How To Start the Process

You start to feel a deep attraction for Religious Life. For young men, you want to become a friar, a monk, or a religious priest. For young women, you want to become a religious sister or a nun. What do you do?

1. Approach a priest, a religious priest, or a religious sister. They can help you start the process to better discern the vocation to religious life. Also, they may refer you to another person who can help you.
2. By setting up a meeting with a religious person, they will ask about your discernment process.
3. Then, they can help by showing you the different religious orders and their charisms.
4. The person can search for religious orders on Home - Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (cmswr.org) or Institute on Religious Life [For Men and Women]
5. The spiritual mentor will not decide a religious community for you. The person needs to discern and decide.
6. If the person knows exactly which religious order to join, then the person goes directly to the religious community and speaks with their vocation director or representative. Afterwards, the process with the religious community becomes official.
7. Every community differs on how they continue the process with your request to join their religious order. Be aware: They can decline your application.