Appeal from our Dominican Friars

 I just received this email from the Thomistic Institute Friars.  Being a cloistered nun, I have no money, but I pray for them and their success.  Then I had an idea:  why not publish their email here.  Maybe some kindhearted reader of our blog will be inspired to give them a donation.  It is a worthy cause!  Here it is:

Dear Sr. Mary Clare, I've found gold. That's why I'm writing you. Let me explain.  On college campuses around the country, we've met some of the best students you can find. They're more precious than gold! They're the future of our faith.  They're hungry for the truth and zealous to spread it. And they are asking for your help.  Sr. Mary Clare, imagine a world where our universities are once again places to answer life's biggest questions. A world where students encourage each other in the truth, instead of shutting down campuses with protests —where classes aren't taught with a secular worldview, sometimes by professors who are hostile to the faith.  Students on 98 university campuses across the United States and abroad are working to make that happen.  They are inviting top Catholic intellectuals to speak at their schools. They are literally bringing truth to campus. And their efforts are working. This year, on-campus event attendance was record-breaking. And we held more events than ever before! Just this semester, we held over 195 events on university campuses across the US and abroad.  But I have a problem: without a little help, these lectures won't happen next year. I don't have the money to fund them yet. ​​​​ Send truth to campus Every day I hear from students wanting to schedule lectures. They are asking to have the Catholic intellectual tradition brought to their universities and to thousands of new students. Will you be the difference on a secular university campus? Will you bring the truth to a college student? We held over 195 on-campus events this semester. Without generous benefactors, these lectures can't happen. Will you send truth to a university student who is hungry for it? Sr. Mary Clare, the current state of universities is scary. But together we can turn the tide of academia! Let me give you an example:  Sara was one of our first Thomistic Institute students. She attended several of our earliest events. She eventually became Catholic! She writes: "The Thomistic Institute's summer programs and retreats, podcasts, and network of faculty, students, and contemplatives have helped me learn how to think, how to teach and lecture, and how (as a young Catholic woman in the academy) to engage the culture of my secular university. I and many others like me in the academy owe much of our formation as Catholic intellectuals to the Thomistic Institute." She is a great success story. Six years after she started, she has now completed a Ph.D. at Harvard University, and this fall will begin teaching as a tenure-track professor at the Catholic University of America. She will bring truth to university students for years to come! And I'm excited for her to start speaking for the Thomistic Institute on other campuses, too.  I think there will be many more stories like this.  But it won't happen without your help. ​​​​ Donate To meet even a fraction of the requests we have for lectures next year, we will need to raise an additional $300,000 by June 30th. That's a lot of money.  But a generous benefactor has agreed to match up to $100,000 raised before June 30th. This means that your gift will go twice as far — you will bring truth to twice as many students! Every dollar you give will be doubled. Together, we can do this. Will you help us?  I am not asking you to do anything dramatic. Just a small amount. $25, $50, or even $100. Any amount that makes sense to you. Because that's how we'll get this done.  Sr. Mary Clare, instead of worrying about today's campuses, you can delight in knowing that God is working through students at our top universities.  Your generosity makes it possible for the Thomistic Institute to work long-term with students through lectures on campus, reading groups, and weekends of intensive formation to give them the spiritual and intellectual tools they need to defend themselves and march forward on their quests.  Will you respond today? The students are asking for the truth. And you can provide it for them! ​​​​ Send truth to campus And since up to $100,000 will be matched, your gift will have a double impact! Sr. Mary Clare, you can share the transformative power of truth where it is needed most.  Please will you send a gift?  Know that these students are praying for you and your family.  And as always, count on my prayers for you.  In Christ,  Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P.

P.S. Your gift by June 30 means that more students will hear the truth on their university campuses. And every gift before June 30 will be matched dollar for dollar by a generous benefactor. Your gift will have double the impact! But I need to hear from you by June 30!