Religious Vocation May Be Easier Than Lifting Debt Load [Here's A Debt Worth Forgiving!]

LATimes ^ | September 13, 2009

[Steelfish]

Religious Vocation May Be Easier Than Lifting Debt Load

A young Chicago woman preparing to be a nun is running a road race seeking pledges to help her pay off $94,000 in student debt. Some experts even attribute the decline in vocations to the problem.

Alicia Torres planned to run a Chicago half marathon, hoping for pledges to pay off her debt. (Heather Charles / Chicago Tribune / September 9) [Pic in URL]

By Manya A. Brachear September 13, 2009

Reporting from Chicago - Alicia Torres must raise $94,000 in order to take a vow of poverty.

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.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

And if she reneges afterward? Sounds fishy.

[livius]

Well, I think 24 is a little young to be “founding” a community, unless she is already a member of that community and is simply going to be one of the sisters founding it. Normally people have a bit of training and formation before they go out to found a community.

However, if she can raise the money that way, maybe that means that people who know her and people who have met her have confidence in her. So I’m not saying it’s impossible, simply that people should exercise a little prudence.