RED HOOK — Aloni Bonilla — a candidate to be a religious sister — had a rough 2023, but this year began with immense blessings.

Bonilla, from Los Angeles, can’t take vows of poverty until she repays the student loans she used to cover tuition and other expenses for her master’s degree in divinity. So she partnered with the Labouré Society — a nonprofit that helps vocation seekers raise money to pay off student loans. 

Still, by late December, while grieving the deaths of her father and a spiritual mentor, Bonilla was about $15,000 from reaching her goal. But a breakthrough came on Jan. 6.

“On Epiphany, the final gift came through to reach the $60,000 goal,” she exclaimed. “A generous benefactor in Queens reached out to help me ‘close the gap.’” 

The benefactor, who wishes to be anonymous, read an article in the Sept. 30 edition of The Tablet about Bonilla’s struggle to retire her student loans. So moved by her story, he contributed twice, including the gift that completed her campaign.

“It was truly a Christmas miracle,” she said. And it could not have come at a better time. Bonilla’s father died in August of 2022 back home in California. 

She had come to Brooklyn the previous year to join the staff at Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Red Hook, where she serves as the office assistant and coordinator of religious education.

While making her father’s funeral arrangements from her Brooklyn office, she got a condolence call from her “spiritual grandfather” — Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell of Los Angeles.

Bonilla had served on his pastoral staff, and helped plan the archdiocese’s delegation to World Youth Day 2019 in Panama City, Panama.

For more on vocations see ‘New Religious Community Aims to Be Spiritual Mothers to Spiritual Orphans.’

The Irish-born bishop mentored her in the early stages of her discernment, and suggested she consider joining the worldwide community of Koinonia John the Baptist.

Priests, sisters, brothers, and laity from the community are on staff at Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“So,” Bonilla said, “he called and he’s like, ‘What do you need? How much do you need?’”

The bishop subsequently had a check sent to the funeral home.

“He said, ‘Don’t worry about anything,’” Bonilla recalled tearfully. “And six months later, Bishop Dave passed away.” 

He was found shot to death in his home on Feb. 18, 2023.

The husband of his housekeeper reportedly admitted to the killing, but pleaded “not guilty” at arraignment. He remains jailed awaiting trial.

Bishop O’Connell had been a priest in Los Angeles since 1979, and became auxiliary bishop in 2015. He had an international reputation for his pastoral work with the poor and disenfranchised in South Los Angeles.

After her father’s death, Bonilla doubted her vocation choice. But, she added, Bishop O’Connell said he had a vision of her dad looking down on her as she moved forward.

Bonilla attended the bishop’s funeral March 2, 2023, in Los Angeles. During the Mass, she sensed him telling her not to worry about him, but to keep pressing toward her vocation.

And she did, but the fundraising efforts slowed dramatically. Bonilla wondered if that was a sign that she should not continue, but then other thoughts came to her.

She recalled the Gospel in which Peter denied knowing Jesus three times (John 18:15-27).

“Doubt is okay,” Bonilla said. “But when you believe the lie that you’re not being called, it is like you’re denying (Jesus) three times.”

Bonilla then resolved to end the year in faith, and she was rewarded with the gifts from the benefactor in Queens.

“I’m just overwhelmed with joy and gratitude,” she said of the year-end donations.

While expressing thanks to the gentleman, she made sure to note that many other people also aided her campaign. Some gave large multi-thousand-dollar pledges, but most contributed small amounts — between $10 and $100.

Others offered encouraging words or prayers for her success. Bonilla praised them all.

“I think of each person,” she said. “I tell them if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here, able to answer God’s call, bringing the kingdom of heaven to others.”

Bonilla was not alone in the student loan dilemma.

In a sampling of 10,000 people discerning a religious vocation or the priesthood, an estimated 42% of them can’t begin formation because of student loan debt, according to data from Labouré.

Bonilla urged them to also have faith.

“Even if you think that you might be called somewhere else,” she said, “give 100% of your plan into God’s hands, and trust he will make a way.

“I know it’s true, because I lived it.”

For more on the Labouré Society, visit rescuevocations.org.