Are you curious about whether or not God is calling you to be a Sister?

The first thing to do is to contact us, and we’ll begin the conversation. You can email Sr. Leslie Keener at vocation@cdpkentucky.org or call her at 859-441-0700, ext. 22.

The second thing to do is to find a spiritual director. A spiritual director is a trained companion who can walk with you and offer a listening, prayerful presence as you explore God’s call for you. We can help to connect you with a spiritual director, or you can visit here for a list of spiritual directors.

Becoming a Sister is a process, one step at a time. As God’s call grows in you, the process invites deeper and deeper connection with God and the community and chance to sort of try out your call. And you’ll have plenty of help along the way.

Steps to becoming a Sister of Divine Providence:

As an aspirant, a woman in discernment is loosely connected to the community. She continues to live on her own, and she meets regularly with the vocation director and a spiritual director. She occasionally shares meals, prayer, and celebrations with the community.

Postulancy

A postulant experiences community life as a CDP. She lives with Sisters as she continues her full-time work or educational studies. This stage generally lasts one to two years.

Novitiate
The novitiate is a sort of Sabbath time, a time for quiet, self-reflection, and solitude. A canonical novice steps out of the hectic pace of life to deepen her relationship with Christ. She lives in community with Sisters, and she studies our charism, Constitutions, and history. The canonical novitiate lasts one year.

Next, a novice enters her apostolic year, a time of continued discernment which has a service component. During this year, as she tries out a ministry herself, she continues to experience what vowed life is like in a ministerial community. The apostolic novitiate lasts one year.

First Profession of Vows

If a Sister and the congregation discern that God is calling her to be a Sister of Divine Providence, she professes vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. As a temporary professed Sister, she works in full-time ministry, lives in community, and continues to discern her call to vowed life. This step lasts 3 to 6 years.

When a Sister in first vows feels that God is calling her to consecrated life for the rest of her life, she requests permission to make perpetual vows. Once she is accepted, she prepares to make her permanent commitment to vowed life as a Sister of Divine Providence. She professes her final vows publicly, before God and the Church.