Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
"Religious vocation may be easier than lifting debt load"
Drawn to the Roman Catholic sisterhood while she was a student at Loyola University here, Torres faces the same barrier as many others considering such a religious life: college debt. Today, Torres and a group of friends will run Chicago's Half Marathon -- 13.1 miles along the lakefront -- in hopes of receiving enough pledges to pay off $94,000 in student loans.
"You can't live a vow of poverty with a bunch of debt," said Torres, a 2007 graduate. "If God wants you to do something, he clears the way."
Torres is one of hundreds who heeded the call of Pope Benedict XVI when, on his American pilgrimage, he bid his young flock to consider religious life. Though she has encountered romantic possibilities that tested her resolve, she said, she has had abundant moments of clarity that she is on the right path.
"I just know this is what Jesus asked me to do," said Torres, 24, who with two others is founding a new Franciscan community on Chicago's West Side.
Torres fits the mold of many young Catholics longing for traditions that waned after Vatican II and gravitating away from modern religious orders whose members live on their own, devote less time to community prayer or no longer wear habits. Experts say the inability of modern orders to attract new candidates and the lack of commitment among America's secularized youth have led to a sharp decline in religious vocations in the U.S.
But some attribute the downturn to debt.
Five years ago, Cy Laurent of Eagan, Minn., founded the Laboure Society, a nonprofit group dedicated to eliminating the educational debt of Roman Catholic religious candidates. He insists that a lack of capital, not a lack of commitment, has kept hundreds, perhaps thousands, of faithful from answering God's call. Torres is one of about 100 current clients.
"There are thousands discerning priesthood and religious life in North America. That's the good news," Laurent said. "The bad news is they all have debt. . . . We as families, as community, as institutions, as government, have said, 'Go right along to college on a credit card and when you make the big bucks pay it off.' "
Brother Paul Bednarczyk, executive director of the Chicago-based National Religious Vocation Conference, a professional organization of Catholic religious vocation directors, said educational debt has become an issue as more men and women hear the call to serve the church after acquiring college degrees and student loans. Each religious order has its own policy regarding payback.
"Some communities are in a financial position to pay off the loans as long as the woman or man is with them through the formation process," Bednarczyk said. "If their [mission] is education, it can be seen as an investment."
Sister Kathleen Skrocki works with young women contemplating religious life in the Chicago archdiocese. She said a couple of women over the years have confessed to entering the process because they couldn't pay off their debt.
"Thank God for their honesty," she said. "That's why the discernment process is so important. If you know the woman is really sincere -- and vocation directors get a sense after a while that this person is meant for religious life -- how can we help her?"
Laurent said those who apply for assistance must go through a rigorous screening process, including a letter of support from a bishop, superior or abbot, before receiving help from the Laboure Society.
Leanne and Manuel Torres always knew their oldest daughter had the conscience to become a nun. Home-schooled with a Catholic elementary curriculum and enrolled in a Catholic high school, Alicia attended daily Mass with her mother and siblings and constantly engaged her mother in intense spiritual conversations.
"I thought that sooner or later she would be religious," said her father. "I suspected that for years. I knew she wanted to try to help the needy and promote the faith."
Alicia Torres and her two peers are founding the Franciscan community in the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels, the site of a school fire 50 years ago that killed 92 children and three nuns. The blaze prompted an exodus of many families from West Humboldt Park to the suburbs, leaving poverty and crime in their wake. Drug dealers and prostitutes work the corners around the Our Lady of the Angels parish and rectory, where the three aspirants now live and worship.
She hopes to transform her marathon training into a running club for neighborhood youth, and she dreams of the day she can lead a 5K wearing her habit.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
"Vocations and the Contemporary World"
by Br. (Nov.) Gregory Symonds, O.S.B.
Peace be with you! My name is Br. Nov. Gregory Symonds. I am a novice at St. Bernard Benedictine Abbey in Cullman, AL. I would like to share with you in this article some thoughts and reflections about vocations and contemporary American society.
You might have heard about the crisis in the Church on the dearth of vocations. Much of what has been written on this is true. I would like to point out an often neglected aspect to the discussion—debt.
