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Woman Can’t Be A Nun Until She Pays Off Student Loans, Starts GoFundMe Page To Enter Convent

By Coburn Palmer
Published on: 07:30 PST, Jul 17, 2016

A New York woman wants to become a nun, but her local convent won’t let her take religious vows until she pays off thousands in student loan debt.

Alida Taylor, a 28-year-old fashion designer, said she felt called by God to become a nun after she moved to New York and landed a job with a Broadway costume designer, according to New York’s CBS2.

“When I moved to the city I had all these desires. I wanted to have a career, a family, and marriage, but your heart begins to shift.”

Taylor described her New York life as “beautiful” and said she loved hanging out with friends and swing dancing, but said she could still feel God’s call to service.

She made plans to join the Sisters of Life convent on New York’s Upper West Side, but the powers-that-be wouldn’t let her take the necessary vows until she paid off her student loan debt, Sr. Mariae Agnus Dei of the Sisters of Life told Yahoo Finance.

“That financial debt, having that be resolved allows her to freely enter into her vocation.”

Each convent makes its own rules when determining who will be allowed to take their religious vows, but Taylor told Yahoo Finance her situation wasn’t unique. With more people taking out student loans these days, it’s not uncommon for prospective nuns to pay off their debts before entering their new religious life.

“It’s a pretty common thing with people my age to have to pay off their loans before entering.”

The Sisters of Life doesn’t pay a salary or stipend, and nuns aren’t allowed to have a second job, so the convent wants Taylor to pay off her student loan debt before taking her religious vows, Sr. Mariae Agnus Dei told New York CBS2.

“Religious life is a full-time job so to speak, so she wouldn’t be able to work and enter into religious life.”

When Taylor originally took out her student loans to major in fashion design at the University of Louisiana, she planned to gradually pay off her debt over the next 10 years, but now she needs help, according to New York’s CBS2.

“The Lord when it’s his will, he always provides, and I just trust him.”

Taylor set up a GoFundMe page to ask for help paying off her $18,000 in student loan debt in time to her vows before the convent’s September deadline and the Internet has responded.

So far, 152 people have donated more than $23,000 in the last 17 days to help Taylor pay off her student loan debt and let her take religious vows to become a nun and she couldn’t be happier, according to her GoFundMe page.

“My dear friends and family, in ELEVEN DAYS, you all helped me reach my goal!! Praise be to Jesus Christ!!!”

Even though Taylor has surpassed her fundraising goal, she said she will continue accepting donations and plans to use the excess money to set up a vocation fund for future women who want to join the convent, but can’t because of their financial debt, according to her GoFundMe page.

“I am deeply moved by your generosity. You, the Body of Christ, the Church–contrary to what the media says–HAS ALLOWED me to enter religious life.”

Alida Taylor will enter her new religious life at the New York convent of the Sisters of Life September 10.

If you’re having trouble paying off your student loans, you’re not alone. More than 40 percent of Americans who have borrowed money to pay for college are behind in their payments. The borrowers were recorded as either not paying their loans or they were behind in their payments because of economic hardship, according to the Wall Street Journal.

[Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images]

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