When a man first explores a call to life as a Divine Word Missionary, he will make contact with the Vocations Director, and after an initial period of inquiry and contact with the SVD, he will enter the Pre-Novitiate.

The pre-novitiate is seen as the first experience of community life for the candidate to the religious missionary vocation.

The candidate would be expected to have an adequate knowledge of the Catholic faith; to have successfully completed high school or its equivalent; to have developed a certain amount of personal independence through employment; to have maintained an active participation in relationship to Church; to have fulfilled the admissions screening requirements of the SVD.

The goal of the pre-novitiate is to enable the student to experience religious missionary life in community, deepen his own understanding of vocation and continue the initial learning about the SVD, its charism, its origins, history and mission.

Through daily prayer, scripture studies, spiritual direction, retreat and recollections, the pre-novice deepens his understanding of his relationship with God, himself, community, church and the world and enables him to grow in identification with God’s call to mission and ministry.

Regular meetings with the formation director and a supervisor help the pre-novice to reflect on his daily experiences of work, studies, recreation and pastoral experiences.

The pre-novice may take some courses in English, public speaking or in theological studies. As some of our pre-novices come from overseas, learning and experiencing Australian culture takes priority in this initial stage of our SVD formation.