FORMATION
The primary objective of formation process is to prepare people for the total consecration of themselves to God in the following of Christ at the service of the Church’s mission. (V.C. 65) Bearing this in mind we have accorded a primary place in the planning and programming of Province activities to formation.Vocation is a gift from God, a Charism given to a person which needs grace and guidance to grow. It is a challenge within to transcend earthly realities. This gift is to be nursed and developed and thus helped to grow with love and care.
Vocation camps were organized, prayer campaigns started and action plans drawn up to promote vocations. The realization that the vowed life should be lived to the full and the Paschal Mystery relived by each one, became an obligation and not an option in order to foster vocations and bring others to share our charism.
Postulancy
Maria Nilaya
The Postulants’ House was opened and blessed on July 3, 1993, the feast of St. Thomas. It was a homely little cottage at the rear end of Providence Convent campus. Along with the postulants there is a community. During this period of formation the formees are provided with opportunities to become acquainted with life in the Apostolic Carmel community and the basic elements of religious life. The postulants take active participation in the parish activities .
Novitiate -Anugraha
Initial formation was hand over to the Provinces in 1994. Hence it became the responsibility of the Provincial Superior and her team. So the Province began its novitiate house named Anugraha and blessed it on 7th May 1994 by His Excellency Rt. Rev. Dr. Maxwell Noronha. The common programmes chalked out by the Superior General was carried on in the Province, so that the same courses and training were given to all who entered the Apostolic Carmel.The aim of the novitiate is to prepare the novice for religious life through a deepening of faith helping her in understanding the life of the Apostolic Carmel and initiating her I the living of it.
Juniorate
After the first profession, the newly professed sisters had a year of common juniorate atSaranya, Bangalore, under a Directress appointed by the Superior General. This gave them oneness and more love for the congregation.The period of temporary profession will afford opportunity for the sister to grow in a deeper realization of her consecration in a lived experience of community and apostolic life strengthening her life of belonging to the Apostolic Carmel.