Vocations
The Congregation of Holy Cross is blessed with vibrant formation programs and regular celebrations of perpetual vows and ordinations. As of January 1, 2010, the Congregation had 118 professed seminarians; 75 professed brother-scholastics; 37 novices; and 493 aspirants to Holy Cross religious life. In 2009, some 15 men took their final vows—eight brothers (Josephites) and seven seminarians (Salvatorists).
An Invitation to You
Young people, indeed people of all ages, are asking what the Lord is calling them to be. One thing is certain: The Lord is calling you to be a person for others, not for yourself as an isolated individual. Yet you are a uniquely gifted individual, created lovingly by God with your own set of strengths and weaknesses, your own vocation. There is nothing more exciting, rewarding, and meaningful than discovering and living out your God-given vocation, responding wholeheartedly to God who has given you everything, being a good and faithful servant to God and to his beloved creatures.
Discernments Differ
Discernment processes inevitably differ because people and their vocations differ. We know this much: Discernment is only partially an internal process; it requires a radical openness to the Holy Spirit speaking through spiritual advisors and companions, through the Church and her sacraments, through the people with whom you confer, and through your prayers as conduits of God’s guidance and strength.
Videos on CSC
Personal exchanges of information are not the only way to find out about the Congregation of Holy Cross. Our community is enthusiastic about engaging with society through the mass media, and so you will not be surprised to find a number of videos about us at YouTube and elsewhere on the Web. These videos include recent history, such as reports on the beatification of Rev. Basil Moreau, C.S.C., and interviews with Holy Cross priests and brothers whose reflections will guide your own discernment.
Contact a Director
If your new knowledge of the Congregation of Holy Cross resonates with you and you want to learn more, don’t let the videos be the last stop. You can contact the vocation office nearest to you and ask for an appointment. You can discuss whether to seek admission into the official process of discernment and formation.
Formation Processes
Once admitted into the formation process, milestones are clearly delineated and many resources are provided, within community. The process includes steps of novitiate and scholasticate/seminary as an individual experiences a variety of ministries, studies a comprehensive curriculum, and comes to a deeper level of understanding of the commitment expected. However, there will be differences in the formation process depending on one’s province and the specific training necessary for ministry as a brother or ministry as a priest.
CSC’s Next Generation
Those engaged in the multiple-year formation process give and receive personal insights among colleagues who are at various stages of the process themselves. These are amazing times of discovery and challenge.
Family and Community
One’s growing participation in the family of Holy Cross through the discernment process does not entail a total separation from one’s natural family. That would contradict the Congregation’s embrace of familial solidarity and of God’s desire to mirror the Church through the family structure. Of course, embarking on a totally new way of life and accepting the Lord’s vocational call as an adult commitment do require separations and changed perspectives on one’s childhood. But it is possible for the families of those entering the Congregation of Holy Cross to become part of an extended family that multiplies the presence and strength of faith, hope, charity, zeal, and trust in omnipresent Divine Providence.
IN MOREAU’S WORDS
“Our Association is a visible imitation of the Holy Family wherein Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, notwithstanding their difference in dignity, were one at heart by their unity of thought and uniformity of conduct.”—Circular Letter 14
“ Above all, let us work with that strength, unity, and clear understanding which come from mutual cooperation and the possession of all things in common. We must never lose sight of the fact that strength of numbers, joined with unity of aim and action, is the greatest of all strengths and is limited only by the bounds of the possible.”—Circular Letter 20
