Marquette's Manresa Project Receives $500,000 From Lilly Endowment Released: Sept. 28, 2005 Marquette University will receive $500,000 to continue a current $2 million five-year project aimed at helping students to make faith-based decisions about their lives and to consider a call to serve others. The Lilly Endowment this week awarded $17.8 million to 37 church-related colleges and universities nationwide as a continuation of its Programs for the Theological Exploration of Vocation. Marquette received the maximum award granted, which was $500,000. Schools in the third round of the initiative have been invited to apply for the three-year continuation grant as well. "These schools have integrated programs and projects that are advancing the initiative's aims: to encourage young people to explore Christian ministry as their possible life's work, to help all students draw on their faith traditions in making vocational choices, and to enhance the capacity of each school's faculty and staff to teach and mentor students,” reported Craig Dykstra, the Lilly Endowment's senior vice president for religion. The Manresa Project at Marquette focuses on the role of faculty members and other employees in mentoring and guiding students to make moral decisions consistent with the university's Jesuit tradition. "We are called, both by our humanity and our Christian roots, to serve others,” Susan Mountin, director of the Manresa Project, said. “We want to help students recognize how they can use their gifts and talents in their chosen professions, in Christian ministry, in their family lives and in their volunteer activities.” The Manresa Project sponsors retreats, programs and workshops at Marquette on vocation discernment, faculty workshops on how to incorporate self-reflection, readings and assignments in classes, and national academic conferences that encourage inter-religious dialogue and scholarship, and discussion of vocation as it relates to faith and justice. Most recently, the Manresa Project hosted Justice and Mercy Will Kiss: A Conference on the Vocation of Peacemaking in a World of Many Faiths. The three-day conference drew both national and international speakers, including: James Orbinski, M.D., from the University of Toronto, past international president of Doctors Without Borders; Rev. Cedric Prakash, S.J., Director of “Prashant,” a center for human rights, justice and peace in India; and Nancy Martin, an expert in Asian religious studies from Chapman University in Orange, CA. Office of Marketing and Communication Contacts Christopher Stolarski Media Relations Specialist Phone: (414) 288-1988 Send e-mail