In its fourth year out of five, Marquette's Manresa Project seemed to be in its twilight. A recent $500,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. has given it a breath of life by renewing and extending the program an additional three years.

"The reason for renewal is that these programs are difficult to sustain over a long period of time," said Gretchen Wolfram, communications director for Lilly Endowment. "They have to prioritize what's doing well and what's not doing so well."

The Lilly Endowment is a philanthropic foundation that provides funding for religious projects. The foundation gave Marquette a $2 million grant in 2001 to create the Manresa Project, which is part of a nationwide program called the Programs for Theological Exploration of Vocation, according to Susan Mountin, director of the Manresa Project.

Marquette was one of 88 church-related, liberal arts schools selected for the initiative out of about 400 applicants, according to Wolfram. Many of the schools also applied for the renewal grants.

"Those schools who could show that their plans could address the needs of students and that were thinking big were chosen," Wolfram said. The Lilly Endowment wanted to see "that the programs were feasible — that they were thinking big, but not pie-in-the-sky."

The Manresa Project has created and supported many ongoing activities for students on campus, including the First Year Reading Program, the "Partners in Ministry" program and a service learning initiative, Mountin said. It recently sponsored "Justice and Mercy Will Kiss: A Conference on the Vocation of Peacemaking in a World of Many Faiths."

Mountin wants to continue these projects through the 2007, 2008 and 2009 school years with the help of the extension grant.

"We want to extend the program… and tweak it a little bit," she said.

Possible changes include a proposal to double the number of students in the Manresa Scholars program from four to eight by reducing the scholarship award from $20,000 to $10,000 per student.

One setback is the project will be operating on fewer resources, as the extension grant is much smaller than the initial one.

However, Marquette is required to match the amount in some way, Mountin said, making the grand total for the three-year extension $1 million.

"The $500,000 is matched by a commitment from the Marquette Jesuit Association and the office of the president," she said.

Mary Ferwerda, assistant director of the Manresa Project, is pleased with the university's acceptance of the program.

"We're very excited and very grateful to Marquette for supporting the Manresa Project," Ferwerda said. "The extension will allow members of the project to really become a part of the university."

The Manresa Project has found success in the past by asking students to question their role in the world through mixing the Jesuit faith of Marquette with a liberal arts education, Mountin said.

"Basically, we do programs that assist in discerning how to live our lives," Mountin said. "The key questions are: Who am I, what are my values, what are my gifts, what are the needs of the world and how do my gifts fit with the needs of the world?"

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on October 6, 2005.