Travel the Path with us... to Mary

The process of joining the Society of Mary is a thoughtful and considered one. Through the various stages of discernment, a person can comfortably get to know the Marist community. It also allows the community to welcome and encourage those discerning a vocation with the Marists. This mutual exchange of prayer, introspection, and friendship helps a person to discern God’s intention for his life.

The Marists want to give you time to make a good decision. We want you to feel confident that this is what you want to do with your life. We don’t want to rush you.

The process varies to suit the needs of different people; we follow a flexible schedule throughout the candidacy process.

Inquiry

Once you contact the Marists, we will send you an informational packet. The packet includes a simple questionnaire to fill out and return to us. This no-obligation form helps both sides to get acquainted. Once we receive the form, the Vocation Office will contact you about your interest in religious life with the Society of Mary.

The next few steps will include many conversations with either Jack Ridout, Vocation Director or a Marist Father or Brother and may include a visit to a Marist community. The visit gives the Marists and you a chance to get to know one another and establish a comfortable relationship.

Postulancy

Once you have completed the initial discernment and candidacy process, we invite you to apply to the postulancy program. The postulancy program is a 10-month period designed to introduce you to Marist religious life and to prepare for the novitiate. In your application, a letter is written expressing your desire to be a Marist and you also submit certificates of Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation.

At this point, you also undergo physical, psychological, and behavioral assessments and write an autobiography. You are invited to spend a couple of months living in a Marist community. Candidates are asked to pray and reflect on their call to religious life and make certain that they do not feel called to married life.

The Formation Director then reviews the application and supporting materials. After this, three Marists interview you, the candidate, and make a recommendation to the Provincial. The Marists then accept you as a postulant. During this segment of discernment, the postulant experiences communal religious life and learns about the Marist history and charism. During the postulancy, candidates may take courses at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

Novitiate

Once you complete the postulancy program, you may ask to be accepted into the novitiate. This is a period of preparation to take vows as a Marist that lasts for at least one year.

At the novitiate, which is located in the Philippines, candidates concentrate on spirituality, prayer, the history and constitution of the Society of Mary, and the vows they prepare to make.

Although you do not take academic courses, you do participate in apostolic work in local parishes. At the end of the novitiate, candidates may request to take temporary Marist vows. The vows are offered to the Provincial.

Post-novitiate

Marist College, the post-novitiate, is located in Washington, DC. Candidates for the Marist priesthood spend four years studying theology at the Washington Theological Union and have an apostolic year in a school or parish before they make perpetual vows to the Provincial and are ordained to the diaconate by a bishop. After Marists become deacons, they are generally ordained to the priesthood within one year.

Candidates who plan to be Marist brothers study theology for two years at the post-novitiate and take time to develop their specific talents, such as gerontology or administration, before they spend a year in apostolic work. They are then ready to make perpetual vows.

 

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The preparation for
a lifetime of Marist service
is deliberate and prayer-filled.
It is also amazingly
rewarding and a tremendous opportunity for growth.

 

Request More Information
about the Society of Mary
as your vocation.

Throughout the
formation process today, students interact with laity
in the classroom as well as
in ministerial environments.

This is absolutely necessary, since the Church will prosper
in the future only with a
closer collaboration between laity and religious.

Mark Kenney, SM

"I want to journey with others
as a companion rooted in Scripture, Church tradition,
and the community of faith.

I want to help others connect
the sacred and the secular by unearthing the Divine rooted
in everyday life."

A newly-ordained Marist

Copyright 2011, Society of Mary in the US (Marist Fathers and Brothers). All Rights Reserved.