All new members of our congregation begin their formation with a year in the novitiate. The IVE’s novitiate in the United States—the St. Isaac Jogues and Companion Martyrs Novitiate House—is located in Mount Rainier, Maryland, on the property of St. James Parish. As of right now, there are 19 men living there, counting the novices, postulants, and the formation team.

The novitiate is not an academic year (although you do take several basic introductory courses in Liturgy, Scripture, etc.), and so it is not considered part of seminary formation. It is, however, very much a year of formation. It is a period during which the novices develop a deeper life of prayer, immerse themselves in spiritual reading, put their prayer into action through various apostolates and parish missions, and grow in their love of the daily cross. In order to help to foster this spirit, for example, the novitiate has nocturnal adoration from Thursday evening to Friday morning each week (in addition to the daily hour of adoration) in order to give the novices time alone in the presence of Christ.

The novitiate year is also a vital period of discernment, since although novices are invested with the habit of our congregation after a given period of time, they do not profess any vows during the entire time they are in the novitiate.* There is not only a great deal of time given for prayer, but also a period devoted to the study of our constitutions and our directory of spirituality, which enable our newest members to better understand the spirit and charism of our Institute. Combined with this, there is a growth in understanding of what community life in the IVE entails, and the joys and sacrifices inherent in this aspect of religious life. Indeed, every year we have men who come from a number of countries, so there is a bit of a “Tower of Babel” situation at the beginning, which can be both entertaining and a wonderful opportunity for growth in humility and patience! Although the focus overall is on prayer and discernment, there are always lots of projects to be done as well, and so we want all our men to cultivate a real generosity of heart in their apostolates and the work around the house.

Finally, the novitiate is a lot of fun. There is always a light-hearted spirit in our houses, but in the novitiate, since there is less academic pressure, there is a real emphasis on community-building activities. On most Sundays, the novices go out to museums, or short pilgrimages, or make other trips. Meals, too, are an important time for community life, and with the exception of one day a week (in which the novices keep silence) there is always a lot of laughing and joking around the table. By canon law, novices aren’t allowed to leave until they have a completed a full year, so there are no visits home to family during the year. However, in order to compensate, the master of novices and all the guys make holidays as fun as possible—big Thanksgiving dinners, an annual two-week pilgrimage to all the IVE’s parishes on the East Coast over Christmas break, etc. In June, the novices begin a period of missionary activity—popular missions, children's oratories, etc.—that runs through June. The entire month of July is spent in a 30-day silent Ignatian Spiritual Exercises retreat—an intense and amazing experience for spiritual growth. Finally, at the end of the year, the entire month of August is spent in “convivencia” (living together). In the mountains of upstate New York, together with many of the seminarians and IVE priests (who come from all over the province and the world) the novices spend the whole month hiking, playing sports, fishing, boating, and other types of community recreation. After that 30 days of relaxation, it's off to the seminary...

* You first profess vows in the first year of seminary—temporary (one-year) vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.