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St. Paul, Minn., Jan 1, 2017 / 06:19 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Personal and student debt can slow down or prevent prospective seminarians and aspirants to religious orders from pursuing their vocations, but one organization with national scope aims to change that.

“The Laboure Society's work is critical because thousands of discerning men and women are seeking to answer the Lord’s call to serve his Church, but they are blocked from entering formation because of outstanding student loan debt,” said Bill LeMire, director of advancement for the Laboure Society. “These are vocations [in] the Catholic Church that we will lose if they are not helped.”

According to LeMire, there are about 4,000 men and women seriously discerning the priesthood or religious life, but they have outstanding student loans.

“Through the Laboure program, five figure debt has been erased in six months, and six figure debt has been eliminated in 12-18 months,” LeMire told CNA. “These timelines would be impossible if the aspirants were trying to raise money on their own.”

Aspirants accepted to the society’s program have an average of about $60,000 in loans. The Laboure Society says it has helped more than 240 men and women enter formation for the priesthood or religious life, raising over $5 million since 2003.

The society works with each aspirant to assure that he or she has used all means to mitigate debt before they are accepted to its program.

They are mentored and trained in ethical fundraising, with the society’s staff providing accountability. They raise funds for every aspirant in their class, not individuals. Once an aspirant is in formation, he or she will receive monthly payments towards his or her financial loans and receive a final payment after three years of service.

If they leave formation, they must resume their own debt payments.

The society aims to help aspirants share their vocation stories to help build “a culture of vocations and evangelization.”

Among the aspirants is Mallory Deschamp, a 22-year-old from Minnesota. She said her twin sister’s discernment of a religious vocation opened her own eyes.

“Jesus gently asked me to devote myself to Him more exclusively to better discern this question, as well as to grow deeper in my love for Him. Throughout this period of discernment, I found myself experiencing profound peace during a time that is often filled with immense stress and anxiety,” she said in Laboure Society materials.

Before she had begun to discern, a seminarian had asked her to learn more about Mother Teresa, now St. Teresa of Calcutta, and the Missionaries of Charity. During her discernment, she visited their communities in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Argentina.

“I hope to help satiate Christ’s thirst through serving Him in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor; however, I am humbly asking for assistance to make this possible,” said Deschamp, who graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a degree in the biology of global health.

Nicholas Martell, 29, is discerning a vocation to the priesthood for the Diocese of San Bernardino.

He said the coverage of procession of the cardinals for the 2013 papal conclave that would elect Pope Francis particularly affected his vocation.

“At that moment, I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, and that God was telling me that he expected more out of me. He wanted me to give myself entirely to Him, to the service of His Church, and to others,” he said.

Martell, an attorney, still has debt from law school.

Patricia Clark, a 58-year-old research assistant from Michigan, grew up in an Anglo-Catholic Episcopal Church, where she first had thoughts of religious life. She was received into the Catholic Church at the 2010 Easter Vigil, and felt a special call from God during Eucharistic Adoration that autumn.

“I had been attracted to the Carmelite Saints since the beginning of my Catholic journey. It seemed that God had been showing me the way all along and He sent a complete stranger to invite me further down the path He had planned for me.”

When she left a church after time in prayer specifically asking God about his will, a woman followed her and asked if she had ever considered becoming a Carmelite.

A Carmelite prioress later responded to her concerns about her age by reminding her of St. Elizabeth, who conceived St. John the Baptist at an old age.

The Laboure Society was founded by Minnesota businessman Cy Laurent in 2003, and it is based in Eagan, Minn.

Its website is https://labouresociety.org.

 

This article was originally published on CNA Oct. 24, 2016.

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Vatican City, Jan 1, 2017 / 07:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Sunday, the first day of the new year and the 50th World Day of Peace, Pope Francis condemned a terrorist attack which took place in Istanbul early Sunday morning, praying for the victims, the injured and in support of everyone who works to fight violence and terrorism.

“Grieved, I express my closeness to the Turkish people, I pray for the many victims and the injured and for the whole nation in mourning,” the Pope said after leading the Angelus Jan. 1.

“I ask the Lord to support all people of good will who roll up their sleeves to boldly tackle the scourge of terrorism and the bloody stain that envelops the world with a shadow of fear and bewilderment.”

At least 39 people were killed, and another 69 injured, after a gunman opened fire in a nightclub in Istanbul around 1:30 am local time Sunday, the BBC reports.

In his Angelus message, Pope Francis said that peace is brought about by saying “no” to hatred and violence and “yes” to fraternity and reconciliation. And that the year ahead will only “be good to the extent that each of us, with God’s help, will try to do good every day.”

A crowd of around 50,000 people attended the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican reports.

Jan. 1 is also the day the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. Before praying the Angelus Pope Francis reflected on the participation of Mary in our salvation through her role as the mother of Jesus.

“Jesus was ‘born of woman’ (Gal. 4:4) for a mission of salvation, and his mother is not excluded from this mission, indeed, she is intimately associated,” he said.

“She said her ‘yes’ and gave her willingness to be involved in the implementation of God’s plan of salvation.”

