Stages of Formation

Pre-Novitiate is a time of asking what it means to be a religious and what it means to be an SCC. It is a time during which the candidate and the community mutually discern the vocation. Pre-novitiate has two stages.
 
 During the first stage, the candidate keeps in contact with the community and receives spiritual guidance. When she feels a readiness to live in closer contact with the community, she writes to the Provincial Superior to request admission and provides the necessary documents. After this step, the second stage of Postulancy begins.
 
 As a Postulant, the woman lives in community and, through this experience of communal spiritual life, clarifies her motivation further and makes the gradual transition to religious life. This stage normally lasts 6 months to two years. Through a specific program of prayer, study, conferences, and personal guidance, she is exposed to the spirit of Blessed Pauline and the charism of Christian Charity. Postulants may take college courses at ACS or may be assigned to a local mission for service.

The Provincial Superior and her council accepts postulants into the novitiate who show readiness to continue to grow and who give well-founded evidence of their suitability for our Congregation. In addition to the canonical requirements, the following conditions are expected: good health, a certain degree of human and Christian maturity, sufficient intelligence and practical judgment, basic emotional stability, and the ability to live peacefully in community.

A Novice centers on prayer and preparation for the time in which she will profess the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.  This stage lasts two years. Novices are instructed in the Constitutions, practical aspects of living the vows, and the total spirit of the SCC community. Experiences of service and presence in local communities are part of the preparation. In the second year, the novice spends several weeks living in a local community.

First Profession

At the conclusion of the time of novitiate, the novice and the community through the Provincial superior and her council, decide whether the novice is ready to make her first profession of vows as a Sister of Christian Charity. The novice makes her vows for a period of one year. During the Mass of Religious Profession, she will exchange her white veil, the sign of a novice, for a black veil. She will also receive the Community medal.

Temporary Professed

After making her vowed consecration for one year, a Sister continues the formation she experienced in the Novitiate.  She does this through further opportunities to study and live her religious life, deepen in prayer, train for a specific community work. Temporary Professed Sisters renew their vows annually for a period of 6 years in preparation for their perpetual profession. The Temporary Professed Sister will have the experience of a variety of local missions and will return to the Motherhouse for occasional weekend gatherings with other Sisters in temporary profession.