DISCERNING A RELIGIOUS VOCATION
Welcome! Thank you for your interest in the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell.
Do you...Have a deep personal relationship with God?
Desire to live a life of prayer,study,community, and ministry?
Wish to participate in the mission of Jesus?
Have an open mind?
Seek justice?
Reverence all God’s creation?
Seek ways to help people in need?
If you answer yes, you may have a religious vocation.
My name is Sister Peggy Ann Clinton, and I am the Vocation Director for the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell. I am here to help you discern whether your call is to religious life in this congregation.
Feel free to be in touch with me at: paclinton@caldwellop.org or 973-403-3331 extension 34.
Some thoughts to consider........
Are you a single, Catholic woman between the ages of 21 and 45?
Do you have a personal prayer life and desire to deepen that prayer in community and ministry?
Do you appreciate diversity and welcome the experience of living and working with a wide variety of people?
Do you desire to use your gifts for the service of others?
If this life draws you…
Pray
Participate in spiritual direction.
Talk to a Dominican Sister of Caldwell
Be in touch with Sister Peggy Ann Clinton, Vocation Director about opportunities to visit our Motherhouse and meet our sisters.
FORMATION PROCESS
Candidate –begins with a simple entrance ceremony. As a candidate, you live in a local community with professed sisters and share in their prayer and common life while engaging in ministry. With ongoing discernment with the candidate director, you will discern your call to Dominican life and the capacity to live this life. It is a time of immersion in the history, customs, and lived reality of the congregation.
Canonical Novitiate – usually follows the candidate year. It generally is spent in the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate in St. Louis, Missouri. Dominican novices from across the country gather together in close proximity to Aquinas Institute of Theology. This is a year of contemplative prayer and intense study of the vows. Novices continue to deepen their experience of the Dominican Order.
Apostolic Novitiate – usually follows the canonical year. This is a time of integrating the learning of the canonical year with the lived experience of full-time ministry and local community living.
Temporary Profession –is made at the completion of the novitiate. The taking of vows indicate the desire to live Dominican life as a professed Sister. This time period can last from three to six years.
Final Profession – is made anywhere from three to six years after first profession. The proclamation of final vows indicates a definite capacity to live as a Dominican for a lifetime.