Discerning My call to Consecrated Life

[CalledToServe1]

My name is Katie from Colorado. Last October I was conditionally accepted to the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity. Over this past year I have been journeying to gain support due to having to clear my Catholic education debt before I can enter and what challenging waters you navigate when you are fundraising during a pandemic.  Of course my favorite part of this time has been when I am able to share in my discernment experience with others.  

I wanted to take an opportunity to post my vocation video (yes this starts with an ask but then goes into my story) and I will admit that I am very open to it being shared for either the purpose of possible support or if it could be interesting to someone to see a short glimpse of one person's story with discerning a vocation to Religious Life.

Also if anyone has thoughts on different ideas to fundraise for a vocation I am always open to new ideas! Many Blessings to you all! Pax et Bonum!  

 

[Lea]

Have you ever heard of the Labouré Society?  

 

[GraceUk]

I agree it's a good idea to contact the Laboure Society. I think it's fair enough to ask friends and family but asking strangers on the internet is a different thing. 

[JHFamily]

Also, Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Religious.  The advantage to these organizations is that if you end up discerning that you do not have a vocation, which may happen, there is no guilt or bad feelings about the money that your benefactors spent to pay off the entirety of your loan.  And what do you do? Try to pay them back? Justice would seem like you should, but the reality is pretty much impossible.

On the flip side, I know a couple who paid quite a bit of a young lady's loan so that she could enter a community, and she left after about 8 months.  It became obvious she didn't have a vocation. However, they were still really, really, disappointed and wished they hadn't done so, because they felt she should have stayed and made it work. It created a mostly hidden animosity between them that never existed before.

 I strongly urge you to check into one of these organizations.  

[GraceUk]

Rightly or wrongly that was the first thing that crossed my mind when I read about raising money to pay off loans before entering. I think it would be wrong not to pay money back if a person ended up leaving before final vows. 

[CalledToServe1]

Thank you so much for the feedback and ideas! I have heard those 2 organizations are great and have helped many men and women!   

I just wanted to share a response to some of the valid situations/concerns raised above in case other discerners read this and are in a similar situation of receiving a call and having education debt.  

When I received the call and began this discernment these very possible situations you have described stopped me from thinking this was possible to say Yes to God. But after attending the Vocation Awareness Program in Dallas, TX I was given tools and information and others helped me realize that God knows our situations when He calls us. Now this reality of a vocational call with school debt involved was very challenging for me to accept when I knew I would need to ask others for help without a guarantee. But I brought these concerns to prayer and spiritual direction. And I have had some wonderful and honest conversations with supporters about this very thing which I think is important. Do I know the future? No.  But there was a point during this journey that God helped me to see I had to place this in His hands. That I have to trust in the path He has me on and the people He has placed in my life to walk with me. If you could keep me, the FSCC, and other discerners in your prayers I would be so thankful!  

[Lea]

4 hours ago, JHFamily said:

On the flip side, I know a couple who paid quite a bit of a young lady's loan so that she could enter a community, and she left after about 8 months.  It became obvious she didn't have a vocation. However, they were still really, really, disappointed and wished they hadn't done so, because they felt she should have stayed and made it work.

Please, in your mercy, NEVER say that someone hasn't got a vocation. We all are called, we all have got vocations, but only a small minority is called to the religious life. 

If a discerner to the religious life and/or their congregation realizes that it doesn't fit, there most likely won't be a way to make things work but it's wiser to search for one's vocation somewhere else. I never heard a vocations director saying someone just did not try hard enough. 

So if people pay for outstanding loans, they basically should have trust and consider the fact that 50-70% of those entering discern out of religious life. 

[Peace]

16 hours ago, CalledToServe1 said:

My name is Katie from Colorado. Last October I was conditionally accepted to the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity. Over this past year I have been journeying to gain support due to having to clear my Catholic education debt before I can enter and what challenging waters you navigate when you are fundraising during a pandemic.  Of course my favorite part of this time has been when I am able to share in my discernment experience with others.  

I wanted to take an opportunity to post my vocation video (yes this starts with an ask but then goes into my story) and I will admit that I am very open to it being shared for either the purpose of possible support or if it could be interesting to someone to see a short glimpse of one person's story with discerning a vocation to Religious Life.

Also if anyone has thoughts on different ideas to fundraise for a vocation I am always open to new ideas! Many Blessings to you all! Pax et Bonum!  

 

Not one cent I tell you! Not even one! J/K

Have you have ever tried one of those "Crowdfunding" sites or whatever?

Also, how much debt are we talking here? Are we talking like $500, or 100 grand?

Edited October 22, 2020 by Peace

[GraceUk]

I wouldn't mind so much if the repayments  were  made while the discerner was actually in the monastery. But I would be really uncomfortable with the thought a large loan was completely paid off and the person only stayed a year or so and then was debt free.  It's wrong. Not surprised the people described by JHFamily weren't too pleased.  

