Our History
Our Mission
The purposes of Serra International Foundation is:
• to give financial aid to programs that foster and promote vocations to the ministerial priesthood of the Catholic Church;
• to give financial aid to programs of formation for men and women in consecrated religious life in the Catholic Church; and
• to enhance the recognition of Serra International as the global lay apostolate for vocations in the Catholic Church.
“The Church needs Serra.”
— Cardinal Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto and Episcopal Adviser to The Serra International Foundation
What We’ve Achieved
The Serra International Foundation has supported hundreds of programs, retreats, and vocations activities throughout the world that have inspired thousands to grow in faith and truly contemplate what the Lord is calling them to do.
While is it impossible for us know the full scope of the Foundation’s work, we receive many expressions of gratitude from those who discovered their vocations thanks to a grant from the Foundation. More importantly, countless other Catholic have grown in their faith thanks to the Foundation’s work. Since 2005, Serra International Foundation has given over $3 million to advance the mission of Serra. The Foundation receives many more worthy requests than it is able to fund. What the Foundation is able to fund depends on the generosity of Serrans.
The Serra International Foundation was founded in 1951 to assist Serra in fulfilling its objectives of fostering and promoting vocations in the Catholic Church.
Since that time, the Foundation has funded a wide range of programs for the formation and training of priests and consecrated religious.
The Serra International Foundation sets as its goal to live as an organization dedicated to those programs that bring to us the holy men and holy women who are the successors to those who followed Jesus in the pilgrim Church. Without interruption, in this way it has quietly maintained its focus on serving you, your families, and all Catholics. It serves the Universal Church by working to financially assist those houses of formation for the priesthood and religious life. Click on The Serran magazine cover at right to see examples of how we fulfilled our mission last year.
Members of Serra throughout the world strive to exemplify our unique vocations mission in how we live each day, through individual acts as well as coordinated club efforts. Somewhere in all that is the call to support the mission of the Foundation in a financial way – through annual giving and planned giving for vocations. We entreat all Catholics, not just Serrans, to help us fulfill our unique and essential mission through their generosity.
Through its grant application review process, members of the Serra International Foundation Board are in a unique position to see and understand the needs of our Church. In recent years, the Foundation board has seen an increase in needs throughout the world, especially suffering and poor areas. The Church is truly growing and we are asked to assist!