Religious Orders and Diocese w/ Pre-Novitiate and Pre-Seminary Programs

[nsper7]

Can people give me a list of diocese and religious orders that have pre-Seminary/pre-Novitiate programs. Basically, looking at the neophyte issue, it seems that Canonically, I cannot enter graduate Seminary (for a Diocese) or a Novitiate (for a religious order) before that two-year period after being Confirmed is over.

Thus, what Diocese have Pre-Seminary programs (i.e. living in a Candidate House or Discernment House, taking the college seminary courses, etc.) and what religious orders have a Pre-Novitiate program (i.e. where you get involved with them, living and working with them for a couple of years before entering the Novitiate)?

Any names would be helpful. Just list them, maybe give a blurb on background. I can vet them in my own mind to decide whether they are worth contacting or not. Also, I live in Gainesville, FL (Diocese of St. Augustine) so nearby diocese and religious orders would be a plus (i.e. in the Southeastern US), but again, just list any and I will vet them myself as to whether I think I would be interested.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

The Carmelites have a pre-novitiate program, but I doubt they would let you enter as to enter you must complete the application process.

The diocese of Chicago has a college seminary. You might be able to enter that but I doubt they would let you in any formation programs.

Usually postulancy/pre-novitiate are for those who are accepted into the religious community.

I have said this before, you seem to chose to ignore it but I am going to say it again.

Do you have a spiritual director? This is a must and any vocation directors you talk to will tell you to get one.

You need to do a lot of discernment first. The first question you must answer for yourself is if you feel called to the secular or the religious life. You have not answered that yet by evidence of your question.

Religious life and secular life are very different.

After that, if the answer is religious life then you must answer the question of which religious community/order you feel called to.

I think it is the neophyte in you that has you trying to go ahead without answering these questions or realizing that the life styles and commitments are very different.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

One more thing. Many, if not most, pre-novitiate/postulancy and pre-candidate programs will require you to pay for it.

In my order, my province requires you to pay for the undergraduate degree (if you do not have a bachelors degree) while you are in the pre-novitiate.

 

[Hidden_One]

I’m with ByzCath on this one.

Nsper, if you’re not trying to get a spiritual director and not trying to discern your vocation according to the rules and guidelines given by the Church, you are effectively leaving God out of your vocation. When one has an evident disdain for the policies of the Church, it is God who one is angering. It almost seems as if you have little faith in Divine Providence - that is, God’s love for you. Can and will he not place you where He wishes (Remember that a vocation is a calling and that He is the caller!) if you let Him? Well, He both can and will, so let Him.

I know that you don’t want “a lecture”, but neither do most people persistent in their attempts to do something foolish.

You have entered the Church recently, presumably because you believe her to be true. If she is what she says that she is, then she is worth listening to when it comes to vocations.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

I know you are still looking for a list of religious orders/communites and diocese that are open to accepting neophytes.

The reason you have not been given such a list in the last two threads you started on this is becuase no such list exists.

Canon Law calls for a “cooling off period” for neophytes. It takes an action of the local ordinary (bishop for a diocese, superior for a religious order/community) to dispense from this. Because it requires a dispensation from Canon Law no one is going to “advertise” this. It is something that is out of the ordinary and does not occur all that often. It will require a special act for a special case.

I do not think you fall into this case, as I and others have stated, there is work that you need to do before you move on, such as whether you feel a call to religious life or secular life. I also think there are other issues that need attention but I will leave that for your spiritual director.

By the way, do you have a spiritual director yet? That should be the first step in any vocation discernment.