Holy Ghost Vocations 2009

Our History

Founded in Paris in 1703 the Congregation of the Holy Spirit began life as the Seminary of the Holy Spirit. This seminary was founded by a young and brilliant law student, Claude Poullart des Places, who gave up his career to dedicate his life to the service of the poor and who would die at the age of thirty during an outbreak of pleurisy. Faithful to his wishes, his brothers in community buried him in the paupers’ grave. The purpose of the seminary was to train young men to become priests at the service of the poorer sections of society. Over the years many Spiritans were also sent to work in Africa,

the Americas and in Asia.

In 1848 a young missionary congregation dedicated to the Holy Heart of Mary joined with the Spiritans to become the religious missionary congregation that we know today. This group was founded by a convert from Judaism, Francis Libermann, and their first works brought them to work in Africa and with freed slaves.

So from the beginning our religious community has been marked by a strong multi-cultural

dimension where mission has been understood, essentially, as leaving one’s home and country to discover the presence of Christ in peoples of other cultures and traditions.

The Spiritans arrived in Ireland in 1859 with the aim of seeking English-speaking missionaries to work in Africa and are celebrating this year the 150th anniversary of the Irish Province. We are about 300 Irish Spiritans of whom about 100 are working outside Ireland – mainly in Africa and South America.

We are a missionary congregation. We seek to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the witness of our life and by our respect and desire to dialogue with men and women of every faith and none. We believe deeply that we meet Christ in everyone, but especially in the poor.

We seek to build up the Kingdom of God by working for justice and respect for each person and by building up faith communities where our gifts and talents are at the service of the Gospel and the Church. Concretely this can see us working as pastors in shanty towns in the big

cities of Brazil or in small village communities in Africa. We lead communities in prayer and in the celebration of the sacraments. We are teachers, doctors, nurses, community workers. We train men and women to be faith leaders in their communities and parishes.

Our Life Together

We seek to live close to the people we work with. Our communities are often small. More and more we are taking up the challenge

of international living. In a world which can be marked by prejudice, suspicion and greed we seek to live a common life of prayer and

service. It is not easy to overcome differences of culture and language but we believe that this is what Christ calls us to live.

Becoming a Spiritan

We often talk about Vocation when someone wishes to give their life to the service of others. Vocation is about a call and invitation. Jesus called his disciples by inviting them to come and follow him. But this call and invitation is often the result of a questioning about one’s life or a desire to do something worthwhile with it. We can read about this in St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 1, verses 35 to 39.

If you are at this stage of questioning or perhaps you too feel called to follow Christ by becoming part of the Spiritan family then it might be a good idea to talk it over with a Spiritan priest.

You may contact:

Fr. Marc Whelan C.S.Sp.
Kimmage Manor,
Dublin 12
Tel: 01 492 8539
Mob: 087 750 8954
vocations@irishspiritans.ie

You may choose to meet him to talk things over in complete freedom and confidence. There is absolutely no commitment required on your part and the role of Fr. Marc is to help you with your questions. Should you both decide, you might meet up with another Spiritan to engage in a more formal process of discernment.

Discernment is the term given to the process of serious reflection about life choices. This normally lasts a period of time necessary for you to see how God is working in your life and how He might be calling you to a life of discipleship – perhaps as a Spiritan missionary. Normally during this time you would spend some time in a Spiritan community to get to know us better.

At the end of this time of discernment if you feel called to pursue the idea of becoming a Spiritan you can apply to join the Formation Programme. There will be a series of interviews with the candidate and, at some stage, a psychological assessment.

The Formation Programme

As each candidate for formation is different so the Formation Programme adapts itself, where necessary, to the individual needs of each candidate. But there are some essential elements:

1. Living in Spiritan community. At the early stage of formation the candidate might still be working or involved in voluntary work. He might also begin a course of studies in theology and pastoral ministry.

2. There will be a period that we call the novitiate. This is twelve months of spiritual preparation where the candidate is introduced to the life and prayer of the Congregation. It is an intense spiritual experience under the guidance of an experienced Spiritan priest. This year is done in an international setting in our house outside Paris.

At the end of the novitiate, if the candidate wishes and the congregation accepts, he may make his first formal commitment to the Spiritan family by the profession, for three years, of the vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience.

3. We are a missionary congregation and so we would expect our candidates to live a prolonged experience of transcultural mission in one of our communities in Africa, South America or Asia. The length of time of this Overseas Training Programme is normally two years. The candidate receives training in preparation and on his return will be engaged in serious reflection on this first missionary experience.

4. The formation programme ends with training in theology and pastoral ministry – normally at university level.

At the end of the formation programme the candidate, if he so desires and with the approval of the Congregation, may commit himself for life to being a Spiritan Missionary.
All during this time of formation the candidate will be living the Spiritan life of prayer, mission and study. During the period of training a candidate would be expected to learn another language used in the Congregation (English, French or Portuguese).

He will live the common life with brothers. This common life is the lived expression of the religious vows which are at the heart of our community life. These vows are first taken after the novitiate and are taken for life at the end of the formation process.

The vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience

Contrary to what one might think these vows allow us to live freer lives! In poverty we give up the search for material gain to live like Christ at the service of others.

Through obedience we engage ourselves in a prayerful dialogue of how we can best serve the mission of the gospel so that we can use our gifts and talents to contribute to building up the kingdom of God.

In celibacy we undertake to live a fruitful life at the service of Mission by choosing not to be married and have a family.