My Vocation Story

About
The Labouré Society
Why are we needed?
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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)
LARYN KOVALIK
What have we accomplished?
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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?
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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
have a personal relationship with God until attending a retreat in college, when the conversation about
God began in my life. The seeds of the Catholic faith that my parents sowed within me were ready to
be watered. I was ready to explore who I was, who God might be, and who I might be to God, allowing
these words from Isaiah to touch my heart:
“Do not be afraid, […] I am with you” (Is 43:5)
“I love you” and “you are mine” (Is 43: 4, 1)
Our Aspirants:
How it Began My name is Laryn Kovalik and my journey is rooted in love. I did not know I could
• 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
I belonged to God! Praying the Our Father finally made sense! I was a child of God, and on this first
retreat, I experienced simply but profoundly that God is love. My faith continued to germinate, and
desiring to work for justice through the lens of my faith, I participated in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps after
college. Working as a full-time volunteer at a refugee resettlement agency, my heart was broken open by
the poor, and my desire to live within God’s inclusive heart grew deeper.
My Vocation After graduate school, I moved to California to work as a medical artist. While walking
home from Mass that first week, I was unexpectedly encountered by a young woman on a fluorescent
green bicycle. She had attended the same Mass, and invited me to a prayer group at another woman’s
house in San Francisco. Little did I know, this simple invitation was the beginning of my heart’s greatest
adventure. When I arrived, I was confused. “Why
does her house look like a church?” I thought as I
“During prayer that first evening, I felt
rang the bell. “Hello!” a young woman said as she
like I had come home.”
opened the door. “Where am I and who are you?” I
–Laryn Kovalik
said in my bewilderment. “Well, I’m Alyssa and I’m
a Verbum Dei sister,” she said. “A Verbum...what?” I
blurted out. “Don’t worry! Not many people have heard of us before! Our community was only founded
fifty years ago. You’ve come to our House of Prayer!” she said. Prayer that first evening was simplelectio divina, a form of prayer that engages the imagination through scripture. As an artist, I had fallen
in love with this form of meditative prayer during my experience of St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises for
laypeople. During prayer that first evening, I felt like I had come home.
I continued returning to their House of Prayer, and while listening to one of the sisters give a talk, an
unexpected desire swept across my heart: “I want to be their sister.” Not knowing where this came from,
I quickly dismissed it as a ridiculous thought. But in prayer the next day, my heart burned.
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.
LaboureSociety.org
BRIDGE
TO
MIRACLES
651-452-1160
Called to serve
The Winter Class of 2015
As I wondered which way the wildfire might spread, I acknowledged being
uncontrollably drawn to the community week after week. I verbalized to God
the hidden question arising from my depths, “Am I called to join the Verbum Dei
community as a missionary?” I thought I was called to the Bay Area to work as an
artist. I felt so loved by God, but I was utterly confused.
That summer, I went on a trip to El Salvador with some of the sisters. We pondered the lives of the Salvadoran
martyrs, the beauty of the Salvadoran people, and what it means to taste the Resurrection in the midst of
suffering. While in the hospitalito, the chapel where Oscar Romero was martyred, an intense desire moved me to
approach the altar. I felt a quiet invitation from within to remove my sandals, for the place where I was standing
was indeed holy ground. As I kneeled by the altar, forehead touching the place where life had been given and
was still being poured out for God’s people, I thanked Romero for his love. I prayed for his intercession to help
me live out my deepest identity and vocation, and I too placed my life on the altar before God.
“I am deeply grateful to have heard God’s
call, and I am reaching out to you to
work with my Labouré classmates and I
towards our desire to enter religious life.”
Upon returning from El Salvador, I desired to walk my truth and
intentionally explore the possibility of a vocation to religious life. I
moved into Verbum Dei’s discernment house to live the question.
I desire now to make my home in God’s Word and live Jesus’
invitation, “Remain in me, as I remain in you.” (Jn 15:4)
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!
Called to Serve I dream to place my entire life into God’s hands
because I have felt the pure fire of God’s call burning within me.
When I moved to the Bay Area, my intention was to live as a medical artist. God, however, interrupted and
redirected everything! Now, I desire to bring people into deeper wholeness by inviting them to rest in God’s
loving gaze. I desire to put down my “medical artist nets” and offer myself to God and to God’s people.
I want to dedicate my life to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Jesus has captivated and conquered my heart,
and I desire to be a missionary to help others dream with God of the possibilities of their lives. Although I had
been accepted by the Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity, I must first resolve my student loans. I have had the
great privilege to receive a wonderful education. I am deeply grateful to have heard God’s call, and I am reaching
out to you to work with my Labouré classmates and I towards our desire to enter religious life.
Winter 2015 Class
to the
and
B R of
I DAspirants
GE TO
MPriesthood
IRACLE
S Religious Life
Prayer & Invitation I invite you to pray with me for those who seek lives of total discipleship as consecrated
women and men. Please help my classmates and I with a financial donation to the Labouré Society. I invite you to
embrace these words attributed to Pedro Arrupe:
“Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way...Fall in love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.”
To learn more or pray with us in the Bay Area, please contact me at [email protected].
— Laryn Kovalik
BRIDGE
TO
MIRACLES
Our vocations story videos are online at: www.LaboureSociety.org