Hi again DiscerningCatholic! You’re welcome and I’m glad if my message helped you at all.
I honestly don’t remember how long they took to reply to me when I first wrote. I emailed their motherhouse in Gricigliano. I didn’t have a formal interview, but I met separately with the mother superior in Italy and the nearest Institute priest in California, and they told me about the Adorers and answered my questions, and we talked about why I felt called there. I don’t know your situation and I wouldn’t want you to say anything private on a messageboard, but I imagine in your case they would ask more about why you wouldn’t be able to join for several years.
My leaving was technically of my own accord, and they agreed with my decision-- but really it felt more like God had forced me out. I was stunned at the time that God would call me to enter the Adorers only to tell me to leave six weeks later, but it all makes much more sense now. One thing they tell you when you’re discerning is that your deepest desire should be for God’s will, whether that’s in religious life or in the world.
I think any order could also require members to leave if need be. I’ve known a few people who were forced to leave the orders they had joined because the superiors decided they weren’t suited to it. I’ve also known a few who had to leave because of health reasons.
Like you, the only Latin I knew when I joined was what I’d picked up in church. I brought my own Latin/English 1962 Missal to Gricigliano and they let me use that at Mass (the other sisters had Latin/French missals). For praying the Liturgy of the Hours, they gave us breviaries of the older form that were entirely in Latin.
May God bless you, and may you grow in grace even while you discern your vocation,
Rachel
