A life less ordinary – how do you begin as a member of the CJ?

Discernment

Working out if you have a vocation to religious life requires a process of careful reflection and prayer.  A number of organisations exist in Britain to help women thinking of life as a sister (click here).  If you feel called to explore this option for your life, you can speak to any sister of the Congregation of Jesus and ask her about her experience of religious life.

For a more focussed enquiry, contact Sister Gemma Simmonds, the Vocations Director, who is trained in supporting people in this search (click here for Contact Addresses)  Vocations work is about discernment, not recruitment, and the focus will be on how God is at work in your life and where God may be leading you.

 The journey into membership

Getting to know the communities and being known by them is a key step towards joining the Congregation of Jesus.  Later, if a woman decides that she seriously wants to explore life as a sister, she may be encouraged to examine this decision and her life so far through a guided retreat and further conversation.  If it seems right, she may begin the application process.

 A full life of faith in Mary Ward's institute today offers

• A direct personal relationship with God in Christ
• A sense of belonging
• The sharing of Gospel values through apostolic life

The formation process includes a two-year period called the noviceship, whose emphasis is on deepening of one’s relationship to God and discerning the way forward with the novice director.  Exploration of different ways of praying, participation in the Eucharist, the making of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius in a 30 day retreat, and varied experiences of apostolic work help to make clearer how and where God is leading.  First vows are taken at the end of the noviceship.  Then follows a period of at least six years of temporary profession during which sisters may receive further training according to their needs, and will spend time in apostolic ministry and getting to know the world-wide Congregation of Jesus.  A further period of intense spiritual reflection and apostolic training, known as the 'Tertianship', is offered before final vows, with a renewal year after some ten years in full-time ministry.

The centre of our life is mission, the apostolic expression of our intimate relationship with God and our sense of call.  Each woman brings her own gifts and aptitudes to the Congregation.  In different periods of formation, the focus of this mission may be prayer and reflection, study or apostolic work, but all of it is aimed towards the building of God’s kingdom and personal growth in faith.

INTERVIEWS with two members of the Congregation of Jesus, Srs Jane Livesey and Gemma Simmonds, have been published recently on the Conference of Religious website. 

• To meet Sr Jane click HERE
• To meet Sr Gemma click HERE