About
The Labouré Society
Why are we needed?
• • • • •
This is my
Vocation Story
There are an estimated 10,000 individuals discerning a priestly or religious vocation in the US annually
42% are blocked from pursuing this call due to educational loans*
The average vocational ‘aspirant’ in Labouré owes $45,000 in educational loans
Most religious communities cannot assume this debt
Most dioceses will allow some debt but have a limited threshold for acceptance
* (NRVC, Vision Study, 2010)
JUSTIN LEEDY
What have we accomplished?
•
•
•
•
•
Operating since 2003
Over 255 assisted into formation to the priesthood or religious life
Over $3.2 million awarded, over 90% of aspirant funds received
A network of thousands of praying singles, families, religious, priests, & bishops
Efficient service: A modest staff of 3 employees in a donated office
How do we do it?
Our Aspirants:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Discern a vocation & are accepted into a diocese or religious community
Are blocked from entering or continuing vocational formation due to student loans
Apply to Labouré & meet intake requirements
Are trained in ethical fundraising - empowered with practical tools, personal mentoring, & accountability
Share their vocation stories & participate in building a culture of vocations & evangelization
Raise funds for Labouré to benefit many vocations
Are awarded monthly payments towards their educational loans
Receive final award payout after 3 years & enter freely into a lifetime of priestly or religious service
The Labouré Society
• Works with each aspirant to ensure all personal means are utilized to mitigate the loan amount (loan consolidation, asset review, financial counseling, employment, etc.) prior to acceptance into
the program
• Trains each aspirant in biblically based philanthropy
• Forms a semi-annual ‘class’ of aspirants
• Mentors each aspirant building a unified team; each individual works toward the collective goal
• Provides ongoing accountability to ensure proper preparation & completion of personal fundraising plans
• Equips each aspirant with an online fundraising platform for real time donation processing, reporting, assessment of goals & class interaction, marketing & communications tools
• Facilitates ongoing communication & updates between aspirants & donors after formation entrance
• Manages aspirant award payments while they are in formation
• Completes award payout after 3 years active formation
BRIDGE
TO
MIRACLES
1365 Corporate Center Curve • SuitE 104 • Eagan, MN 55121 • LaboureSociety.org • 651-452-1160
The Labouré Society is a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible. Gifts solicited by our aspirants belong to Labouré and are dispersed upon board
approved guidelines to ensure full compliance with IRS rulings. Aspirants who leave Labouré are not required to repay any funds disbursed but are strongly encouraged to support
Labouré however possible. Funds granted but not dispersed to a former aspirant are reallocated toward current or future aspirants according to the aforementioned guidelines.
How it Began My name is Justin Leedy and I am from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. I am the oldest of seven
children and I grew up in a Catholic family. My father was in the Coast Guard, so throughout my
childhood we moved from military base to military base in Southeast Alaska. Every two or three years I
had a new “home,” where summer vacations with extended family supplied my only lasting stability.
My Faith From childhood, my family and I were very involved in the Catholic faith. We would go to
Mass regularly, pray the Rosary together, and go to Confession every month. As I grew older, though,
like so many of my peers, I lost interest in the faith. By the time I went off to college, I had stopped going
to Mass; but, about halfway through my senior year, everything changed. The ways in which I had
sought meaning in life only left me feeling less fulfilled. One night I happened to be walking by a grotto
with a statue of Our Lady, when I suddenly felt a call to kneel there and pray. It had been years since I
had even tried to pray, but I began to pray from my heart for the first time, acknowledging that God was
God and I was not. From there I slowly began to reclaim the faith that I had grown up with for my own.
I began to read religious books, go to regular Mass and Confession, and spend time in interior prayer
every day.
Discerning a Call The most profound call I felt at this time was the call to conversion. I was filled with
gratitude to God for showing me how beautiful His Church is and for giving me the joy of repentance
and forgiveness. However, this joy was mixed with a deep sorrow in discovering that the way I was
living and the things I was pursuing were not leading me to real friendship with God. So I set a goal to
create new habits that would reorient my life from
being self-centered to being God-centered. This was
“I was filled with gratitude to God for
an uphill battle, even with the help of a good spiritual
showing me how beautiful His Church is and
director.
for giving me the joy of repentance...”
–Justin Leedy
Then, in the last semester of my undergraduate
studies, I stumbled upon a Sunday evening Mass
where I discovered a choir all wearing white robes,
singing what sounded like music from heaven. I was captivated and moved by the music. I kept coming
back every week, recognizing that something about the music led me inexorably to thoughts of God.