Fr. Anthony Bannon once wrote that debt is the number one vocation killer and he is correct. In the “dearth of vocations” talks, we often hear about a “liberal regime” squashing “orthodox” men and women from formation programs. What we do not hear much about are the many stories of men and women who wish to dedicate their lives to God vis-à-vis religious life or priesthood but have accrued debt and are hindered in their desire.
In the lives of such men and women, the Lord has called them to do some other work for Him before calling them into holy service. Such work is a type of “preparatory stage” for these men and women so that they may make vows or holy orders with a better mind and heart for the life of a priest or religious. This usually means that some human or intellectual formation is necessary. Whatever the reason, the Lord has providentially willed the work but it sometimes comes at a price.
Many of our young Catholic men and women are asked to attend college by vocation directors. This request is often made because the directors see something lacking in the character of these men and women. This “lacking” will vary from person to person but whatever it may be, vocation directors wish it to be addressed before entrance to seminary/religious formation can take place. Believing it to be the Will of God, these young men and women do enter college and obtain their degree.
Attending a four-year college educational program, however, does not come without a price tag and this fact is often overlooked.
By the end of a four-year degree program at a reputable University, the average student will have paid roughly $80,000. Some of this is reduced by grants and scholarships but a large bulk of that cost is taken up in educational loans. These loans must be paid back before a person can enter the religious life or in the case of diocesan priesthood, reduced to a certain amount (which varies from diocese to diocese).
Fifty or so years ago, the cultural and financial situation was not like it is today. A number of religious communities and dioceses accepted young men and women out of high school in larger numbers than they do now. The order or diocese educated them and paid the costs because the person was dedicating their lives to Christ through the order/diocese. The cultural situation, however, shifted in the last forty years with the reforms in the Church after Vatican II and in the secular world with the onset of greater lay-involvement in the Church and higher education being pushed more in American society respectively.
Many vocation directors now value prior education and the experience that comes with it so as to have more well-rounded social individuals able to meet the challenges the Church faces in contemporary society. As a direct result, more vocations were becoming “delayed” and others were lost entirely in a monumental task of repaying their academic debts.
To put it simply, the Church was not prepared for the shift in culture and has suffered casualties. To rectify the situation, efforts are currently underway to answer this need in the Church. I would like to point out one in particular—The Laboure Society in Eagan, MN.
In 2001, Minnesota businessman Cy Laurent realized that vocations in the Church were becoming compromised due to academic debt. Together with other people, Laurent founded the Society in order to help these men and women retire their debts by instituting an attractive 501(c) (3) program for benefactors. In addition to the program, the Society provides hope and encouragement through personal and individual coaching to the men and women seeking the benefit of the Society’s program. These men and women are called “aspirants” in Society parlance.
The Society does not have its own funds and operates solely upon donations given by generous benefactors through the individual aspirant. Thus, each aspirant has to raise awareness of their cause in order to find benefactors. To do this, the aspirants have come up with creative ideas. Outside of standard employment, some examples of their creative efforts include making music CD’s, hosting fundraisers and even appearing on the radio. These efforts have met with success and the Society takes great pride in the over 100 men and women it has helped so far to enter the consecrated life/priesthood.
I would like to make a personal appeal for every reader to support the work of the Society by assisting its aspirants. The Society is available on the Internet at www.labouresociety.org where you can find more information about the program, how it works and how you can help. Vocations are depending upon you—mine included.
Br. (Nov.) Gregory Symonds, O.S.B. is a novice at St. Bernard Benedictine Abbey in Cullman. You can visit him on his blog at http://d-rium.blogspot.com.
Monday, April 13, 2009
"Young nun-to-be must wipe out debt before joining order"
From STLToday.comBy Tim Townsend
Katie Press, front row, center, visits the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus’ motherhouse in Connecticut in March 2008. Pictured with her are Sister Marialice Ackermann, front row, and, back row, left to right, Sister Mary Jane Paolella, Sister Colleen Smith, postulant Katherine Thornburg, Sister Mariette Moan and Sister Christine Kiley.
