‘This will help the community in ways we can’t even imagine’
MONROE — Our Lady of Lourdes Church and Saint Joseph’s College of Maine have launched a unique partnership to help adult parishioners interested in pursuing college studies. Parishioners can apply to pursue an online degree from Saint Joseph’s College at a pace that fits each person’s needs – putting a college education within reach to those who may not otherwise be able to attend college.
Saint’s Joseph College of Maine is a Catholic liberal arts college founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1912. It offers more than 40 majors in undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs. The online degree program offered is as extensive as it is flexible, which makes it attractive to adults who may want a distance learning program with a high degree of flexibility because of family or employment obligations.
Father Benjamin Roberts, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, established the partnership program with Saint. Joseph’s College of Maine last September. He saw a need for his adult parishioners, many of them from his Hispanic community, who desired to attend college but faced obstacles with family obligations, their economic situation or immigration status.
“The agreement we have offers to all Our Lady of Lourdes parishioners, registered and attending, a 10 percent discount off tuition for all online programs for credit, associates through master’s degree,” Father Roberts explained.
“Additionally, the parish will reimburse at successful course completion another 10 percent. This discount is applicable regardless of immigration status,” he said.
Father Roberts sees this partnership with Saint Joseph’s College of Maine as a tangible means of helping his parishioners realize their dream of getting a college education.
“So many of my young parishioners are undocumented, which means at a state school they have to pay out-of-state tuition. This makes long-term education available to people whom this has not been available,” he said.
Dr. Carmina Chapp, program director of Online Theology Programs at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, is a longtime friend and Father Roberts’ former professor. She recently visited the parish to meet parishioners after Mass and provide more information about the online degree program.
“We have departments on campus (in Standish, Maine) that are dedicated to online students,” she said. “When you are an online student, you have a specific advisor assigned to you to help you select the correct courses and steer you in the right direction.”
“Saint Joseph’s College of Maine faculty are located all around the U.S. They are experts in their field,” Chapp noted. “Our bringing this higher education opportunity to the immigrant community here is really part of the Sisters of Mercy mission to bring education to immigrant communities, and women in particular.”
Father Roberts noted that he has observed many instances where female parishioners in particular who were so close to being able to go to college, but for various reasons it was not attainable.
“So that meant that there wasn’t further education for them. These would include graduates of early college who have associate’s degrees. It was just out of reach. This partnership doesn’t make it easy, but it does make it possible,” he said.
He shared an example of a young woman at his parish who hopes to pursue a graduate degree. “When she graduated from college (she) was the first one to graduate from middle school and high school in her family. We are going from a third- or fourth-grade or fifth-grade education, to potential graduate school in a single generation.
“This just shows you what an opportunity can do,” Chapp said. “And one of the other benefits of this for this population is that you can go part-time online. You can live at home, keep your job and go online when it is convenient. You can take one class at a time.
“You can really fit this into any schedule. Any kind of limitations you may have can be overcome,” Chapp stated.
Since the partnership and tuition assistance program were announced, more than 30 parishioners have expressed an interest in learning more about pursuing a college degree. Two parishioners are set to begin online classes this June.
Saint Joseph’s College of Maine is on a term system, with four terms a year: September, December, March and June. So students have four opportunities to take classes per year, depending on whatever their schedule and financial means allow.
Father Roberts received resounding support from his parish finance council when he suggested the idea of the partnership and the tuition assistance program for parishioners.
“We want to be generous, we want to be good stewards of what we have,” Father Roberts explained. “This is an investment. This will help the community in ways we can’t even imagine.”
He plans to hold future graduation ceremonies for his parishioners at the parish so that other parishioners and the graduates’ family and friends can easily attend.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
For more information
Saint Joseph’s College of Maine establishes partnerships with dioceses and parishes around the country. For more information about partnerships or degree offerings, go online to www.sjcme.edu. Questions? Contact Dr. Carmina Chapp at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 207-893-7997.
CHARLOTTE — Men of the Diocese of Charlotte are invited to attend the 10th annual Catholic Men’s Conference from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 7, at St. Matthew Church, located at 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy.
This year’s theme is “What are you looking at?” (Quid Intuemini - Conference Crest).
The full day conference includes Mass, confession, Eucharistic Adoration, recitation of the rosary and a dynamic keynote address by Father Larry Richards, a priest of the Diocese of Erie, Pa., and a well-known author and EWTN radio talent.
The men’s conference other speakers include: Kevin Frederick, a former USMC pilot and current fed-eral security director for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration in North Carolina; and Dennis Gillan, a mental health advocate and speaker.
Dr. William Thierfelder, president of Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, will serve as master of ceremonies for the conference.
Father Patrick Winslow, vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of Charlotte, will serve as the main celebrant at Mass.
The mission of the annual men’s conference is to focus on the sacraments and offer dynamic Catholic speakers who challenge each participant to grow in their Catholic faith, deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ and live up to the callings of a Catholic men, husbands and fathers.
Jason Murphy, one of the coordinators of the conference says, “We will be asking men, ‘What is in their life that is pulling them away from their duties as a Catholic Man? Is it work? Is it social media? Pornography? The phone or a need for connection? Themselves? What is keeping them from looking to Christ as St. John the Baptist did without all of the distractions and occasions of sin that the world, the flesh and the devil have laid in their path? We will be asking them to join us to get to the ‘Sacred Heart’ of the matter and put away ‘your old self’ and put on Christ and be the men, the fathers, and the husbands they have been called to be!’”
General admission cost is $35 per person in advance; $45 at the door. Knights of Columbus members and high school and college students’ cost is $30 per person. Clergy admission is free. Lunch is included with admission.
For more info
At www.catholicmenofthecarolinas.org: Find out more and register for the Catholic Men’s Conference