RELIGIOUS SIGHTINGS SISTER ANN PETRUS, C.D.P., superior general of the Congregation of Divine Providence (left), welcomes Sister Christina Chavez, C.D.P. as a member in July 2016. The Congregation was awarded a 2015 NFCRV grant to service Chavez’ educational debt.
Grants remove obstacle of student debt for religious life candidates National Fund for Catholic Religious Vocations helps orders of priests, brothers, and sisters accept new members.
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HE NATIONAL FUND for Catholic Religious Vocations (NFCRV) awarded 2016 grants, totaling more than $140,000, to men’s and women’s religious communities to service the educational debt of seven candidates to religious life. Awards can be given to grantees each year until the candidate with educational debt makes final vows and becomes a fully professed member of the community or the student loan is paid off, whichever comes first. “For those entering religious life the expectation is that they be debtfree,” says Brother Ronald Hingle, S.C., NFCRV board chair. “Without assistance from NFCRV, these seven candidates would have had to defer their entrance to the community until their student loans were paid off.” The National Fund for Catholic Religious Vocations was made possible through grants from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the GHR Foundation. The fund accepts grant applications from religious communities who are members of the NRVC, the founding organization of the NFCRV, from January 15 through March 15 each year and approves the year’s recipients at their May board meeting. Grantees are notified of their application status by June 30. For more information on the terms of the grant, applying for a grant, or donating to the fund, please go to NFCRV.org or call Mark Teresi at 773-595-4028. =
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