God not only asked Mary to be the mother of his Son, but he also asked her to cooperate with the Son in God’s plan of salvation, “so that in her and through her, the humble servant,” the Pope said, “the great works of divine mercy” could be fulfilled.

“And then while, like the shepherds, we contemplate the icon of the Child in the arms of his Mother,” he continued, “we feel grow in our hearts a sense of immense gratitude to the One who gave the world the Savior. For this, the first day of a new year, let us say: Thank you, Holy Mother of the Son of God, Jesus!”

“Thank you for your humility that attracted the eyes of God; thank you for the faith with which you have welcomed his word; thanks for the courage with which you said ‘here I am.’”

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IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Whether the new year will be good or not depends on us choosing to do good each day, Pope Francis said.

"That is how one builds peace, saying 'no'  to hatred and violence -- with action -- and 'yes' to fraternity and reconciliation," he said Jan. 1, which the church marks as the feast of Mary, Mother of God and as World Peace Day.

Speaking to the some 50,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for the first noon Angelus of 2017, the pope referred to his peace day message in which he asked people to adopt the "style" of nonviolence for building a politics for peace.

Lamenting the brutal act of terrorism that struck during a night of "well-wishes and hope" in Istanbul, the pope offered his prayers for the entire nation of Turkey as well as those hurt and killed. A gunman opened fire during a New Year's Eve celebration at a popular nightclub early Jan. 1, killing at least 39 people and wounding at least 70 more.  

"I ask the Lord to support all people of good will who courageously roll up their sleeves in order to confront the scourge of terrorism and this bloodstain that is enveloping the world with the shadow of fear and confusion," he said.

Earlier in the day, the pope spoke of how maternal tenderness, hope and self-sacrifice were the "strongest antidote" to the selfishness, indifference and "lack of openness" in the world today.

Celebrating Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, which was decorated with bright red anthuriums, evergreen boughs, white flowers and pinecones brushed with gold paint, the pope said that a community without mothers would be cold and heartless with "room only for calculation and speculation."

The pope said he learned so much about unconditional love, hope and belonging from seeing mothers who never stop embracing, supporting and fighting for what is best for their children incarcerated in prisons, ill in hospitals, enslaved by drugs or suffering from war.

"Where there is a mother, there is unity, there is belonging, belonging as children," he said.

Just like all mothers of the world, Mary, Mother of God, "protects us from the corrosive disease of being 'spiritual orphans,'" that is when the soul feels "motherless and lacking the tenderness of God, when the sense of belonging to a family, a people, a land, to our God, grows dim."

"This attitude of spiritual orphanhood is a cancer that silently eats away at and debases the soul," which soon "forgets that life is a gift we have received -- and owe to others -- a gift we are called to share in this common home," he said.

A "fragmented and divided culture" makes things worse, he said, leading to feelings of emptiness and loneliness.

"The lack of physical and not virtual contact is cauterizing our hearts and making us lose the capacity for tenderness and wonder, for pity and compassion," he said, as well as making us "forget the importance of playing, of singing, of a smile, of rest, of gratitude."

Remembering that Jesus handed his mother over to us "makes us smile once more as we realize that we are a people, that we belong" and can grow, that we are not just mere objects to "consume and be consumed," that we are not "merchandise" to be exchanged or inert receptacles for information. "We are children, we are family, we are God's people."

Mary shows that humility and tenderness aren't virtues of the weak, but of the strong, and that we don't have to mistreat others in order to feel important, he said.

The pope also presided over an evening prayer service with eucharistic adoration and the singing of a special hymn of thanksgiving to God Dec. 31 in St. Peter's Basilica.

As the year ends, he said in his homily, he asked people to reflect on how God has been present in their lives and to thank the Lord for all signs of his generosity, "seen in countless way through the witness of those people who quietly took a risk."

Gazing upon the manger, we remember how Jesus "wanted to be close to all those who felt lost, demeaned, hurt, discouraged, inconsolable and frightened. Close to all those who in their bodies carry the burden of separation and loneliness, so that sin, shame, hurt, despair and exclusion would not have the final word in the lives of his sons and daughters."

His sacrifice and love challenges people "not to give up on anything or anyone," and to find the strength to forge ahead "without complaining or being resentful, without closing in on ourselves or seeking a means of escape, looking for shortcuts in our own interest."

"Looking at the manger means recognizing that the times ahead call for bold and hope-filled initiatives, as well as the renunciation of vain self-promotion and endless concern with appearances."

He urged everyone to help "make room" for young people, who are often marginalized and forced to migrate or beg for undignified jobs. Everyone has a duty to help them grow and fulfill "the dreams of their ancestors" in their own nation and community.

After the prayer service, the pope walked into St. Peter's Square instead of using the popemobile. He walked the entire periphery of the square, stopping to shake hands, receive cards and notes, offer happy New Year's greetings, bless babies and chat with people lining the barricades.

In the center of the square, the pope prayed silently before the Vatican Nativity scene, which was created by a Maltese artist. He also stood before the twisted and crumbled spire from the St. Benedict Basilica in Norcia, which like dozens of villages and towns, was damaged in a series of earthquakes in central Italy.

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