Question About The Dominican Sisters

[stlmom]

I just took a look at the DSMME site on the web, and noticed that the new entrants were being called aspirants, not postulants. Have the sisters changed this part of the formation process? I thought once you entered, you were called a postulant, and that aspirant referred to someone who was seriously discerning with a particular community but not yet admitted to formation.
Anyone out there have an answer?

[InHisLove726]

The aspirancy for the DSMMEs lasts 4 months, then they are postulants the next 8 months.

[Thomist-in-Training]

[quote]I thought once you entered, you were called a postulant, and that aspirant referred to someone who was seriously discerning with a particular community but not yet admitted to formation.[/quote]

Yeah, some communities have a new stage of "aspirancy" once you enter before postulancy, so you're wearing something even less habitlike. In some places where the postulants have some kind of veils they wear all the time, the aspirants don't. Obviously the life is also different but I don't know how. I knew one girl who was waiting to go to an overseas postulancy so she was an aspirant for about a year, but usually you're only an aspirant for a few months.

[InHisLove726]

In the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the pre-postulancy lasts from August 15 to November 15th, then the candidate returns home until December, when they return and become a postulant if they decide to continue. The postulancy lasts from December to July.

In the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, the candidates enter in September, and are called "candidates" until February, when they are inducted into postulancy until August, then they are invested in the habit of the novitiate.

Edited September 14, 2009 by InHisLove726

[DameAgnes]

[quote name='InHisLove726' date='13 September 2009 - 10:35 PM' timestamp='1252895732' post='1966059']
In the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the pre-postulancy lasts from August 15 to November 15th, then the candidate returns home until December, when they return and become a postulant if they decide to continue. The postulancy lasts from December to July.

In the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, the candidates enter in September, and are called "candidates" until February, when they are inducted into postulancy until August, then they are invested in the habit of the novitiate.
[/quote]

Yes, the Passionists have an aspirancy for a month or two then you go home for at least a month before returning as a postulant.

The DSMME did not always call them aspirants, I don't think, though, did they?

[dominicansoul]

This is something "new." I believe it may have started this year, in fact. I was never an "aspirant" when I entered. We were regarded as postulants from day one. There was a program called "Pre-postulancy" where the girls spent a week in early summer at the convent before entering at the end of summer.

I think this is just another sign that the DSMME are always open to inspiration, seeking better ways of formation. Aspirancy sounds less formal than Postulancy, giving those young women who may be a little jittery about entering, a more comfortable route into religious life...

[DameAgnes]

[quote name='dominicansoul' date='14 September 2009 - 12:16 PM' timestamp='1252944971' post='1966241']
This is something "new." I believe it may have started this year, in fact. I was never an "aspirant" when I entered. We were regarded as postulants from day one. There was a program called "Pre-postulancy" where the girls spent a week in early summer at the convent before entering at the end of summer.

I think this is just another sign that the DSMME are always open to inspiration, seeking better ways of formation. Aspirancy sounds less formal than Postulancy, giving those young women who may be a little jittery about entering, a more comfortable route into religious life...
[/quote]

I think it's a good idea, too, esp since so many of the DSMME's are so young. If they decide they're not ready or the Lord is calling them elsewhere, they are "aspiring" and it's a little different, yes?

[dominicansoul]

[quote name='DameAgnes' date='14 September 2009 - 02:12 PM' timestamp='1252951967' post='1966321']
I think it's a good idea, too, esp since so many of the DSMME's are so young. If they decide they're not ready or the Lord is calling them elsewhere, they are "aspiring" and it's a little different, yes?
[/quote]

I think it is better, because it gives the young lady a time frame to grow into her vocation. Let's say I enter the DSMME, and I am labeled an "aspirant" which is someone who is not yet in the community, per se, but one who is sort of "auditing" the life and checking it out. There are no obligations, nothing is really expected except for a decision when the aspirancy ends. Let's say I decide not to become a postulant and leave. A few years down the road, I may have matured in my discernment journey, and realize, religious life is really calling to me. The chances that I will be allowed to return are greater, since I was not officially a member of the community, but an aspirant. I think it would be much more difficult to return after leaving postulancy than aspirancy. One cannot continually be wishy-washy in her decisions. The convent door is not a revolving one. So, I love it that the Sisters have this new level.

[stlmom]

Thanks everyone for your replies. The change makes sense, especially if the sisters were finding that a certain percentage of their postulants in prior years were leaving in those first four months any way. I don't watch their website that often, so seeing "aspirant stories" took me by surprise.

[HisChild]

[quote name='dominicansoul' date='14 September 2009 - 09:16 AM' timestamp='1252944971' post='1966241']
This is something "new." I believe it may have started this year, in fact. I was never an "aspirant" when I entered. We were regarded as postulants from day one. There was a program called "Pre-postulancy" where the girls spent a week in early summer at the convent before entering at the end of summer.

I think this is just another sign that the DSMME are always open to inspiration, seeking better ways of formation. Aspirancy sounds less formal than Postulancy, giving those young women who may be a little jittery about entering, a more comfortable route into religious life...
[/quote]


I don't know if I'd like that... being an aspirant for a few months and then going straight into postulancy without returning home to sell your belongings and finish up all personal business. You'd have to do so beforehand, right? So if you have to do so before you enter, wouldn't you want to do so with the idea that you were actually entering and not just testing the waters.

Personally, I prefer the way some Carmels used to make the sister return home for a brief period of time after the novitiate to make sure they were really sure of their decision before making vows.

But that's just me.

[dominicansoul]

[quote name='HisChild' date='14 September 2009 - 10:04 PM' timestamp='1252980254' post='1966615']
I don't know if I'd like that... being an aspirant for a few months and then going straight into postulancy without returning home to sell your belongings and finish up all personal business. You'd have to do so beforehand, right? So if you have to do so before you enter, wouldn't you want to do so with the idea that you were actually entering and not just testing the waters.

Personally, I prefer the way some Carmels used to make the sister return home for a brief period of time after the novitiate to make sure they were really sure of their decision before making vows.

But that's just me.
[/quote]

This might be something in the works for the DSMME. I remember we went on "home visits" right before the summer of our entrance to the novitiate. Mother gave us a talk before our leaving, and she said if any of us decided not to return, that would be the good time to do it. Not quite the same, but it was effective.