Posts Tagged ‘Dominican’

  1. The vote is in!

    16 May, 2011 by Alexa Chipman

    After a few days of living in limbo, as it were, the vote is in! Thanks to a timely text message from Sr Pat, I found out about 2pm today that I have been accepted! For a long time I had this sort of branched path of life I was planning for. It is hard enough to plan long term for one style of living, quite difficult to have two separate ones going not knowing which I would end up with! Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of me during this process, especially St. Columba, the Oikos Gathering and of course all the Sisters!

    I’ll be going to the San Domenico house this evening for dinner so no doubt we’ll have plenty to talk about / celebrate. Since I’ve had several people ask “what’s formation?” I’ve included some excerpts from Sr. Pat below:

    Upon the completion of the application process and acceptance into the formation program, the woman begins a process of initial formation to help her and the congregation discern her vocation to the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael.

    Candidacy . During this first year, the candidate lives with the sisters and participates in the daily life of community. The candidate attends classes in religious life, scripture and theology, participates in some ministry, and visits sisters in their local living communities in order to learn the particular way the sisters embody religious life today.

    Canonical Novitiate Year . This year of formation normally takes place at the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate in St Louis, and is devoted to personal and spiritual development, study of Dominican life, our constitutions and the vows. The novice shares her experience this year with other novices from 22 Dominican congregations throughout the United States.

    Apostolic Novitiate Year . During this third year, the novice returns home to California to live in a local community of sisters. She is involved in full time ministry and/or academic study. The novice continues to learn more about the The Dominican Sisters of San Rafael through her lived experience and interaction within the congregation.

    Temporary Profession. After the mutual discernment of both the novice and the congregation, the novice makes profession of the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience for three years, with the possibility of renewal. After the period of temporary profession, the sister makes her profession of vows for the rest of her life.

    Category Personal, Vocation | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  2. Novitiate Application

    5 May, 2011 by Alexa Chipman

    I’ve had a lot of people comment that it’s been a long time, and that it would be helpful to know a little more about the process. Gone are the days where you saunter up to a convent door, knock and let them know you want to join, then swap clothes for a habit that evening. Yes I know the movies still portray it as that, but this isn’t the 9th century. Below is a general outline and timeline of my process, I don’t pretend it is normal or that everyone has this exact experience, but I think it would be helpful for you to know!

    Spring 2007
    Made definite decision to enter general discernment about Religious Life

    Christmas Alumni Mass 2009
    Decided to discern with the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael

    Spring 2010
    Met with the Vocation Director to discuss the process, and began making ‘the tour’ of various Houses around the area to talk with a variety of Sisters. I spent most of the time asking very basic questions trying to get a handle on it.

    Summer 2010
    Began going to events, going to visit Sisters on my own, and entered their Jail Ministry.

    Fall 2010
    Talked more about the application process, got a job at San Domenico where I was working with them every day, and continued visiting various Houses. I no longer was asking basic questions—I was on to extremely practical ones like “who washes towels” etc.

    Winter 2010
    I actually stayed in the Formation House for a while on two separate occasions, and learned about the daily living/etc on a very practical level which answered a lot of unasked questions!

    Spring 2011
    Began the formal application process with a ton of very long interviews, had to take 3-4 days off work for various tests medical and psychiatric, was required to request a whole range of letters of recommendation, wrote an autobiography (that was the easy fun part!) and misc other paperwork. In the final interview I saw the file they had on me and I think it puts War & Peace to shame!

    May 2011
    This is when the vote happens. I have no idea which way it will go (ie would I be accepted into Formation) but that is the general overview of the application process.

    Category Religious, Vocation | Tags: ,,,,, | 2 Comments

  3. Jane D’Aza Christmas Open House

    24 December, 2010 by Alexa Chipman

    On December 20, 2010, there was an Open House at Jane D’Aza. From Friday – Sunday was constant baking as referenced in a previous post, and here is some of the result laid out on the table. Top left is part of a gorgeous creche brought from Rome, with dozens of exquisite figures thanks to Sister Pat.

    As expected, there was plenty left over afterward, so I made up several biscuit plates to take around to friends later.

    This plate was my favourite—round from left to right: cranberry/orange glazed, chocolate chip brownies, snickerdoodles, sugar/spice ginger, rose shortbread (mine). There were other varieties as well, but those were my favourites.

    This was taken early on before people started arriving from around Marin.

    We had spent the night before decorating all over the house, which was a lot of fun. The staircase became the stocking hanging area.

    Sister Pat put together the table decoration, using various things on hand. She is genius with doing that and puts Martha Stewart to shame.

    This is mostly people from the San Rafael houses. Apparently they all got the “red” memo (well not everyone). It was very interesting talking with some people I hadn’t seen in a while, and others I had not met yet.

    This is not from the Open House, but the Formation Retreat out at San Domenico the next day. When we got there the poor tree was sadly neglected with only three ornaments on it. Between Kat, Roselli, Gervaise and I we soon rectified the situation and had it glistening and ready to go.

    Many sisters had their own little trees in their room decorated how they preferred, along with other decorations. Kat, for example, loves snowmen.

    Category Vocation | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,, | No Comments

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