Through the St. Joseph grant program, we seek to accelerate and to prevent the abandonment of vocations by guaranteeing the eventual retirement of the student loans of men and women who have generously answered a call to vowed religious life.

This grant program was started under the auspices of the Fraser Family Foundation in the summer of 2004. (When run by the Fraser Family Foundation, it was known as the Mater Ecclesiae Debt Relief Grant Program.)

Under the St. Joseph grant program, we have issued a total of 55 grants that enabled men and women to proceed with their discernment by entering formation and beginning a consecrated life of prayer for our Church and our world. Of those, one had her debt paid in full by a generous benefactor, 13 discerned their vocation lay elsewhere, and 41 continue their formation with their religious order. Without these grants, many of those 41 individuals would still be struggling in the work-a-day world to pay down their debt and meet expenses.

We have carefully structured the St. Joseph grant program so as not to interfere with the discernment progress of grant recipients.

If you would like to help us with this important program, please see our support page.

Resources for prospective applicants

• Eligibility rules
• Grant structure
• Grant payment schedule
• Religious institute approval criteria
• Grantmaking schedule
• Grantmaking realities
• Announcement registration
• Application information