I am a little late writing my post today because I have a couple of my IHM nuns visiting from Monroe. I tried to get Sister Jill, a novice in our community, to write a post this morning, but sadly, coffee had not yet been fully absorbed in her system. With Sister Jill is Sister Mary Bea, IHM Novice Director, blogger, and Hermit Crab Rescuer Extraordinaire. The girls are on their way to Racine, Wisconsin, for a sex workshop. Okay, that may be a little too sensational of a description, but it makes for good reading. Seriously they are attending a workshop on psychosexual development for men and women in formation from a variety of communities in this area.

It’s been great hanging out with my nuns. Last night I took them out for Thai food (vegetarian Pad Thai is AWESOME). When we got back to the convent (Chloe the Convent Cat had everyone’s bed ready but I think she ate the mints on the pillows) we each had some work to do. It was actually quite funny because I looked up at one point and our young sister Jill was sitting in her flannels knitting and our veteran sister Mary Bea was reading the NY Times online from her Mac laptop. The juxtaposition of young knitter and older Internet surfer made me laugh!

This morning we enjoyed coffee together and chatted about IHM community life and other verities of life. It’s so good to have my nuns here. I love to see how our IHM charism incarnates itself in each and every nun and how she uniquely expresses that common charism.

So now I must go before Sister Jill gets too absorbed in her double yarn overs and Sister Mary Bea gets lost in Persepolis. Got to get them on the road so they don’t miss out on the sex workshop!

In “Novitiate – Overview” (my previous post in the Decoding Formation series) I wrote about what novitiate is in general and where it fits in the grand scheme of formation.

In this post I want to look at novitiate from another lens: Canon Law. Canon Law is the fundamental legislation that governs the Catholic Church. It is important to be aware of Canon Law in terms of religious life, specifically novitiate, because it provides guidelines and safeguards for people joining and for the religious communities. The section on religious life can be found in Book II of Canon Law:

Here are a few things that Canon Law addresses in terms of Novitiate:

Article 1: Admission to the Novitiate (Canons 641-645)

Can. 641 on the sole right of the major superior to admit candidates to novitiate

Can. 642 on the health, character, and maturity of a person entering

Can. 643-644 on impediments to validly entering religious life (e.g., having a spouse or overwhelming debt)

Can. 645 on necessary proof that must be provided (e.g. proof of baptism, confirmation)

Article 2: The Novitiate and Formation of Novices (Canons 646-653)

Can. 646 on the nature of novitiate as helping “novices better understand their divine vocation … , experience the manner of living of the institute, and form their mind and heart in its spirit …”

Can. 647 on the novitiate house (the place novices live)

Can. 648-649 on the requirement that novices spend a full 12 months “in the community itself of the novitiate” (with provision for some apostolic work)

Can. 650-651 on the person and role of the novice director

Can. 652 on how novice directors help novices discern their call and immerse themselves in prayer and the life of the community

Can. 653 on leaving novitiate

You might have heard reference to a period of novitiate called the canonical year. Canonical year refers to one of the two years of novitiate which is shaped specifically by Canons 646-653. Every religious community follows these canons in a way which is suitable to each particular community and tradition and which is approved by the Church.

If you have questions about how a particular religious community incorporates these Canons into their formation process, please talk with the community’s formation director.

Here is an article from my cousin IHMs in Scranton, Pennsylvania on A Week in the Life of a Canonical Novice. This article gives a real life example of how a particular community and its novices live the canonical year of novitiate.

The non-canonical year of novitiate is a second year of novitiate that is not called for by Canon Law but which most congregations have. It’s a time in which the novice is more actively engaged in ministry (apostolate). The work of the non-canonical year is still geared toward formation in the life of the community and in growing in relationship to God.

Toward the end of the two years of novitiate, novices prepare for their first profession of vows. They receive specific training on what the vows are, how they are lived, etc. Typically during this time, novices make a retreat in preparation for vows.

Still tweaking … I’ve created a new page that includes all the links for the “Decoding Formation” series including excerpts. You can now find this link in the main navigation of the page. There used to be a list of the pages on my sidebar under “vocations” … now there is just a link to the Decoding Formation page which has all of the links there.

My charge this week is to finish the series so that there is at least one entry for each stage of formation. Novitiate kind of stumped me because it is a complex stage of formation. But I’m ready to go again, tackling the topic of novitiate in terms of Canon Law.

It’s been a while since I wrote about the stages of formation in my series, “Decoding Formation” (see the sidebar on my blog for the previous posts). But now it is time to look at novitiate. I’m going to write this in several parts because there are a number of things I’d like to address. As in the previous stages, there is some variance across communities in terms of what exactly happens during novitiate. And know that I come from a community of active women religious, not a community of contemplative nuns. So there may be things that are particular to contemplatives that I am totally missing — contemplative nuns: please feel free to comment with your experiences!