[JHFamily]

1 hour ago, Peace said:

Also, how much debt are we talking here? Are we talking like $500, or 100 grand?

If you go to the site she references, it will show she needs $92,000 (about half of which is already raised) to pay off her loans.

[GraceUk]

I think people need to take responsibility for their own debts. I did some googling and one person's name kept coming up.  Somebody raised a lot of money to repay a loan and then was going to enter the Sisters of Life. That was in 2016. But no confirmation that she actually did enter., 

[JHFamily]

1 hour ago, CalledToServe1 said:

Thank you so much for the feedback and ideas! I have heard those 2 organizations are great and have helped many men and women! 

Is there a reason that one of these two organizations would not work for you, or have you decided to simply take a different path?

 

4 minutes ago, GraceUk said:

Somebody raised a lot of money to repay a loan and then was going to enter the Sisters of Life. That was in 2016. But no confirmation that she actually did enter.

I also know of someone who raised a lot of money to repay school loans, then stayed less than two weeks! Didn't seem like she even gave it much of a chance.

[Peace]

2 hours ago, JHFamily said:

If you go to the site she references, it will show she needs $92,000 (about half of which is already raised) to pay off her loans.

That's a lot of bread. I don't think there is any reason to doubt her sincerity, but yeah, it is a fair point that the money probably won't be given back if she does not follow through with it for whatever reason.

But ultimately, it's up to each individual to decide what they want to do with their money, whether it be contributing, or being stingy like me.

[Lilllabettt]

Hey girl. I wish you well on your journey. 

I disagree with most of the responses here.

First let's leave off the PeOpLe ShOuLd be ReSpOnSiBle FoR tHeIr DeBt stuff. It's not like someone ran up their discover card buying tickets to Beyonce. There's a bunch of wealthy middle aged men who get extremely rich making a hard sell on teenagers who aren't old enough to drink but are old enough, for some reason, to saddle themselves with a 6 figure level of debt that can't be discharged in bankruptcy. Just who is responsible for this immoral train wreck? ...guess that's a convo for another day... 

Also, boo to people who helped discerners pay off loans and then got butthurt when they discerned out. Boo to the bad formation of Catholics that thinks girls can or should just "make it work" in a religious vocation.  Boo to them also because their attitude means they lost all the graces from their "generosity." I wonder what they think they lost in the deal ... the brownie points they'd have gotten from God if they'd successfully "bought" Him a nun??? 

I don't begrudge discerners nothing. When I entered the convent I had a 5k debt; I worked for a year to pay it down. After I left the convent I racked up 70k in loans for college and grad school; I worked 7 days a week for 2 years to pay it off.  All of that bone grinding soul sucking hard work I did, for years - is still NOTHING compared to the courage and sacrifice and pure nerve required to enter a convent - Having done both, I'm qualified to say!!!! Not to mention the courage needed to stick ones hand out to ask for help for this type of thing... it's worth more than 100k.

Btw... Pope Francis says give freely and don't worry what happens with your gift. Gee whiz!!!!

 

[Peace]

7 minutes ago, Lilllabettt said:

Hey girl. I wish you well on your journey. 

I disagree with most of the responses here.

First let's leave off the PeOpLe ShOuLd be ReSpOnSiBle FoR tHeIr DeBt stuff. It's not like someone ran up their discover card buying tickets to Beyonce. There's a bunch of wealthy middle aged men who get extremely rich making a hard sell on teenagers who aren't old enough to drink but are old enough, for some reason, to saddle themselves with a 6 figure level of debt that can't be discharged in bankruptcy. Just who is responsible for this immoral train wreck? ...guess that's a convo for another day... 

Also, boo to people who helped discerners pay off loans and then got butthurt when they discerned out. Boo to the bad formation of Catholics that thinks girls can or should just "make it work" in a religious vocation.  Boo to them also because their attitude means they lost all the graces from their "generosity." I wonder what they think they lost in the deal ... the brownie points they'd have gotten from God if they'd successfully "bought" Him a nun??? 

I don't begrudge discerners nothing. When I entered the convent I had a 5k debt; I worked for a year to pay it down. After I left the convent I racked up 70k in loans for college and grad school; I worked 7 days a week for 2 years to pay it off.  All of that bone grinding soul sucking hard work I did, for years - is still NOTHING compared to the courage and sacrifice and pure nerve required to enter a convent - Having done both, I'm qualified to say!!!! Not to mention the courage needed to stick ones hand out to ask for help for this type of thing... it's worth more than 100k.

Btw... Pope Francis says give freely and don't worry what happens with your gift. Gee whiz!!!!

 

You know what? You are correct here.

How is that even possible?