Vocation of a Consecrated Life

INCORPORATION

Incorporation is the gradual and ongoing process for a woman to become part of the Ursuline community.

The process is transformative in its two-way, ever-deepening sharing of lives in community. Both the community and the woman change.

CANDIDATE

In response to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, an interested woman comes to observe and to be introduced into Ursuline life as a candidate. In the context of mutual discernment, both the candidate and the community explore her vocation to religious life within the Ursuline community.

During this time of transition, the woman is guided in becoming attentive to God’s action in her life and in discerning how best to respond to God’s action. The community welcomes the candidate, provides a supportive Christian atmosphere that enables her to grow in her relationship with Jesus, and keeps itself open to growth through the candidate’s presence among them.

In an environment of mutual trust and receptiveness, the candidate enters into this first phase of incorporation.

NOVITIATE

The candidate advances in her quest when she becomes an Ursuline novice.

She is given the opportunity to deepen her knowledge and love of Jesus. The novitiate provides time for reflection and integration of the key dimensions of consecrated life:

The novice makes a thirty-day retreat of election during the novitiate, geared to discernment of the choice of vocation.