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As for federal aid. says Msgr. Frederick G. Hochwalt, education director of the National Catholic Welfare Conference: "It's the token of being part of U.S. education, our plea for recognition." Should Catholics get aid. Hochwalt figures that it would add 15% to the Kennedy school bill. The loans, say most bishops, would go to diocesan building-loan funds, freeing cash for lay teachers. Failing aid, says Chicago's McManus, "we will just have to further systematize contributions, in the nature of assessments and taxes." In any case, says Hochwalt, "it's not so much the amount of federal money as the principle. In many ways, the red tape involved makes a Government loan less desirable than prime-rate borrowing. And there is nothing wrong with the church's credit."