Global formation experience for those preparing for final vows

The Conference is pleased to announce a pilot online international cohort of the Life Commitment program for women and men religious preparing for perpetual/final vows who are unable to participate in the residential program due to international travel limitations.

This online cohort is designed specifically for participants facing: 

  • Visa restrictions
  • Significant international travel expenses
  • Congregational or geographical limitations that make travel difficult

Listening to the needs of religious and congregations who are unable to travel internationally, RFC developed this pilot online cohort as a way to extend the spirit and depth of the Life Commitment program to participants around the world.

Rooted in the spirit and core themes of the Life Commitment program, this international cohort preserves the program’s emphasis on communal reflection, vocational integration, intercultural dialogue, and accompaniment while offering a more accessible format for global participation.

Through recorded presentations, guided reflection, small-group sharing, and live Zoom gatherings, participants will explore themes of fidelity, freedom, perseverance, community life, and lifelong vocation in the company of religious from around the world.

Schedule

August 17–28, 2026
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays via Zoom videoconferencing
(August 17, 19, 21, and 24, 26, 28)

Themes include: 

  • From First Yes to Last Breath
  • Poverty After the Honeymoon
  • Obedience When It’s Complicated
  • Celibacy Across the Lifespan 
  • Community, Loss, and Perseverance
  • Recollection Day and Integration

Live Zoom sessions will be scheduled with attention to participants’ international time zones to foster accessible and meaningful global participation. Participation in ALL live (synchronous) sessions is required; these sessions will not be recorded.

Registration/application deadline is August 1, 2026. 

REGISTER TODAY: [LINK]  Life Commitment Application Guide
Please review the application guide before beginning the online registration. 

  • RFC Members Payment [LINK]
    $1,000 (includes $100 non-refundable deposit)
  • Non-members Payment [LINK]
    $1,200 (includes $100 non-refundable deposit)

Partial scholarship funds are available to congregational members through the Mary Daniel Turner, SNDdeN, Scholarship Fund. Learn more.

We warmly invite congregations and religious preparing for final commitment to join this unique international formation experience.

Daily Structure

Asynchronous part. Participants watch:

  • One recorded presentation
  • Reflection guide/journal prompts  

Live Zoom Session (approximately 2–2.5 hours)

  • Opening prayer (10 minutes)
  • Facilitated integration (45–60 minutes)
  • Small groups (40–50 minutes)
  • Large group integration (20 minutes, depending on the number of participants)
  • Closing prayer (10 minutes)

Participation in ALL sessions is required. A strong Internet connection will be necessary. All sessions are held in English. 

Questions, contact Nadiya Levchenko, DMin, RFC director of programs and initiatives: nlevchenko@relforcon.org.

Program Details

Program Focus 

Throughout the program, participants will engage:

  • The evangelical vows, revisited through lived experience rather than theory

  • The human and spiritual dimensions of long-term commitment

  • Questions of identity, authority, belonging, intimacy, freedom, and resilience

  • Discernment for the next 10–20 years of vowed life

  • Practices that support sustainability, lifelong formation, and fidelity

The program integrates input sessions, prayer, small-group reflection, personal journaling, Eucharist, and a guided retreat day.

 

Program Outcomes

By the conclusion of the Life Commitment Program, participants will be able to:

  • Name their current season of vowed life with honesty and spiritual awareness

  • Reinterpret the evangelical vows in light of lived experience and vocational maturity

  • Integrate theological reflection with human and spiritual realities of vowed life

  • Engage complexity, authority, and change with discernment and agency

  • Evaluate personal practices of sustainability and resilience

  • Articulate a personal vision for lifelong fidelity and ongoing formation

 
A Threshold, Not a Finish Line

Final profession is not the end of formation.
It is a threshold into deeper responsibility, freedom, and fidelity.

The Life Commitment Program exists to support religious women and men in preparing for that threshold—honestly, thoughtfully, and with hope for the long journey ahead.

By addressing vocational maturity, resilience, and sustainability, the Life Commitment Program contributes to the long-term well-being and faithful perseverance of religious women and men beyond final profession.

 

Presentation Topics

From First Yes to Last Breath: The Arc of a Vowed Life - Paul Michalenko, ST

This opening session situates final profession within the broader arc of vowed life. Participants are invited to reflect on vocation as a dynamic, evolving commitment shaped by seasons of growth, disillusionment, renewal, and quiet fidelity. The session honors lived experience and invites participants to name where they are now as they prepare for the next chapter of lifelong commitment.

Obedience When It’s Complicated: Authority, Agency, and Discernment - Xiomara Méndez Hernández, OP

Obedience is approached as a mature, relational practice grounded in listening, discernment, and moral agency. This session engages the complexities of obedience as it is lived within real communities and imperfect structures, including experiences of leadership, disagreement, and accountability. Participants are invited to reflect on how obedience continues to shape freedom, integrity, and faithful engagement over time.

Poverty After the Honeymoon: Freedom, Fear, and Stewardship Over Time - Mumbi Kigutha, CPPS

This session explores evangelical poverty as a lifelong practice of freedom rather than a fixed ideal. Participants reflect on how their relationship to simplicity, responsibility, security, and stewardship has evolved through ministry, leadership, and changing life circumstances. The focus is on cultivating trust, interior freedom, and joyful availability in the realities of contemporary religious life.

Celibacy Across the Lifespan: Love, Loneliness, and Affective Maturity - Sara Fairbanks, OP

This session reflects on celibacy as a lifelong vocation to love that unfolds across different stages of life. Attention is given to friendship, intimacy, loneliness, grief, and joy, as well as the importance of relational maturity and emotional honesty. Participants are invited to consider how celibacy continues to shape their capacity for love, connection, and generativity in vowed life.

Staying When It’s Hard: Community, Conflict, and Change - Kevin Considine, PhD

Community life is explored as a living reality marked by diversity, transition, conflict, and grace. This session invites reflection on belonging amid generational, cultural, and structural change, and on the spiritual work of remaining engaged when community life is challenging. Participants consider what it means to choose commitment, practice reconciliation, and nurture hope within evolving communities.

Integration and Discernment for the Long Journey Ahead

The program concludes with a guided retreat day focused on integration and future discernment. Participants are invited to gather insights from the week and reflect prayerfully on the years ahead. Through silence, reflection, and intentional practices, they articulate a personal vision for living vowed life with sustainability, freedom, and fidelity beyond final profession.