Dear Friends of The Saints and Scholars Foundation,

Here are some of the highlights of 2024.

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• Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, The Saints and Scholars Foundation was able to support a Saints and Scholars Fellow again this entire academic year.

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• Bishop Fintan of Cork and Ross invited Mater Dei students to lead the Corpus Christi procession through the city of Cork this year.

 

• He officially opened the new academic year with Mass in the Cathedral of Saint Mary and Saint Ann in Cork.  Since one of the charisms of Mater Dei is its independence from both church and state, however, his friendship does not include financial support.

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• Mater Dei Academy has become known among classical and Catholic educators in America as the harbinger and pioneer of a new model of Catholic education in Ireland.  In 2024, The John Henry Newman Institute of Grand Rapids, Michigan, decided to support Mater Dei as a partner in its work in Europe.

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• Mater Dei Academy is in its fifth year now. It has 56 students, and seven full-time faculty.  Part of meeting the challenges of growth is that original plans need to be updated – so MDA undertook a new strategic planning process recently, and instituted a new tuition plan.

In Ireland, parents are not accustomed to paying tuition for Catholic education for their children. In previous generations, the National Schools taught the Faith, but that changed years ago.

Catholic families with multiple children and only one income are always on tight budgets. Nonetheless, for five years, the school was able to follow its original vision of not charging tuition, and instead trusted parents to make freewill donations to cover costs.

With more students, however, expenses keep rising: there now are seven full-time faculty, for instance. One of those teachers, Claire Guernsey McCarthy, is a Saints and Scholars Fellow. The generosity of our donors enables us to support teachers who have experience in American independent, classical academies to work in Ireland. This cross-pollination is helping to lay a firm foundation for the independent school movement in Ireland.

To handle its projected future growth, Mater Dei Academy needs an income model that is sustainable and predictable – and also available to all families. The school’s founders have nine children, so they’re keenly aware of the plight of the large, faithful family – and of the need for children of such families to have a superior education!

Mater Dei Academy has developed a unique funding model: a family tuition plan. Each family pays for the eldest child enrolled in the Academy, and tuition charges for other children are waived. This year, the cost for a family to attend Mater Dei Academy is $9,400.

That amount is still a barrier for large families, however – as such a tuition fee is for large families anywhere.

Here is where together we can help: My goal is for The Saints and Scholars Foundation to give two scholarships this year to families seeking a Mater Dei education for their children.

Perhaps God has put you and your family in a position to be a financial archangel. If you can donate, or organize some friends to come together to donate, $9,400, the cost of one full  scholarship, you will have the privilege of naming the scholarship! It could be a legacy to honor a loved one, or your favorite saint or favorite hero – you decide!

But you don’t have to be an archangel! Angels of all sizes can make it happen too!

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• If 100 people give $94.00 each, we can give one entire family an education for a year. Will you be one of the 100? 

 

• If 200 people give $47.00 each, The Saints and Scholars Foundation can still reach the goal of one full scholarship. Will you be one of the 200?

 

Please pray about it: perhaps your whole family can get together to make a
gift for a faithful Catholic family in Ireland.

At the opening Mass at Mater Dei Cork this year, Bishop Fintan prayed that each Mater Dei student “will know that you are loved by God, and that you will go forward bringing God's radiant smile to everyone that you meet; that you will shine the light of Christ, and that you will listen to Him, and become the light and hope for the world.”

That is my prayer for you and your family, and for the friends of The Saints and Scholars Foundation, who love the Faith and love Ireland.

 

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

 

With warmest wishes, and thanks in advance for your generosity,

 

Connie Marshner
Chair, The Saints and Scholars Foundation

P. S. The Catholic Faith in America owes so much to the Land of Saints and Scholars! Remember: It was the pennies of Irish laborers and housemaids that built the great cathedrals in our cities. It was Irish immigrants who built the Catholic school system. The fight for Ireland’s independence could not have succeeded without the help of Ireland’s exiled children in America. Now is our opportunity to return the favor and help rebuild Catholic education in Ireland!