Eventually, I realized that what captivated me was that the chant at this Mass was not there to entertain
me, but to invite me to listen to a conversation between Christ and His bride, the Church. This was a
concrete and beautiful expression in the liturgy of the way I was trying to reorient my life to Christ. I
was faced with the emptiness I felt that came from directing my life towards satisfying my desires and
forgetting about God. But the beauty of the worship pulled me outside of myself and directed me to look
towards God for the fulfillment I desired.
LaboureSociety.org
BRIDGE
TO
MIRACLES
651-452-1160
Called to serve
The Winter Class of 2015
I began to learn about the communities of men who devoted their whole lives to
worshiping God through chanted prayer. I decided to imitate these monks by praying
the Liturgy of the Hours and the Divine Office and fell in love with the rhythmic
prayer. I felt as though the total orientation to God that I experienced at the chanted
Mass was spreading throughout my daily life by praying in this way. I was interested
in the monastic life but was invited by a spiritual director to enter the diocesan
seminary instead. After two years in the seminary, it became clear that I was not called to this particular mission.
Through prayer, direction, and contact with monastic communities, I was encouraged to enter a monastery.
Called to Serve One evening while I was discerning whether to stay in the seminary or become a monk, I was
standing in front of the campus church as the sun was setting. I was lost in admiration at the intensity of its color
and light. Although dozens of students and professors rushed around me on their way back and forth from class,
some noticed me staring and turned to follow my gaze. With these few, I shared a moment of contemplating a
higher beauty beyond where we were in the world. This moment stayed with me as a metaphor for the mission of
a monk. A monk stands still and contemplates God while the world rushes by, reminding us of the higher reality.
When I had decided to pursue a monastic vocation I looked
for a community that was living this kind of life. My
“In working, praying, and speaking with them,
spiritual director recommended the Benedictine monks of
I felt myself among men who were pursuing the
Norcia, Italy. When I visited the monastery, I immediately
same goal of total orientation to Christ.”
felt at home. Most of the men who had taken their vows
of obedience, stability, and conversion in Norcia were
Americans like myself. They came to Norcia, the ancient Nursia, which is the birthplace of St. Benedict, to
consecrate their lives to the worship of God. They do this by chanting the psalms, meditating on the scriptures,
and striving to pray constantly. In working, praying, and speaking with them, I felt myself among men who were
pursuing the same goal of total orientation to Christ.
Why I’m writing
I am not only an aspirant to religious life; I am also a fundraiser for these vocations. A recent study confirmed
that nearly 1 out of 2 aspirants have student loans and thus most communities and dioceses cannot accept them. It
is the only thing that prevents many -including me- from entering formation to become a priest, brother, or sister.
I am seeking to raise the average student loan amount of $45,000 before June 30 for a non-profit that helps
aspirants like me — The Labouré Society. I will need donations from $10 – $10,000 to meet my goal for vocations.
I am blessed to have this opportunity to share my love for God, my vocation story, and to ask hundreds of
individuals to support vocations like mine by sharing our stories, remembering us in prayer, and financially
investing in our future.
At the end of my class, Labouré will issue awards based on individual effort and the funds available to Labouré.
They will administer the award while I am in formation over a three year period (you can learn more about the
program on the back of this letter). If I leave formation for any reason, I will resume my own payments. Plus,
every aspirant in Labouré has been accepted by their diocese or community and is required to work and liquidate
their assets to make their own maximum payments.
At the beginning of our class, I met and participated in intensive 3-day training with my classmates on the ethics
and spirituality of fundraising. We are learning practical skills that will help us now and in our future
vocations. We have also developed as a team to learn from and support each other. You can see our picture below.
Will you join our vocation journeys? Please partner with us and be part of my vocation team so we can answer
God’s call!
Winter 2015 Class
to the
and
B R of
I DAspirants
GE TO
M Priesthood
IRACLE
S Religious Life
Invitation & Prayer The monks have accepted my request to join their community and are eager to have me
begin formation, but due to the many financial burdens involved in establishing a new religious community in
a foreign country, they are unable to take on the added expense of my student loans. Many men and women
pursuing religious vocations are prevented from entering because of education debt.
I invite you to join me in praying for all the men and women who are striving to follow the call of God to
consecrate themselves to His service.
Please consider helping my classmates and myself with a donation to the Labouré Society. If you’d like to learn
more, please contact me at [email protected].
—Justin Leedy
BRIDGE
TO
MIRACLES
Our vocations story videos are online at: www.LaboureSociety.org