When Katie Press finished graduate school in December, like many young graduates, she entered the real world saddled with thousands of dollars in student-loan debt. But unlike a lot of young people entering the job market, Press' future employer has asked her to pay off that debt before she begins training for her new job.
So Press, a 25-year-old Georgia native who lives in St. Louis, went to work juggling three part-time jobs and holding fundraisers so that in August she can begin her formation with the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — debt free.
"Katie's a wonderful woman and we're so happy she's entering the community," said Sister Susan Marie Krupp, a vocations director for the order. "But we are asking her as much as possible to eliminate her debt."
The Roman Catholic Church is hurting for clerical leadership. The shortage of priests and nuns is well known. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, there were 180,000 religious sisters in the United States in 1965. In 2008, there were 59,000 — a drop of 67 percent. Even since 2000, the number has dropped 26 percent.
That means orders of "women religious," as nuns are called in church lingo, are in an awkward position. They desperately need young, educated women to ensure the future of the order, but they can't afford to take on the debt those women bring with them.
In earlier decades, women entered religious communities straight from high school and without debt. But orders now encourage women to have some higher education or work experience before exploring the possibility of joining.
"Some women accrue debt along the way, whether that's a house, a car or educational loans," said Krupp. "To open our doors to any woman coming into community and opening up to that debt wouldn't be wise on our part."
None of this phased Press. She agrees with the women she hopes will become her sisters and whom she calls "an amazing group of women who are so vibrant and fun to be around."
"Absorbing the debt of incoming members is simply impractical for the sisters as they continue to found new missions, educate young sisters, and care for their own elderly," Press wrote on her blog.
Press graduated with a master of divinity from the Aquinas Institute of Theology in December, and owes $17,000 in student loans. She was accepted into the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — an international order of 1,400 sisters — about a month ago. She is working to pay off her debt before her training begins at the order's U.S. province headquarters in Hamden, Conn., in August.
Press is working three part-time jobs — as an administrative assistant at Aquinas, a nanny and a preschool teacher at Sacred Heart Villa on the Hill. Since January, she has paid down $2,500 of her total.
Last month, Press got creative. She created a blog, called Support Katie's Habit (http://supportkatieshabit.wordpress.com/) to help get the word out. She's also started a letter campaign for the less technically inclined.
On Friday, Press' supporters will put on a bingo night fundraiser in the basement of St. Margaret of Scotland in St. Louis' Shaw neighborhood (details are on Press' blog).
Press explained that she and her friends wanted to get away from the St. Louis cliche of a trivia night fundraiser, so they went with "fun bingo," with beer and prizes, instead.
"This is not your grandparents' bingo," Press said.
Another article from
Young Woman Prepares To Enter Religious Order
By Stephen O'Kane
ATLANTA—Vocations to the religious life have fascinated Katie Press for years, even if she doesn’t exactly remember telling her mom she wanted to be a nun when she was in the fourth grade.
“I . . . am pretty sure I didn’t even know who/what a nun was at that age,” Press exclaimed after sharing that her mom still remembers that moment.
Some might say Press was in tune with God’s plan for her at that young age. Especially because now, over a decade later, she is preparing to enter a formation program with the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a group of religious whose motherhouse is in Hamden, Conn., with sisters in the United States, Italy and Brazil.
Her interest in religious life really surfaced when she was attending high school at St. Pius X in Atlanta. She discovered the vastness of the Internet, used it to research all sorts of religious sects, and found religious life to be exciting, even if for the wrong reasons, she said.
“There was an aura of intrigue and mystery,” Press said.
“And, best of all, I saw it as the ultimate escape. I pursued the idea of religious life in high school for all the wrong reasons. Instead of facing the world head on, attempting to find a place for me to flourish, I wanted to run away,” she said.
This led Press to consider entering a convent right after high school, but she said her parents could see right through her ruse and “politely demanded” that she attend college.
She ended up venturing to Indiana where she attended Saint Mary’s College and continued to study all things spiritual.
While pursuing theology, psychology and anthropology, Press showed a knack for strong relationships with people, as well as with God. This is something her friends realized right away.
