In Service to the Faith

I came to Avila after having lived for thirteen years in Cincinnati, Ohio. While living there, one of my community involvements was serving as president of ECASE schools, a group of Catholic elementary schools and one high school on the east side of Cincinnati. I had the opportunity to engage in a series of focus groups with teachers who taught in these schools, and it is from one such conversation that today’s topic emerged. While speaking with one of the teachers, she said to me, "I’ve taught for many years in the Catholic school system. I am committed to it, but it frustrates me that I cannot afford to send my children to the very schools to which I have devoted my life." Six years later, my repeating her words and remembering her sadness brings tears to my eyes, yet they also bring a motivation to act.

Recently, Avila announced a new scholarship for undergraduate degree-seeking students, new to the university, who are also dependents of those employed full-time in a Catholic ministry (school, parish, Catholic charity, or Catholic health care), or a niece or nephew of a priest, or a religious. The Service to the Faith scholarship is our way of honoring those who have made a commitment to this service, and perhaps it is my own way of responding to that teacher who moved my heart so many years ago.

If ever there was an idea that I wish would catch on nationally, it would be this one.