What are the Steps to Becoming a Benedictine Sister?
The concern must be whether the novice seeks truly God…
(RULE OF BENEDICT, 58:7)
When a woman receives and accepts the monastic charism, she freely chooses to participate in a conversion… which begins with attending to the Word of God… She knows she can expect a loving response as she enters more deeply into the paschal mystery of passing over from death to life. (CALL TO LIFE)
The prospective monastic must have reached a certain level of self-knowledge before she is ready to make a permanent commitment to the Benedictine way of life. In order for the postulant, novice, or scholastic to come to self-knowledge she is directed to several developmental tasks.
When the prospective monastic reaches these levels of personal insight and interior freedom, she will have achieved the attitude and readiness essential for monastic profession. (CALL TO LIFE)
The Benedictine Community has clearly defined stages of formation.
The pre-novitiate phases of formation include the observer period which introduces a woman to the Benedictine way of life and the postulant stage which provides an experience in community living.
The novitiate is a time for intense study and immersion in community life.
The scholasticate is designed to enable a sister to come to an integrationof prayer, community, and active ministry. (FOREVER NEW, November, 2007)