Mission Statement

The Thomas More Scholarship Fund was founded by the Saint Thomas More Society of the Diocese of Springfield in 2012 for the purpose of providing financial assistance to undergraduate and graduate students who are residents of Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin Counties of Massachusetts and who are majoring in pre-law studies, legal studies, or criminal justice. Particular attention will be given to academically qualified students of good moral character whose aspirations for advanced education are hampered by severe financial constraints.

The fund at its inception has been capitalized through the fundraising efforts of the Society and by individual donations. There are virtually no administrative costs, with management of the fund being conducted solely by volunteer members of the Saint Thomas More Society. The scholarship is named for Thomas More, the 15 accepted a martyr’s death rather than violate his religious conscience by obeying an offending order of King Henry VIII. In a letter that Thomas wrote to his daughter, Margaret Roper, from his prison cell, he defines a standard of conscience for all who work in the field of law and the administration of justice saying –

“ His [God’s] grace has strengthened me until now and made me content to lose goods, land, and life as well, rather than to swear against my conscience.”