in the diocese
The Valley Catholic
May 27, 2014
3
On a Firm Foundation
Circles of love and support:
Compound Catholic Philanthropy
By Mary Aumack
Two years ago I was driving to my
office from a meeting at Notre Dame
High School. Earlier in the week I had
visited with Jesuit Father Peter Pabst,
then at Sacred Heart Nativity and Our
Lady of Grace schools.
At some point the Holy Spirit put an
idea into my brain: If 30 women committed $50 a month for four years, it would
support one girl from Our Lady of Grace
through NDSJ, providing funds for
tuition, uniform, books, fees and more.
Thus started the circle of “ThirtyOne Women.” The thirty-first woman
is the scholarship recipient.
‘Our Gospel call to service
is clear; it seems the
methods are countless
and never-ending,
just like a circle.’
We promptly filled our first circle
and conferred a scholarship in the
spring of 2012. The recipient brought
12 members of her family. She will be
the first to finish high school. We wept
happy tears when she exchanged her
SHNS sweatshirt for that of NDSJ.
At the reception, her older brother
said that since his sister was quite young
he just KNEW that she would break a
cycle and meet with success. She is now
completing her sophomore year at Notre
Dame and is a happy, competent leader.
On May 29 we will gather to confer
our fourth scholarship. We now have
well over 100 women onboard, and we
have already started Circle Five.
In April, th