Oct 16, 2009 4:53 pm US/Central
Catholics Pay Off College Debt For Priests, Nuns
Lay Organizations Are Helping Recruits Raise Money So They Can Take Vows
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Alicia Torres heard the calling to become a Franciscan nun during her junior year at Loyola University, but needed to pay off significant college debt.
CBS
Imagine if your new employer could magically make your debt disappear. As CBS's Vince Gerasole reports, it's happening for some people in Chicago who are answering a higher calling.
For some it sounds like divine intervention. And in a way, it might be.
We're talking about educational debt. For years, Catholics have argued the time it takes to pay it off has kept many young faithful from becoming priests, nuns and brothers.
Now more Catholics are coming together with their wallets to let those willing answer the call.
Alicia Torres heard the calling to become a Franciscan nun during her junior year at Loyola University.
"It's not so much what do I want to do, but how do my gifts and talents fit into this plan that God has for me?" Torres said.
With student loan obligations of $90,000, the 24-year-old needed a miracle to pay them off. She believes she got one.
Alicia connected online with the
LaBoure Society -- a registered non-profit and lay Catholic organization in Minnesota. It helps candidates raise funds to reduce their educational debt. In the past five years, LaBoure has assisted 155 people like Alicia in raising an average $40,000 each.
"Lay persons are very generous, and they are responding in prayer, and they're responding with financial assistance," LaBoure founder Cy Laurent said.
In Alicia's case, she became the nun on the run -- participating in a half-marathon last month and earning enough money to wipe out half her student loan obligations.
"It's all the work of the Lord," she said. "If God wants something done, he gets it done, and he inspires hearts to help do his work."
Vocationmatch.com links those considering taking religious vows with more than 300 Catholic communities. Of the 7,000 filing inquiries last year, 42 percent were not free of debt.
"There would be more priests if it wasn't so expensive," Ronnie Carroll said.
He is hoping to join the Dominican brothers in Chicago, an order willing to pay off his $30,000 in student loans to help him answer his call. Carrol said it would take him 10 to 15 years to pay off college loans.
"If a young man has the courage and tenacity to move forward on his vocation in this day and age, you want to do all you can to support that," Father Andrew Carl Wisdom of the Dominican Order said.
You don't just get these debts paid off. In the case of the Dominicans, you must serve for five years. Critics might say people anxious to be debt-free sign up to take vows, but the orders point out there is along vetting process that takes place before any money is paid out.
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