Convent Q & A

Thanks for your responses.  

Mrs. had a great question.  What exactly will I be doing over the next few years?  

Answer:  After finishing the school year out, I'll be coming back to 7th Heaven for another home visit.  After that, I'll return to the house I'm at now to help with the summer camp here. When camp is over we'll have a few weeks to get our stuff together and then my companions and I will head to a suburb of LA to start our year as postulants.  As postulants, we will be doing many of the same things we do here.  The classes however, will be a more direct preparation for the following two years of novitiate.  Around May/June 2017 we will all head home for a brief home visit before returning once again to New Jersey for summer camp.  When camp is over, this time we will head an hour north of where we are now to begin our first year in the novitiate.  During the two years as novices we will be taking college courses in theology so that at the end of the two years we receive a certificate in theology that allows us to teach theology courses or serve as a director of religious education.  Besides that our main ministry will be helping run a retreat center on the weekends.  As first year novices, we will be completing what is called our canonical year.  This means we will be cloistered for the year. Cloistered for us however is different than cloistered for other communities.  Although we won't be leaving the house for home visits or things like that, we will still be leaving the house to go teach religious education and attend college classes.  After spending a full calendar year in the novitiate, we will go home on a two week home visit. Upon return we will complete our novitiate taking more college classes and preparing for vows.  Then, God willing on August 5, 2019 we will be making our first vows.