Religious sister shares story of hope and vocation after participating in Labouré Society

Sister Magdalene Schafer speaks with CNA about her past experiences with the Labouré Society and the spiritual fruits that she has reaped from the organization. / Credit: Gigi Duncan/CNA/Zoom screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 6, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Sister Magdalene Schafer of the Daughters of Holy Mary of the Heart of Jesus in Steubenville, Ohio, recently described the “beautiful process” of answering her religious vocation thanks in part to the mission of the Labouré Society.

The Labouré Society, a nonprofit organization founded in 2001, serves to assist men and women who aspire to become Catholic priests and religious but face challenges of resolving student debt and other financial obstacles.

Speaking with CNA, Schafer recalled visiting her future order during a retreat in October 2015, where “the Lord, thanks be to God, made it very clear that yes, he was calling me to religious life, and that this was his spot, the community he wanted me to be at. But there was this obstacle of student loan debt.”

Schafer shared this with the mother superior of the order at the time. “[Mother] went and grabbed an envelope that she had received from the Labouré Society” at Franciscan University’s Religious Vocations Fair.

According to its website, the Labouré Society has given more than $10 million to aspirants such as Schafer, reporting that 70% of these individuals have gone on to ordination, profession of final vows, or are currently still in formation.

Becoming a member of the Labouré Society’s July 2016 class, Schafer described beginning in “boot camp,” in which participants were trained in fundraising and “equipped to be able to go forth and be part of this mission of Labouré.”

“It’s this beautiful mission of helping young men and women who have this call to a religious life or to the priesthood but who also have this obstacle of debt,” she continued. “But then to also invite other people in the Church into this mission and to share that joy and hope that there are still young people who are responding to God’s call, that God hasn’t stopped calling, and that he is still faithful.”

Acknowledging both the joys and struggles that came with fundraising — including having to complete a second six-month class and boot camp — Schafer expressed how this process helped her to “see the greater reality in that we are inviting others to share in the mission, because not everyone in the Church is called to be a religious or a priest.”

“Not everyone is called to take that step, but everyone in the Church is called to pray for and support vocations. And so as the Church is a body, we all have different functions. I think Labouré helps to highlight this,” she stated. 

“Some of us are called to be religious and priests,” she continued. “And others of us, some members of the Church, are invited to share in this mission as well through their prayer but also through their financial contributions.”

Regarding those who wish to answer this call to the priesthood and religious life, a recent Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) study found that debt can be a significant barrier of entry. Seventy percent of religious institutes that participated in this study reported that serious inquirers have been impacted by student loan debt. 

Additionally, the study found that 80% of dioceses face formal applicants with student loan debt, which can be difficult for these applicants to pay when taking a vow of poverty.

Highlighting the need for vocations within the Church today, Schafer would tell those who are discerning a religious vocation but facing the challenges of debt to follow “the example of Jesus, for the sake of the joy that lay before him. He endured the cross.”

“I’d say to trust that if God has called you to this, that he is going to bring it to completion,” as “being able to overcome that debt, that the joy of being able to respond to your call and of living that out is so much more than any trouble or obstacle that there can be.”

Schafer also called on aspirants to trust in the Lord, to “fix your eyes on him and trust that he [who] has called you is faithful and that he will bring about the miracle that is needed for you to respond to your call” during both the “little — and sometimes seemingly big — moments that could happen within this journey at the Labouré Society.”

“Any obstacles there may be, whether it is student loan debt or any other ones, if we entrust them to [the Lord] and are faithful in our prayer to him each day, to giving our little yeses like our Blessed Mother did each day, then he will be the one to bring this calling about,” she said.