FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. What should I do to find out whether God wants me to become a Salesian Sister?
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Pray about it.
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Contact a Salesian Sister to ask her about her work and what it is like to live with a group of women who are committed to the same vision.
If you do not know any Salesian Sister yet, write to:
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fmapro@salesiansisters.org.au
2. It is possible to spend some time with the Sisters?
Yes, it is.
A request is made to the Sisters in one's suburb or nearest convent, to live with them for a week-end or even longer.
This will give you and ourselves the time to talk and you may also share in what we are doing at the time.
3. After having experienced the above, what should I do if I feel that God is calling me, to live as a Salesian Sister?
You would make contact with a Salesian Sister who could accompany you, by way of frequent encounters, in this initial discerning of what God wants you to do with your life, before a more formal training programme begins.
4. I have heard of a "Formation Program". What is it?
"Formation Program" is the formal program to train young women who would like to become Sisters. In the South Pacific Region, the Formation Program of the Salesian Sisters from start to final profession consists of 3 major periods:
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Pre-novice (Period of Discernment and Orientation and Period of Postulancy): two years or more interacting in the life of the Salesian Sisters in one or more of our communities in Australia (Melbourne and/or Sydney). In Samoa and the Solomon Islands young women interested in our life join a "Come and See" program. If they wish to continue the journey with the Salesian Sisters, they work with our Sisters usually in one of the Sisters' ministries (works). After that they spend one year (pre-novitiate stage) living with the Sisters before leaving for Australia to continue their journey with the Sisters.
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Novice (Period of Novitiate): two years living with the Sisters and more intensive study of our constitutions and deepening of the Christian faith (Liturgy, Scripture, Church etc.) and human development
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First profession to final profession (Period of Temporary Profession to final Profession): a period from six to nine years. The young Sister professes her vows in the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christian and lives fully immersed in the life of the Salesian Sisters in Australia, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands.