Fidelity, Freedom, and the Long Journey
July 7-14, 2026
Formation for Lifelong Fidelity in Religious Life
The Life Commitment Program is designed for religious women and men preparing for final profession who have already lived vowed life for many years and are discerning a lifelong commitment.
This program is not an introduction to vows, nor a repetition of initial formation.
It is an opportunity to pause, reflect deeply, and re-engage the evangelical vows in light of lived experience, complexity, and the long journey ahead.
Who This Program Is For
The Life Commitment Program is for religious who:
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Are approaching final or perpetual profession
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Desire space to reflect honestly on vocation as it is now, not as it once was
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Are seeking depth, integration, and renewal rather than basic instruction
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Want to prepare not only for profession day, but for decades of faithful vowed life
Participants come with wisdom, questions, fatigue, joy, and hope.
All of this belongs here.
Program Focus
Throughout the week, participants will engage:
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The evangelical vows, revisited through lived experience rather than theory
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The human and spiritual dimensions of long-term commitment
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Questions of identity, authority, belonging, intimacy, freedom, and resilience
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Discernment for the next 10–20 years of vowed life
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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:
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Name their current season of vowed life with honesty and spiritual awareness
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Reinterpret the evangelical vows in light of lived experience and vocational maturity
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Integrate theological reflection with human and spiritual realities of vowed life
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Engage complexity, authority, and change with discernment and agency
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Evaluate personal practices of sustainability and resilience
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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.
Click here to view photos from the Life Commitment Program
Date, Location, and Cost of Life Commitment (LC) 2026
LC 2026 will take place July 7-14, 2026 at the The Well, LaGrange, Illinois. The program begins in the afternoon on July 7th with departure on the morning of July 13. Please review the online application guide to prepare your answers and any documents. Payment can be made by using a credit card or an e-check. Registration/application deadline is May 1, 2026. If you have any questions, please contact nlevchenko@relforcon.org
REGISTER TODAY: [LINK] Life Commitment Application Guide
Please review the application guide before beginning the online registration.
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RFC Members [LINK]
$2,450 (includes $100 non-refundable deposit) -
Non-members [LINK]
$3,250 (includes $100 non-refundable deposit)
Presentation Topics
From First Yes to Last Breath: The Arc of a Vowed Life
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.
Poverty After the Honeymoon: Freedom, Fear, and Stewardship Over Time
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.
Obedience When It’s Complicated: Authority, Agency, and Discernment
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.
Celibacy Across the Lifespan: Love, Loneliness, and Affective Maturity
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
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.
Mary Daniel Turner, SNDdeN Scholarship Fund
We are happy to share that partial scholarship funds are available for RFC member congregations/provinces. Learn more