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Scholars in Faith and the Common Good Award Criteria

Saint John’s School of Theology•Seminary, through the generosity of Frank and Julia Ladner, has established a scholarship fund to encourage students to engage in public service informed by a life of faith and a serious theological understanding of the Catholic tradition and its concern for the common good, stamped with Saint John’s vision of the Church.  The hope of the fund is that with this assistance, we will be sending students into the world to work for the common good of all God’s people, whatever their faith or nation, to build bridges rather than walls, and to be agents of hope and community rather than fear and division.

The scholarship highlights and continues Saint John’s long tradition of preparing students for public service in a variety of venues by attracting new generations of students with a vocation to public service as their way of living out their faith in the world.  Their program of study can be in any of the masters degree programs of the School of Theology•Seminary, but should prepare them for a vocation of public service by developing a broad understanding of theology and the history of the church while focusing on Catholic social teaching and its concern for the common good in society. 

In the context of these goals, scholarships will be awarded according to the following criteria:

• Current acceptance into a masters degree program for the School of Theology·Seminary.

• Demonstration of how the student will achieve the goals of the scholarship.  Specifically, a statement of purpose indicating the intent to pursue a vocation to public service to advance the common good and how this vocation is informed by their faith and has been and will continue to be furthered by their study of theology at Saint John’s .

• Demonstration of the ability to achieve the goals set forth in the statement of purpose.  This can be by prior academic study, professional work, volunteer service as well as current volunteer services, field education, and academic projects.
• Demonstrated financial need.

Preference will be given to those who:

• Are able to incorporate other resources at Saint John’s into their program of study, e.g. the McCarthy Center for Public Policy and Civic Engagement; the McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship; with its focus on social and nonprofit entrepreneurship; the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, which promotes greater understanding between religions ; and various ecological and sustainable living programs such as the Arboretum, environmental studies, and the Pottery .
• Are able to currently demonstrate their ability to pursue vocational goals through their current work, whether it is academic, volunteer, professional or project based.

To maintain their scholarship, students must demonstrate satisfactory progress toward completion of their degree and maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.2.