BISHOP BLANCHETTE SCHOLARSHIP
Are you aware that the Joliet Diocesan Council of Catholic Women has it’s own special scholarship fund. THE BISHIP BLANCHETTE SCHOLARSHIP FUND It was established in 1982 as a living memorial to honor our late Bishop Romeo Blanchette. Scholarships in his name are made available each year to students seeking assistance to attend Catholic high schools in the Joliet diocese. This fund is supported by donations.
During the course of these 29 years, the Bishop Blanchette Scholarship Fund has awarded 159 scholarships to the sum of $312,000. We are very blessed and proud of our endeavors to help pass our faith along to those students needing assistance to attend Catholic high schools. This year, six $3,000 scholarships were given. We received 23 applications from our affiliated CCW parishes and after prayerful consideration, our Monitoring Committee chose the six students.
(Please note that all affiliated Joliet Diocese CCW parishes can nominate one student.) An Awards Mass celebrated by Bishop Joseph Imesch and our moderator, Father John Sebahar was held on May 12th at the St. Charles Pastoral Center to present the scholarships to the winning students.
We have researched the tuition cost to attend a Catholic high school in the Joliet diocese and it has escalated extensively. Consequently, we are asking you for assistance to help provide funds to support our Joliet Diocesan Council of Catholic Women’s Bishop Blanchette Scholarship Fund. Our deadline for accumulating funds to provide scholarships for the 2012 year, is the middle of March. We are in need of monetary donations. Please consider donating proceeds from a raffle, a no bake sale, a bake sale, Christmas Bazaar, etc. We would appreciate getting your support before March 2012, if possible.
Another opportunity to help share our faith with others and to benefit the scholarship fund, is through the use of our Bishop Blanchette Scholarship Memorial Cards. The cards are available in the JDCCW office. They are a means to remember a special event…………to remember a deceased loved one, an anniversary, a birthday, etc. During the year, our Joliet Council prays and has Masses celebrated for your intention.
A Joliet Diocesan Council of Catholic Women's Cookbook is in the works. What a wonderful opportunity to share and enjoy the special recipes with the women in our diocese and contribute to the scholarship at the same time.
On March 24th, 2012, the Friends of Bishop Blanchette Scholarship Fund will be hosting their annual luncheon at the White Fence Farm Restaurant in Romeoville. Please save the date and details will follow.
Thank you for your past support and your continued support for the Bishop Blanchette Scholarship Fund. Please remember this is OUR JOLIET DIOCESE COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC WOMEN’S special endeavor. Your donations are greatly appreciated. May God bless you.
In The Name of Our Lady of Good Counsel,
Carlotta Lawton,
Bishop Blanchette Scholarship Committee Chairman
Note: In December, you will be receiving the 2012 BBSF packet of scholarship information to nominate one student from your parish CCW. Presently, we are waiting for the FACTS organization printed materials.
Please see updated 2012 information
Criteria for applying for the scholarship include: Student must be registered in one of the Diocesan Catholic High Schools for the year they are applying for the scholarship, a financial need must exist, student must have a scholastic average of C+ or the numerical equivalent, student must be sponsored by a parish Council of Catholic Women. Each parish CCW can only sponsor one student.
All financial information must be submitted to FACTS, a diocesan approved independent agency which processes the financial application and submits results of its review and recommendations to the BBSF Monitoring Committee. The family must pay a $20 processing fee. If the family has already submitted an application for any award handled by FACTS, the fee is waived.
In addition, the student must submit the following to the BBSF monitoring committee: A one page signed statement on “WHY A CATHOLIC EDUCATION IS OF VALUE TO ME”, a signed statement from the Pastor verifying that the candidate is a member of the parish, a signed statement from the Principal or DRE as to the student’s motivation, involvement and other related data, grades for incoming freshman from grades 7 and 8 or a transcript from high school students, a statement from either the family or the Pastor or Principal of any known extenuating circumstances that would effect the selection, such as health or employment situations.
Call the JDCCW office at 815 834-4080 to get the FACTS application. If you have questions about the scholarship or the application process, call one of the CCW officers.
