Becoming An SSJ

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Becoming an SSJ

Are you a single, Catholic woman between the ages of 20 and 45? Then consider joining us as a Sister of Saint Joseph in our mission of Unioning Love…

THE PROCESS

Steps on the Journey

The process of becoming a perpetually professed Sister of Saint Joseph takes approximately eight years. Along the way, women in initial discernment and formation get to know and minister alongside our sisters, live in community, and experience our deep life of communal prayer—all through the lens of our mission and charism! It is a rich time filled with much grace.

1. INQUIRY

As an inquirer, you have many opportunities to explore your call to religious life as well as to get to know more about our life as Sisters of Saint Joseph. During this stage, you will meet regularly with the Vocation Director to mutually discern your call. You will also be invited to come to community celebrations, share prayer, meals, and conversation with us, and visit us in our places of ministry. This stage of formation ordinarily lasts from six months to two years.

2. CANDIDACY

As a candidate, you are encouraged to deepen your Christian commitment and to grow in your life of prayer and service while enjoying the hospitality and companionship of the sisters. As you continue to discern your call, you meet regularly with the Formation Director. After mutual discernment, you will be invited to formally apply for acceptance into the Congregation. Then you are invited to live in one of our local communities, sharing in the prayer and community life of the sisters. During your candidacy, you may continue working in a ministry already familiar to you, begin working in a new ministry or continue with your studies. This stage of formation ordinarily lasts six months to two years.

After mutual discernment, a woman can ask to be admitted into the novitiate. A formal Rite of Initiation marks this transition.

3. NOVICE

As a novice, you deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ. You continue discerning your call, seeking ever greater self-knowledge, insight, and awareness of the presence of God. The novitiate experience is a two-year process. Currently, one year and two months are spent in the novitiate house of the congregation and ten months are spent as a novice in the CSSJ Federation Novitiate. At the end of this period of discernment, you are invited to request First Profession of Vows.

4. INITIAL PROFESSION

As an initially professed sister, you deepen and celebrate your commitment to Jesus Christ through annual profession of vows. During this time, you are fully involved in the apostolic work of the Congregation and continue to gather regularly for days of prayer, study, spiritual guidance, and instruction in the essentials of religious life as a Sister of Saint Joseph.

5. Perpetual Profession

Through your act of Perpetual Profession, you publicly confirm your desire to love God and others and to live in vowed membership throughout your life.