T
tjmiller
Guest
The process may have changed since my wife and I began an OCDS Group, but here is what we did 10 years ago: For many years we traveled a 4 hour monthly round-trip to attend the closest OCDS Community. During this time, many fellow Catholics at home got interested in what we were doing, but were unwilling or unable to make that journey.
But by the time we made our First Promises, there was already a group of a dozen like-minded friends in place, who wished to try starting a new group with us. We contacted the OCDS Provincial Delegate, who authorized us to inaugurate an informal study group, which we called the “Contemplative Study Group”. We met monthly at our diocesan retreat center for Benediction and then for discussion over a biography of St. Teresa of Avila.
I sent monthly reports on the group’s activities to the Delegate, who also paid us a few visits. After two years of such “probationary” status, he authorized me to approach the local bishop to ask for approval for a formal new OCDS Group! The rest is history.
The policies on doing something like this may vary according to the Province. It took a lot of patient effort, but was well worth it!
But by the time we made our First Promises, there was already a group of a dozen like-minded friends in place, who wished to try starting a new group with us. We contacted the OCDS Provincial Delegate, who authorized us to inaugurate an informal study group, which we called the “Contemplative Study Group”. We met monthly at our diocesan retreat center for Benediction and then for discussion over a biography of St. Teresa of Avila.
I sent monthly reports on the group’s activities to the Delegate, who also paid us a few visits. After two years of such “probationary” status, he authorized me to approach the local bishop to ask for approval for a formal new OCDS Group! The rest is history.
The policies on doing something like this may vary according to the Province. It took a lot of patient effort, but was well worth it!