Formation

This author led a men’s community through a five-year process of evaluating its way of incorporating new members and creating a new way to meet that need. Read more...

Any major life transition creates inner turmoil. Here is a glimpse of what happens within new members in the period between acceptance and entrance. Read more...

The depth and breadth of theological reflection depends on the individual’s level of spiritual development. Here is a straightforward look at the road to faith maturity. Read more...

Combining the roles of vocation and formation director has been called “an ethical minefield.” I couldn’t agree more. Read more...

A study of newly ordained priests gives insight to the aptitudes they need and the preparation that seminaries provide them. Read more...

Just because candidates are in their 20s or 30s and have met certain goals in life doesn’t mean they are healthy, mature adults, capable of living well in a religious community. What are the signs, then, of true human development? Read more...

The U.S. Catholic ministry world has changed a great deal. Here is what the church needs from pastoral ministers today and how vocation ministers can help discerners begin to prepare. Read more...

Vocation ministers have much to assess when considering applicants. For many communities, a person’s capacity and openness to learning should be an important factor. Read more...

When vocation ministers engage in discernment with a serious candidate, to some extent they have already begun the formation process. An experienced formation minister shares his wisdom. Read more...

It was with much anticipation that I finally sat down to read Elizabeth Gilbert’s," Eat, Pray, Love." I have treasured other works dubbed as “spiritual memoirs,” which for me offer a personal and honest search for God through the ordinary challenges and sometimes raw realities of life. These can offer hope, learning and reassurance for one’s own life pilgrimage. Read more...

Father Pier Giordano Cabra successfully takes on the challenge of addressing consecrated life in his book "A Short Course on the Consecrated Life: Reflections on Theology and Spirituality" (2004, Institute on Religious Life). Read more...

A formator finds herself renewed in spirit after getting back to basics with men and women religious from around the world. Read more...

The more our church helps form committed disciples, the more that Catholics will be ready to fully live their vocations. Read more...

We live into the future, present moment by present moment. And God is there, even if it is hard to see through the fog of uncertainty. Read more...

Scripture gives us a sense of what Peter and Andrew, James, and John went through after leaving their nets at the seashore to follow Christ, but what’s it like to make a committed choice as a religious in the 21st century? Read more...