“Katie’s kind demeanor, combined with such strong spirituality, always struck me as how I would hope a nun would be,” said friend Sarah Vabulas. The two met at Saint Mary’s when they shared several religion classes. Press was majoring in the subject while Vabulas was earning a minor.
Press described her vocation discernment during college as an “on again, off again” pursuit. Initially in college she attempted to ignore the idea and push it away. However, during her junior and senior years, Press said it stopped lurking and began nagging.
She visited a community of sisters nearby, but despite seeing the “beauty of the witness of their life,” she felt strongly that this was not the place for her.
“Still, while I didn’t know any of the particulars of how it would all work out, it just seemed to make sense to say that one day I would be a sister,” she said.
“But, you see, I’d told God my list of non-negotiables,” she continued. “My community had to have x, y and z. Unintentionally, I had painted God into a box. So every community that I visited, I crossed off my list prematurely. I had to expand my horizons and feel safe enough to let myself be led to the right community for me.”
In the meantime, Press began pursuing a master of divinity degree at the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis. There she met Sister Virginia, a member of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who shared a class with Press. They spent nearly a year in class together before it dawned on Press that maybe she should look a little more closely at the sister’s community.
“And one day, truly out of the blue, I thought to just e-mail the vocation director (who happened to be living in St. Louis) and we met for coffee,” Press recalled. “She invited me to their motherhouse in Connecticut.”
What Press found when she visited the community was very encouraging.
“There were sisters of every age and they all seemed to know each other,” Press said. “They valued higher education and seemed to be pleased that I was pursuing a master’s. They told jokes. They seemed to really value both their ministry-apostolate and their time at prayer. Eventually, I realized that I could see myself there and happy, like for the rest of my life! I wanted to hang out with them all the time.”
So when Press returned to St. Louis after the visit, that’s exactly what she did.
“I was their groupie,” Press said jokingly.
Sister Susan Marie Krupp, vocation director, said she was happy that Press had such a personal experience when being introduced to the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She quickly found that Press had what the order was looking for.
“Katie is a very spiritual person,” Sister Susan said. “She has a desire to serve others and a desire to deepen her relationship with God.”
The Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, founded by Clelia Merloni in Italy in 1894, strive “to attain a perfect love for God by making the Heart of Jesus known and loved, by living the law of charity among all people, and by embracing the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience.”
The order has a strong educational ministry, serving as teachers and administrators at all levels of education, from preschools to universities. They also participate in health, pastoral and social services ministries, where they care for the sick, the elderly and youth.
“I was very happy when I found out that Katie had decided to ask to enter the Apostles,” said Stephanie To, who has been friends with Press for about four years.
“Katie is a young woman who is deeply in love with Jesus and desires to share God’s love with the world,” she continued. “I believe her cheerful, down-to-earth attitude is one of the many reasons why she will draw many closer to the Lord. Katie is also wonderful with children and has much experience through baby-sitting and teaching Sunday school. I am very excited for Katie that she will be able to begin her formation with the Apostles, God willing, this fall.”
In order to learn more about the community, Press began to work in St. Louis at one of the order’s preschools, where she currently teaches. She is also involved with a monthly discernment group with the sisters, where they meet for prayer, dinner and discussions about religious life.
“I love every minute that I spend with the sisters and I can’t get enough of their stories—whether it’s about how they never imagined that they’d be a missionary in Taiwan, or about the sister who became famous for making pasta in her retirement, to celebrating with a sister at her third 100th birthday party, to meeting women my age in formation and asking them about having Facebook withdrawal,” Press said.
Emotional and spiritual support is something that many discerning a religious vocation say is necessary. For Press it was no exception. After becoming frustrated with God while struggling with finding that one community, Press needed the support of those close to her.
“I never would have made my way without the help of a spiritual director and the support of my friends,” she said. “My friends never judged me for wanting to visit convents on spring break or go on ‘nun dates’ (vocation retreats). They, like my family, wanted to see me happy.”
While a certain feeling of relief has rushed over Press after her initial acceptance into the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus formation program, she still has one significant obstacle to overcome.
