Vocations

Francis of Assisi heard the call to “go and rebuild my house” before the San Damiano crucifix, and took it, at first, quite literally. If you are reading this page, some version of that same call may be stirring in you, and it deserves an honest answer, not a brochure.

What the life actually is

A Capuchin is a friar — from the Latin frater, brother. That word is not a formality. Before anything else, a Capuchin lives in a fraternity: a small group of brothers sharing a house, a table, a chapel, and a common purse. The three vows that bind that life are poverty, chastity and obedience. Poverty is shared, not staged — friars own little personally and depend on the community and on providence. Prayer structures the day, communally and alone. Ministry — to a parish, a chaplaincy, the sick, the poor — flows out of that shared life rather than standing apart from it.

It is worth saying plainly: this is not a career with a spiritual theme attached. It is a life given away, lived in common with men you did not choose and will not leave. That is its cost and, for those who stay, its substance.

Brother, or brother-priest

Within the fraternity there are two forms the vocation can take. A friar who is not ordained is called Br — brother. A friar who is also a priest is called Fr. Both are friars in the full sense; ordination adds a further ministry, it does not create a higher rank of Capuchin. A man can be called simply to be a brother — to prayer, to community, to whatever work of hands or presence the fraternity needs — and that is a complete Capuchin vocation, asking nothing less of him than the priesthood asks of others. Men discerning a Capuchin vocation are asking which service God is asking of them within the one brotherhood.

How it unfolds

Nobody arrives at solemn vows quickly, and nobody is expected to know everything before they start. The path has recognised stages, each one a further, more considered commitment:

• Enquiry — conversation and visits, no commitment, simply finding out what the life involves.
• Postulancy (about a year) — living alongside the friars, sharing the daily rhythm of prayer and community before formally entering.
• Novitiate (about a year) — formal entry into the Order; the novice receives the habit and gives sustained time to prayer, formation and the Rule.
• Temporary (simple) vows — poverty, chastity and obedience professed for a period, renewed over several years as formation continues.
• Solemn (perpetual) profession — the same three vows professed for life.
• Ordination, for those called to priesthood, follows further study after profession.

Each stage exists so a man — and the fraternity discerning with him — can test the call honestly, with real time to know if it holds.

Being honest about it

This life asks a great deal: obedience where you would rather choose, poverty where you could provide for yourself, chastity lived permanently, and a community you do not get to leave when it is difficult. Discernment properly takes years, not weeks, and it should. Asking is not promising. A man can begin enquiring, spend time with the friars, sit with the questions, and step back at any stage without failure or shame. Nobody is signed up for anything by getting in touch.

If this is stirring in you

There is no separate vocations contact published for New Zealand at present. If you would like to talk, begin through the contact page, and the friars will take it from there.

My God and My All.