After Candidacy/Postulancy, a person is ready for the big step of entering the novitiate. ” Novitiate” is the stage at which a person is a novice (meaning “new”) in the community. The community and the person have discerned that the fit is a good one. The “dating” is over (so to speak) and now comes the official engagement period. Just as a couple is committed to one another during an engagement, so the woman and the community are committed to one another. She is now ready to become a member of the community — not a full member for she is not yet under vows, but a novice member. As a novice she is still learning about religious life and the ways of the community, and at the same time she participates in the day to day life and mission of the community. Whereas in the previous stage the Candidate/Postulant usually supports herself and continues with her “former” life, now she is part of the community – what was once “mine” is now “ours”. During novitiate (and for the rest of her religious life), the novice receives what she needs from the community. As mentioned above, she is not yet under vows, though she lives as if she is — the vows of povery, celibacy, and obedience become not just something she knows about but something she lives.

During novitiate, a novice has a novice director – a professed sister who is responsible for the formation of the novice. The novice typically lives with the novice director and any other novices in the same convent/house. Other professed sisters may live in this community.

When a woman is preparing for novitiate, she and the congregation must be attentive to both the congregation’s Rule of Life (or Constitutions) and to Canon Law which provides guidelines and safeguards for the novitiate. I’ll develop this a bit more in my next post on novitiate: Novitiate – Canon Law.

A while back I began a “series” called Decoding Formation.

• Decoding Formation: a basic introduction
• Decoding Formation: who me??
• Decoding Formation: Initial Inquiry
• Decoding Formation: Aspirancy/Pre-Candidacy

Here’s the next segment of the series. As mentioned in a basic introduction, each religious community may have its own particular nuances to the formation process, however, the basis for the formation process is discernment and the pattern for formation is similar.

Wow! So now’s the time that a person has been accepted into the religious community’s Postulancy or Candidacy. The Postulant or Candidate is not under vows but she has made a more formal commitment to enter into the mission and life of the congregation. From the various women and communities I have known, it seems as if there are many different approaches to this period of formation so be sure to check out particular communities for what they envision for this time. If you’ve experienced Postulancy/Candidacy and had a different experience, please share with us (especially those who are cloistered … my experiences comes out of being a member of a non-cloistered community).

Beginning Candidacy is a big step in the woman’s life and in the life of the community for it signals a formal commitment to one another, not just a casual relationship with no strings attached. True, a Candidate may choose to leave at any time or be asked to leave, but basically there is a mutual desire to know one another more deeply and to share one’s life.

At the heart of Candidacy is the deepening of one’s life of prayer and integrating this life with the community. The Candidate may live with the community itself or in a house of formation. This house of formation might include others in formation for that community as well as the formation director. Or the house of formation might be a local community which is willing to continue their regular ministries but also place the formation of the Candidate as a priority in their community life. In any case, the Candidate prays with the community, lives with the community, and enters into their life of mission. In some cases she may continue working or studying as she was prior to becoming a Candidate. In other cases, she may leave all that and begin a specific program that the community has in place.

During this time a Candidate will be engaged in studies around religious life, theology, scripture, personal growth, and the charism and history of the congregation. She may do this in a variety of ways: taking a college course, joining other people in formation from a variety of communities to learn about religious life, joining with others in formation in the same community to learn about that particular community. While learning about the community is something all Candidates do, the other studies really depend on where one is in one’s life. For example, if you already have a degree in theology, you might spend this time focused on a particular or related area.

One of the things I found most helpful during this time was the opportunity to get to know our IHM sisters who were retired and living at our Motherhouse. These are women who have lived The Life, some for 75 years and counting! Not only could they talk to me about the history of the congregation as they lived it, but they shared their experiences of walking with God, of prayer, of mission and service. These women had the kind of wisdom and hospitality that made you feel holier just being in their presence. I’m sure that part of my formation and coming to understand myself as a religious came through osmosis, through just being with these women. To this day, our IHM Motherhouse is truly HOME to me and the women there continue to inspire me, challenge me, and call me to be my best self.

And of course, during this period of formation, discernment continues. The Candidate continue to reflect on and pray about what God is calling her to. She pays attention to how she is growing personally, and to whether or not this life “fits” with her. She continually brings her experiences to prayer. She meets regularly with the Sister who is the formation director or Candidacy director. She also meets regularly with a spiritual director (usually someone outside of the community, though in some cases a member of the community). The Candidate is also beginning to integrate her life with that of the community in the sense that her family and friends are getting to know the community as well. On the community’s part, they are also sharing their lives with the Candidate, allowing her to get to know them personally and begin forging relationships.

There’s so much more I could say but as I read back over this, it is somewhat of a jumbled mess. Candidacy is such a fluid time that it’s tough to nail these things down and be more specific or systematic. Perhaps the best thing to do is to direct you to what congregations themselves say about this time period. Here are a few:

Scanton IHMs
Sisters of Saint Francis of Perpetual Adoration
Sisters of Providence
Daughters of Saint Paul
Saint Benedict Monastery

Next installment: Decoding Formation: Novitiate – Overview