“Listen with the ear of your heart.” Discernment begins with prayer. If you feel there is a possibility that God is calling you

to religious life the next step is exploring various communities. You may contact us through e-mail, a phone call, or a letter for more information. When you enter into discernment with us you will be invited to keep in touch on a regular basis. You will also be encouraged to participate in a Monastic Experience hosted by one of our monasteries, and to arrange other more extended visits so you can enter more deeply into the rhythm of our daily life.

After you have been in touch with us for at least six months and visited several times, we may together decide that you are ready to begin the application process. This is a time of further discernment and can be stopped if it is determined by you or the Vocation Director that this is not where God is calling you at this time.

The first step of the application process is to write an autobiography. This is followed by an in-depth interview with the Vocation Director, meeting with the Prioress General and Postulant Director, getting a physical and dental check-up, undergoing psychological testing, and submitting references and necessary paperwork. The Prioress General prayerfully reviews this information and discerns whether or not to accept you as a postulant. If accepted, you will enter at our monastery at Clyde in either March or August.

“What do you seek?” The first year in the monastery is called the postulancy. The goal of this year is to allow

 you to test your vocation in the monastic setting with the guidance of a director. The question is, do you really seek God? Also, it is an opportunity for the community to experience you as a potential member.

As a postulant you will fully participate in our communal prayer and develop your personal prayer life. You will be given a work assignment and take classes that aid your transition into monastic life. During the postulancy and novitiate you will wear your own clothing (colored skirts and blouses or dresses). The black and/or white habit is reserved for professed sisters.

At the end of the year you and your director, as well as twelve sisters in community, will evaluate your progress. These evaluations will be given to the Prioress General and the General Council who will then decide if you are ready to be admitted to the novitiate.

"Test the spirits to see whether they are from God." The novitiate is a two-year period of intense spiritual formation. Its purpose is to help you continue discerning the will of God for your life through prayer, instruction, spiritual guidance, and the lived experience of our Benedictine lifestyle.

You will participate fully in the prayer life of the community and may be called upon to be a reader, chanter, or Eucharistic minister. Your work assignment will be changed every six months to give you more experience with the different works of the community. You will also take classes to help in your monastic formation, including courses on Scripture, Liturgy, the Rule of St. Benedict, and lectio divina.

The second year of the novitiate is designated as the canonical year during which time you will observe stricter enclosure for the sake of discernment, and study the Benedictine vows (stability, conversatio and obedience) in preparation for First Monastic Profession.

The evaluation process, which occurs at the end of each year of the novitiate, is identical to that of the postulancy. The Prioress General and the General Council will decide if you are ready to be accepted for First Monastic Profession.

"I vow to Almighty God for three years . . .” Once you have made First Profession you will be addressed as Sister. In discernment with the Prioress General you may also choose a new name. You will wear the black and/or white habit of our congregation as well as the congregational emblem.

The juniorate is at least three years in length and can be extended up to six. During this time you will settle more deeply into the life and determine whether or not this is the path to which you wish to dedicate yourself until death.

The first three years of formation (postulancy and novitiate) take place at our Clyde monastery. After First Profession you may be transferred to another house in the Congregation.

When you ask to be received as a perpetually professed sister, every member of the community will evaluate you in regards to your ability to live monastic life. These evaluations are given to the Prioress General and the General Council who will decide whether or not you are ready to make Final Monastic Profession.