“In my acceptance letter, the sisters have asked that I try to rid myself of as much of my debt, which is only academic in my case, as possible before I move there in August,” Press said. “Additionally, I have to have enough money saved up for my first year of room and board. Thereafter, the sisters will cover all of my expenses. So I have approximately $20,000 to raise by August—at least $5,000 will come from the jobs I have now.”
Press has begun her fundraising efforts, keeping friends and family informed of her progress through her blog, with the tongue-in-cheek title, “Support Katie’s Habit.” She has also planned a bingo fundraiser in St. Louis in hopes of reaching her goal.
The road ahead promises challenges and triumphs, but Press is ready to tackle it all head on.
“Looking back over the past year of my life, I never could have imagined that this is where I’d be today,” she said. “And I’m sure I can’t even begin to dream what my life will be like a year from now. But if it’s with the Apostles (and I pray that it will be), I know it will be joy-filled.”
“Katie has always inspired me with her faith and curiosity for the church and ways of knowing God,” said Vabulas. “I know Katie’s cheerful personality will be welcomed and enjoyed by all the sisters living in community together.”
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
"Called to a Life of Serving God"
From the Press-Enterprise
By SEAN NEALON
Michelle Medina is going against the trend.
At a time when the number of nuns has dropped sharply, the 25-year-old Chino Hills resident is preparing to join the Sisters of Life in the Bronx, N.Y., in September.
Medina is a member of St. Paul the Apostle Church in Chino Hills, which San Bernardino diocesan officials say is an example of a church that successfully promotes becoming a nun or priest.
Medina is one of seven or eight people from the church in the process of becoming nuns or priests, said Sister Sarah Shrewsbury, who as vocation director of the San Bernardino Diocese steers men and women into religious life. She credited the church's vocation committee and youth ministry.
Medina's father taught her to pray and instilled a devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. She attended Catholic schools. She served as a leader at Catholic retreats and summer camps.
In high school, she started feeling God calling her but couldn't pinpoint what she should do.
Read the rest of the article HERE.
Friday, April 11, 2008
"Support a Franciscan Vocation"
Back in August I posted "A Vocations Video of Sorts" , which was about a short film created by Eric Forrest about a young man in China being called to the priesthood, and his eventual martyrdom. Unfortunately the video had to be removed from YouTube as it was technically owned by the USC film school where Eric created it.
Fast forward. Eric has discerned that he is called to religious life, specifically with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, God willing. Yesterday he put up a website, "Support a Franciscan Vocation", to help pay down his student loan debt so that he can enter postulancy in the fall if accepted. Please check out his website and his blog for more information about him, his vocation story and how you can help support his vocation if you feel so moved - if not financially, at least with your prayers.
Update: Having noticed the clarification on Eric's website, I thought I should make it here as well. Eric has not yet been accepted to the CFR's, but he has applied. The paragraph above has been rewritten to make that a little more clear.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Debt, the Vocation Killer
LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. — You think you know what factors pose a barrier to religious vocations? Think again. A group met in Chicago last month to discuss an emerging and growing barrier to vocations — financial debt, particularly that acquired from student loans.
The Chicago-based Institute on Religious Life organized — and the Arlington, Va.-based Fraser Family Foundation sponsored — a diverse gathering of grant-makers, college presidents and vocation directors at Marytown Feb. 20-22 to examine the growing problem. As most religious orders will not accept someone with debt, it places many vocations in jeopardy.
Brother Matthew Ball of the Franciscans of the Immaculate at St. Francis Hermitage in Maine, N.Y., said that his debt nearly led him to abandon his vocation. A graduate of Ohio University, Brother Matthew had educational debts totaling $30,000 when he approached various religious orders inquiring about the possibility of entering. Debt prevented him.
“I was ready to drop my vocation because of the debt. I figured that if too many huge walls were in the way that maybe God wasn’t calling me,” said Brother Matthew. “I was ready to give it up, but had one more phone call to make.”
Before giving up his vocation, Matthew Ball’s final call was to the Franciscan Friars in December 2005.
