FORMATION | Join the Franciscans

THE FORMATION PROCESS

Contact

Usually men who are considering a Franciscan way of life will contact the Vocation Directors. They will attend a Come and See Weekend where they will experience our life, prayer, ministry, and friars of the province.
The Vocation Directors will assist candidates in discerning God's call to religious life and to proceed with the needed application and procedures.

Postulancy

The Interprovincial Postulancy Program is located at Holy Name College Friary in Silver Springs, MD. It is a time of residential discernment. A Postulant live in the midst of a friar community and keep the friars' fraternal and prayer schedule.
An important component of Postulancy is developing one's relationship with God through personal and communal prayer, attending to God's Word, spiritual direction and reading, days of recollection and retreat.
Study, ministry, fraternal sharing, and spiritual dialog will help a Postulant explore his capacity for being-for-others, and personal growth.

Novitiate

The Interprovincial Novitiate is located at Old Mission Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, CA.
A Novice continues to study and learn about the life and spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi, about vowed religious life, and about being a Franciscan in the Church and the world today.
Novitiate ends with the novice makes first profession of vows: poverty, chastity and obedience.
Moving the novitiate to Santa Barbara allows for greater collaboration with the Capuchin and Coventual friars whose novitiates are located nearby.

Time of Temporary Profession

St. Joseph Friary in Chicago serves as the site for Post-Novitiate Formation. The focus of this interprovincial program is preparation for life-long commitment in the Order of Friars Minor.
A temporarily professed Friar spends time in integration: prayer, ministry, theological study, opportunity for personal growth.
Post-Novitiate formation conludes when a Friar makes his solemn profession.

Ordination / Professional Training

Those brothers (Friars) called to priesthood attend Catholic Theological Union for studies. They normally reside at St. Peter Friary in Chicago.
Those brothers who are called to further study in preparation for other ministries attend the appropriate institution and live in a friary close to their center of training.