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These All Are Our Novices

When a woman chooses to pursue her vocation journey with the The Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, she begins as a candidate. For one to two years she begins to incorporate the values of prayer, study and service while she lives in Marin County with sisters who
are her formation community.

In the next stage of the discernment process, a woman becomes a novice. While many congregations have just one or two novices at a
time, the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate
(CDN) in St. Louis, Missouri meets the needs of twenty-three congregations of women religious. A novice travels from San Rafael to join a larger
group of novices for a canonical year of intense
study and prayer in a community setting as she continues to discern God's call to religious life.

As the Formation Director of our congregation, I have had the privilege of participating with the CDN for the past seven years. Serving on the Advisory Board, I have traveled to St. Louis regularly to review and discuss all aspects of the program for novices.

Collaboration is a rich experience, involving a great deal of patience, trust, respect and the ability to listen. The member congregations of CDN vary in size, in length of existence, in "ways of doing things," have roots in different European countries and centers throughout the United States. What has been the most meaningful to me about my experience with CDN is getting to know so many committed women, dedicated to the future of religious life through the ministry of formation.