“I spoke with the vocation director, Father Joseph,” said Brother Matthew. “Near the end of the call I said, ‘Everything sounds great, but I have one more thing for you. I have an education debt of $30,000.’”
“Father Joseph responded, ‘Is that all? You’ve got to have faith! Our Lady has all the money you need for your vocation,’” said Brother Matthew. Father Joseph put the young man in touch with the Fraser Family Foundation, a private foundation set up to help aspirants relieve their educational debt. Ball received the foundation’s final grant, enabling him to enter the community last summer.
The need is great. “One of every two aspirants will have had student debt at one time,” said Corey Huber, executive director of the Fraser Family Foundation. “One of every four aspirants will have debt in excess of $25,000.”
That’s a problem particularly for religious orders.
“It’s a very real problem. As more and more girls come out of college and seek religious life, it will become more of an issue for them,” said Sister Mary Emily Knapp, vocation director of the Nashville Dominicans. “For some young women it delays entrance.” Of the order’s 13 postulants this year, debt was an issue for two of them.
“This is an important and challenging problem emerging in the Church,” said Michael Wick, executive director of the Institute on Religious Life. He likens the problem to the rich young man in the Gospel who couldn’t follow Christ. “Instead, it’s the debt-laden young person who can’t follow Christ.”
At least two Catholic colleges have programs in place to provide debt relief for those pursuing religious life — Christendom College, in Front Royal, Va., and Magdalen College in Warner, N.H.
At Christendom, the college has always had a policy that if a graduate takes final vows with an order that has canonical status with the Catholic Church, his loan will be canceled. Magdalen’s policy, while not official, has helped to defer and forgive loans on a case-by-case basis. Both Christendom and Magdalen are able to do so because they do not receive federal funds and are able to make their own loans.
“As a lay organization, we’ve been tithing our 10% through our vocations,” said Tom McFadden, director of admissions at Christendom. “It’s the idea that if we take care of God, he will take care of us.”
To date, approximately 60 men and 40 women alumni of Christendom have entered religious life. Magdalen has seen approximately 30 religious vocations among its graduates.
Leaders agreed that more universities need to come to the table to develop ways to address this crisis.
New Ways
Attendees also agreed that another response, of last resort, includes creating charitable funds that can assist aspirants with significant debt. Two such funds have already been created in recent years to address the issue.
Corey and Katherine Huber of Alexandria, Va., began issuing grants to aspirants in 2004, following Corey’s retirement from America Online.
“I had a lot of extra money floating around and our pastor told us of a young man who was interested in religious life but had a huge debt-load,” said Huber. “Our pastor asked if we could help this guy out.”
The obstacles they faced in providing that help eventually led the Hubers to create the Fraser Family Fund and Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Vocations. As a public charitable organization, the program allows individuals to make charitable contributions for the purpose of tackling the debt problem.
The Eagan, Minn.-based Laboure Society, founded by entrepreneur and management consultant Cy Laurent, is similar, yet has a unique difference.
Laurent shares the vocation story of aspirants they help. Laurent then works with the aspirants to help them develop lists of family, friends and others from whom they can solicit charitable contributions. The Laboure Society then acts as the intermediary, allowing individuals to make tax deductible donations to a central pool of funds that are used to help candidates reduce their debt before entry into religious life. To date, Laurent has assisted 82 candidates who are currently in formation — 16 to the priesthood, 59 sisters and seven religious brothers.
While the need is great, professional fundraisers don’t see the barrier as a significant problem.
Michael Browne is managing partner of Lincoln, Neb.-based Labadie Communications, a database marketing group. Browne is convinced that the money is there, it’s just a matter of communicating the need to benefactors.
“Over the next 45 years, older generations will leave $41 trillion to their heirs, government and charities,” said Browne. “If donors knew that potential vocations were being turned away because of money, they would react. There’s never been a better time to face a problem such as this.”
Tim Drake is based
in St. Joseph, Minnesota and writes for the National Catholic Register
Information: Laboure Society, LaboureFoundation.org; Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Vocations, FundforVocations.org.
Posts
