Tertianship: Third Novitiate
Sister Grace here! I feel like this is the blog version of a relay race and it's my turn to run with the baton. This entry picks up where the Novitiate entry left off. I've taken part in all three kinds of novitiate training in my religious life: first being a novice, then Secord Novitiate before making my perpetual (final) vows, and next the Third Novitiate of the Tertianship program. These are key parts of formation, preparation for full membership in the religious community. The novitiate way of formation is at the heart of the Felician approach to the spiritual growth of its members.
I experienced the spiritual benefits of tertianship this summer. Certainly I felt them myself, but I also saw how it affected the other tertians, the province, and the international Felician Congregation. The gift of this time is renewal, grounding in relationship with God and community, rooted in Gospel values. The Holy Spirit works through it, inspiring the lives of the participants and the Felician world as a whole.
Spiritual Renewal
This is a photo of me in one of my tertianship classes in Kenya. These are often led by our sisters. Here S. Suzanne Marie Kush, Provincial Councilor and Director of Formation, teaches us about Franciscanism. She was the Director of our Tertianship.
The Felician life can be broken down into three alternating stages of renewal. First, in the beginning, we Get Connected as a candidate, postulant, and novice. After that, there's Being Connected, where we find nourishment in the daily rhythm of prayer, service, and community. Then there's Staying Connected, through periods of renewal and refreshment. Stepping away from familar tasks and routines to focus on our primary spiritual commitments to God and community helps us stay rooted in these priorities.
Tertianship is one of those times, and my recent experience gives me a fresh perspective. On a side note, Second Novitiate is also: a preparation for making the perpetual commitment to this Congregation and life, structured along the lines of the Novitiate program. But more about that in an upcoming blog entry about Final Vows!
Tertianship
According to the first history book of the Livonia province, the purpose of the tertianship program is to light once again the fire of religious spirit and to deepen a one's sense of the spirit of the Felician Congregation. This develops a sister's better understanding of a more mature attitude toward religious life.
The idea of the program began in 1953 at the twelfth General Chapter. A new ordinance was passed: "Every sister after her fourteenth year of profession shall make the so-called tertianship during her summer months." The timing was practical: the sisters were predominantly teaching and the summer was the only extended period of free time they had. This was the time they were able to leave their ministries and living situations to travel.
Soon after the decision was made in 1953 to create the tertianship, it was added to the Constitutions for the Felician Congregation, Response to Love, and more details were settled.
Each sister between twelve and eighteen years after first profession participates in a tertianship program of spiritual renewal. This program, under the guidance of a director in accordance with the principles of Felician formation, continues for a period of six to eight weeks.”
- Response to Love, Ongoing Formation section, Article 85-3
The tertianship program was once familiarly known as Third Novitiate for a reason. It mimics the structure of Novitiate. From the beginning, there were prayers and classes on selected topics under a director, as well as time to pray individually and as a community. At times, the travel involved is international, as the sisters go on pilgrimage to Catholic, Franciscan, and Felician holy places. This includes staying at Felician convents in Rome and Poland.
History of the Tertianship Program
The first tertianship in the Livonia province at the Belssed Virgin Mary motherhouse, 1954.
The first programs were in 1954. At first, they were held in the motherhouses of the provinces or in a local parish convent. Later on, they started having them in retreat or renewal centers. For example, the Livonia province first had them at retreat centers in 1968, according to the province's historian, Sister Mary Janice Ziolkowski. Frequency depended on the number of sisters who are eligible to participate; you can't have tertianship without a community to share it with!
The first interprovincial tertianship program was in 1977. It was part of cooperation between the provinces that included a formation meeting, called by the General Formation Coordinator, Sister Mary Rosette Kubisty. As stated by Lodi, NJ, province's historian Sister Mary Ellen Brulinski in her second book for the province, the sisters who attended worked as formators in the North American provinces. The Felician Congregation was rethinking how it handled and improved ongoing formation that involved studying the Felician Constitution, the identifying and ruling document for the community.
The first interprovincial tertianship during the summer of 1977. This photo was taken at the Livonia province's motherhouse.
The historic tertianship program that crossed province lines happened at the Felician Retreat Center in Mount Arlington, New Jersey, in September of 1977. Between September 19th and 25th, thirty-seven Felician Sisters from across North America prayed and reflected together, in chapel and in the spiritual classroom, as recalled by Sister Mary Ellen. According to another historian's work, Sister Constance Marie Tomyl's writing of the second history books for the former Enfield, CT, province, this started a four-year initiative that developed formation and relationships across province boundaries through the tertianship program. Moving forward, these renewal programs continue to be interprovincial.
This year, in 2026, there was another historic moment in tertianship when sisters in Kenya and North America had a joint program together in both locations and cultures. When the director of the tertians in North America, Sister Suzanne Marie Kush, was invited to give a class to the tertians in Kenya, a possibility arose. Provincial and General leaders met to discuss a shared tertianship program and it was approved. In April of 2026, the four tertians from North America traveled to Kenya for two weeks. They stayed at the community house in Embu with the eleven Kenyan tertians. During this time, they participated in their classes, prayed in chapel, and benefitted from the hospitality of the local tertians. The North American sisters traveled in Kenya to see some of the order's convents and ministries there, as well as take part in some cultural trips.
In July, the sisters from North America continued their tertianship after a few months haitus. The Kenyan sisters joined them during this time in Maryville Retreat Center in Holly, Michigan, for four weeks. The Kenyan tertians joined their American counterparts in classes and visited their convents and ministries, enjoying the hospitality and warmth that echoed their own offered in April. These two groups of tertians had an intercultural community, sharing their prayer and worship practices in chapel. They got to know each other well and began relationships that will continue well beyond the summer.
The 2026 Tertianship group with the American director on a tour of the ministries in Livonia, Michigan. This photo was taken on the steps just inside Madonna University's main academic building in July of 2026.
Felician Renewal
I could've said "we" at the end of the previous section, because I was one of those tertians! It was a blessed time of sisterhood, of relationship with God and community. It was grounding, rooting in Gospel values and the Felician mission and charism. It was a wonderful reminder of my call to be a religious sister in this Congregation, what it means to me, and how truly inspiring it is. It was a powerful experience for all the tertians and we formed a strong bond.
The four American Tertians, with our director, and other Felician sisters in Embu, Kenya, April, 2026.
The unexpected part of it was how far the renewal spread in the Felician world. It touched the lives of the sisters in Kenya and Michigan, who spent time with us and entered into community with us. Then, when we shared about the experience with the sisters back home or on social media, the whole order became included. It reminded older sisters about their own tertianship programs. This experience intercultural experience also had the added beneifit of being thought-provoking for our international Congregation. There's so much possibility born from the sharing of our cultures and expressions of our Felician values. The tertianship renewal program has grown to retreat reflections, then to crossing province lines, and now to crossing cultural boundaries. The Holy Spirit, the spirit of renewal, is alive in the Felician Congregation!
Stay tuned for the rest of the Formation series!
