redemptorists-cebu

Criteria for entrance

Renovationes Causam, 4, states that the novitiate should come at the moment when the candidate "has reached that degree of human and spiritual maturity which will allow him to respond to this call with sufficient and proper responsibility and freedom." Therefore the following principal qualifications are required for admission to novitiate:
1. A human maturity which is characterized by:
a. Their knowledge of themselves and of their talents, powers and capabilities, particularly the freedom to love in a genuine way;
b. Their awareness of the various options in life to open to them, such as:
- Secular life careers in community services, politics, business, etc;
- Marriage/family and single life vocations;
- Lay or priestly ministries in the local church
c. Their ability for friendships with both men and women;
d. Their ability for making well-considered decisions coupled with responsibility for such decisions;
e. And a fair degree of psycho-emotional and sexual maturity.

2. A Christian maturity which places God's call as central in each one's life, whereby they are enabled to see their lifetime decisions as a free response in love to the Mission of Christ in them for the good of the entire church. (cf. Const 81)
Signs of maturity include:
- The candidate's having a personal relationship with God
- An amount of familiarity with him, especially through personal prayer;
- The fact of having made some painful decisions for love of him and his people (church)
similar to what Alphonsus, the man of Naples, did.

3. A basic knowledge of Redemptorist life: its charism and its actual apostolic work.
4. A growing love for the poor and the abandoned, a love that has started to align itself with the kind that Alphonsus had for the goatherds of Scala, the kind which flowed from the compassionate love of Jesus Redeemer, weak and poor. That love was not condescending, paternalistic not proceeding form a position of power and prestige.

Therefore one entering into our novitiate should have sensitivity for the problems and hopes of the poor, have a desire to share their condition and have a generous willingness to place themselves at the service of evangelizing the poor.

5. The capacity for developing further in them those qualities necessary for community living - qualities verified as present during the pre-novitiate formation:
Loyalty, openness, dialogue, brotherly love, gospel friendship, simplicity of lifestyle, teamwork abilities, generosity and humility.

The novitiate, by which Redemptorist life begins, is ordered to this:

a. That the novices arrive at a clearer recognition of their divine vocation;
b. Moreover, proper to this congregation, that they experience the Redemptorist manner of living;
c. That they be formed in mind and heart by its spirit
d. And that their intention and suitability be tested. (cf. Canon 646)

The spiritual discernment and training, which is given at this level, should aid the candidate to grow in his love and loyalty to the congregation and increase his capacity to freely embrace our apostolic life.

The spiritual discernment and training, which is given at this level, should aid the candidate to grow in his love of and loyalty to the congregation and increase his capacity to freely embrace our apostolic life.