To the generous donors of BCS,
Thank you for your gracious giving to keep students like me in the Byzantine Catholic Seminary’s MAT program. After 22 years as a Byzantine Church convert, I arrived at the birth of our 12th child (6th boy) and at this unique year of catechetical service in 2020 wanting to deepen my Christian faith and knowledge. Entering this theology master’s program has reminded me what drew me to the Byzantine Rite, has fostered in me a deeper attachment to the Eastern rites, and has introduced exciting new scholarship in this field.
We prize education and catechesis in our household. I have devoted all my 23 years of marriage to homeschooling either my in-laws’ or my own children. For 9 years now I have tutored with other Catholic families at our classical hybrid academy to support rearing our 9 currently school-age children. Your generous scholarship means I can continue my studies and my children’s schooling without taking on an unsustainable tutoring schedule. My husband’s military service (he is currently a Colonel in a War College master’s program online) also helps meet my tuition obligation, but that aid ends this year.
I have enjoyed studying dogmatics, liturgy, research and writing, desert monastics, and patristics. I have tremendous respect for the faculty and staff working hard for our studies to be completed. I am far from an expert; but your generosity means I can keep up, get to know the other students, and contribute uniquely as a home educating “mother-of-many.” I look forward to the continuation of my formation through BCS in the year 2021.
Through your help I aim to take 12 more credit hours by end of August. That will put me at halfway through the program! Thank you so much for thinking of the needs of students in this tough year in which online education has become a lifeline for families like mine. Byzantine Catholic Seminary has introduced me to a wonderful new circle of scholarship and giving. Glory to God!
Gratefully,
Sherie Fuchko & family
Dr. and Mrs. Fuchko