The formation program is designed to enable so that individuals will develop as well as appreciate our gifts as a community, so that we can together give witness to the reconciliation that was accomplished by Jesus Christ — Our Atonement.
Fr. Damian MacPherson, SA, Director of Ecumenical and Interreligious
Affairs of the Archdiocese of Toronto, Fr. Raymond Rodgrigues Luis, SA,
and Fr. Patrick Cogan, SA
The formation program seeks to engage men in the process of holistic human development involving every aspect of one’s life — spiritual, communal, personal, educational, cultural, and ministerial — in pursuit of the mission of At-One-Ment. By concentrating on these areas, we seek to bring about wholeness for community life and for quality ministry in service to the Church. Formation in our commuinity is a lifelong process passing through several stages. The following is a brief overview of these stages of community formation.
Inquiry/Discernment
After an individual contacts the Vocation Office and begins to discern his experience of God’s call and whether that may include a call to religious life, the Vocation Director and the inquirer will correspond on a regular basis. If and when it is appropriate, the Vocation Director visits the inquirer and invites him to visit our community.
Br. Jim Daly, SA, taking his Perpetual Vows
Application
After a sufficient period of discernment on the part of the inquirer and the Vocation Director, the Vocation Minister will invite the inquirer to begin the application process. Applicants will be required to complete appropriate medical and psychological testing, as well as supplying the other documents specified in the application form. When the application file is complete, the Vocation Director will make an appointment for the applicant to meet with our Board of Admissions, whose members will each receive a copy of the completed application file. The Board of Admissions reviews applicants for entrance into Candidacy. All discussions with the Board of Admissions are strictly confidential.
Candidacy
Candidacy is the preliminary phase of the formation process. It is non-residential, usually lasting approximately eight months, and may be extended to no more than two years. This time is to give the candidate an opportunity to make the spiritual and psychological adjustments necessary in preparation for entrance into the postulancy.
After a suitable period of candidacy, the Formation Team proposes the candidate for acceptance into the next phase of formation.
Postulancy
The postulancy is a residential period prior to entering the novitiate. Its purpose is to assist the postulant in reaching a level of human, communal, and spiritual maturity that would enable him to make a responsible and ree decision to commit himself to the religious life of the Friars of the Atonement.
Novitiate
The Novitiate year is a period to initiate the novice into the essential requirements of religious life as lived by the friars. Novices are gradually prepared to dedicate themselves to the ministries and life of the Atonement Franciscans within the Church. It is a period for study of the vowed life, of Franciscan living and deeper understanding of one’s personal vocation. At the end of novitiate, upon approval of the Minister General and his Council, the novice is admitted, by temporary profession of the vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience according to the Rule of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, into the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement.
Temporary Professed
A friar in temporary vows continues his ongoing spiritual and human development through theological and educational studies at a house of formation. His ongoing formation is monitored by regular dialogue with his formation director on the spiritual, communal, personal, educational, cultural, and ministerial aspects of his life as well as a twice yearly self-evaluation, together with an evaluation by the director of the house of formation. These evaluations are begun during candidacy and continue on throughout the friar's formation process. A friar in temporary profession renews his vows aqnnually and this renewal must occur at least twice before requesting his perpetual profession.
Perpetual Profession — Life Membership
Ordinarily after three years of temporary profession a friar is free to request permission to make his perpetual profession of vows. A friar preparing for ordained ministry must make his perpetual profession before he receives Holy Orders. If necessry, the friar completes his studies either for ordained ministry as a religious priest or for other ministerial service as a brother within the Church.
