant to pursue vocation |
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Friday, 12 February 2010 00:00 |
BOWLING GREEN—The Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Vocations (MEFV) announced that Andrea Slivka of Bowling Green has been awarded a St. Joseph Student Debt Relief Grant.
Miss Slivka, a member of Bowling Green St. Thomas More, is to begin her formation with the Carmelite Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Ada, Mich., later this year.
She received a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Bowling Green State University in 2008. While still in school, Miss Slivka began discerning a vocation to the religious life and eventually applied to and was accepted by the Carmelites at the Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The only obstacle to her entry was her student loan debt.
The MEFV is to make monthly payments on Miss Slivka’s student loans throughout her years of formation, with a guarantee that the debt will be fully paid by the fifth anniversary of her final vows.
The MEFV is a charitable organization, founded in 2006 to remove the serious obstacles that student loans present to individuals who seek to answer God’s call to consecrate themselves in the priesthood or religious life.
Because of the vow of poverty, people entering religious life must be free of all debt. However, the high cost of a college education means that many young people must take student loans to attend college, and the difficulty of paying off these loans — often tens of thousands of dollars — can delay or in some cases prevent many qualified individuals from responding to their vocation to religious life.
For its 2010 application period, the MEFV received 27 applications, but was able to issue only 16 grants, due to limited funds.
“We wish we could have awarded grants to all our candidates,” says Corey Huber, president of the MEFV. “The Church needs these young men and women serving in the priesthood and religious life.”
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Additional information about the program can be found at http://fundforvocations.org/.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 15 April 2010 15:30 |
