Photo Caption: Hannah Adams hopes to join the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary after graduating from Illinois State University this spring.

NORMAL — Hannah Adams went to Illinois State University to be a high school English teacher, but she will walk away with so much more than a degree when she graduates next month.

Inspired by the joy she has seen in the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary who staff the John Paul II Newman Center at ISU and a desire to serve others, she will join the Miami-based religious community this summer.

“When I’m with the Sisters I feel at home — I feel most like who I am and who I’m supposed to be,” said Adams, who has been active on seven Koinonia retreat teams and as a sacristan at the Newman Center.

“It’s still a little scary sometimes because I don’t know how things work in a convent, but I know that I’m going to be in the right place,” she said. “I’m going to be home.”

What might have prevented her from being at “home” with the Servants of the Pierced Hearts are her student loans. Most religious communities require women and men to be free of debt when they begin their formation.

Adams will be able to pursue her vocation with help from the Laboure Society. Established in 2003, the organization has given more than $2 million in grants to 230 individuals aspiring to religious life.

The society is able to provide this assistance by bringing aspirants together into a “class” and training them in ethical fundraising that honors their Catholic values.

“There are 17 of us in my class and we fundraise together,” Adams said. “No one raises funds just for themselves.”

The goal is to “get each other to the convent or the monastery — wherever we’re going,” she told The Catholic Post.

LISTENING TO HER HEART
The aspirants invite people to help them through prayer, fostering vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and financial gifts.

To raise awareness about vocations, Adams has given talks at Historic St. Patrick’s Church in Bloomington, Immaculate Conception in Manito and St. Patrick’s in Havana. She also has started a letter-writing campaign to friends, family and others who might be interested in supporting her and her classmates.

“Each of our goals is based on the average student loan, which is $45,000,” she said, adding that they have six months to do their fundraising. Adams began on Jan. 5 and has until June 30.

In making grants, Laboure Society officials look at how much the aspirant was able to raise, how hard they worked and any extenuating circumstances, and financial need. Adams is the youngest person in her class, for example, and is the only full-time student among them, which will be taken into consideration.

Those who are unable to retire their student loans after six months, may take part in another class. Because her loans are less than $45,000, Adams hopes to accomplish her goal this time.

Born in Mundelein, she came into the Catholic Church when she was in the sixth grade. It was during her senior year in high school in Crystal Lake that Adams got involved in her parish youth group and went on a mission trip to New Orleans.

“I came back thinking I want to do this the rest of my life, but I didn’t know what that meant yet,” she said.

She made another mission trip and spent time with the Sisters of the Pierced Hearts. When the idea of religious life came up her heart told her, “Look more. Look. Look.”

It was while she was visiting the community’s motherhouse in Florida that she had a chat with God.

“OK, Lord. If you want me to be all yours then one of the Sisters is just going to have to say something to me,” Adams told him. At a chance encounter with one of the Sisters shortly after that, the woman looked at her and said, “You’re going to be a nun.”

Spiritual direction with Sister Silvia Tarafa, SCTJM, director of the Newman Center, and Sister Ana Pia Cordua, SCTJM, who is executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria and lives in the community’s Normal convent, convinced her that she did have a vocation. She applied to the Servants of the Pierced Hearts and was accepted last November, although an official entrance date has not been set yet.

Adams said the community’s “total Marian availability” is very attractive and she wants to join the Sisters in being “other Marys in this world.”

To learn more about the Laboure Society and Adams, visit Laboure Society and click on the class picture. Adams is the first aspirant on the list and clicking on her name will take you to her homepage.

Donations may be made online or sent to The Laboure Society at 1365 Corporate Center Curve, Suit 104, Egan, MN 55121. Please write Adams’ name in the memo line.