A few days ago I received in the mail the newsletter of the Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Vocations (MEFV). I remember when Corey and Katherine Huber were going public with the MEFV about five years ago. It seemed like a very good idea then; it seems like a great idea now.
What the MEFV does is help those pursuing priestly or religious vocations by eliminating financial obstacles. Many prospective seminarians or religious aspirants have outstanding student loans that must be paid before they can enter the religious institute. The MEFV takes over the regular student loan payments of its grant recipients once they begin their formation.
For more on how the MEFV grant program works, click here.
What really grabbed my attention, though, was the news that the MEFV awarded 18 new vocation-enabling grants in 2011! The total amount of the grants was $450,000.
It should be noted, too, that the MEFV has a carefully constructed list of approved seminaries as well as criteria for approving religious institutes. We’re proud that affiliation with the Institute on Religious Life is one of the criteria the MEFV uses in determining whether a given institute is faithful to the Magisterium.
Two other features of the MEFV site I really like are of course the numerous vocation stories and the Grant Recipient Milestones page, which provides continual updates regarding entrance into novitiate, first vows, final profession, ordination, and other such important moments in the life of a priest or religious. Those pages mean a lot to those of us who contribute to the MEFV, and they remind us of the great spiritual benefit of all the prayers and Masses that are offered for MEFV benefactors.
That of course brings me to the “Donate to the MEFV” page. For those of you who would like to financially support vocations, I highly recommend the MEFV as a “holy mutual fund” that supports an impressive “portfolio” of seminarians and religious, and which already is clearly paying spiritual “dividends.”
Like this:
Like Loading...
Dennis Narlock has cooked for Hollywood stars and built a well-known local catering business throughout the past three decades. But Narlock plans to walk away from his business and his cooking career at the end of the year. He says he will also give up his personal wealth and all his worldly possessions after joining a recently established Franciscan monastery in the Diocese of Fargo.
In the 1980 film Oh, God: Book II, 11-year-old Tracy Richards believes that God is talking to her. In fact, God (played by George Burns) wants Tracy to tell everybody she knows that he is real. So she does. She drafts a slogan and message, just two words, is conclusive and clear:
A few days ago I received in the mail the newsletter of the 
I came across a couple interesting vocation-related articles on the Internet this past weekend.