Shortly after these documents have been received, you will be invited to the Society's headquarters in Boston for a one week period referred to as “Partners in Discernment”.

Those are days of prayer as well as a progressive self-assessment in company with a team of advisors which includes doctors, psychologists, and priests. The period of discernment includes community prayer, presentations, discussion, readings and reflection. It also provides an orientation concerning the Society itself, our missionary aims and works as well as an overview of life in Latin America. All of those components have proven helpful towards the cross-cultural transition necessary for effective missionary entry into the pastoral, social, political, and economic realities of Latin American countries and their peoples. The discernment period entails specific components wherein the candidate becomes aware that joining the St. James Society is very much a vocational decision.

While in Boston there will also be many occasions for meeting and informal conversations with active or former members who are passing through on visits following weekend assignments of parish fund-raising appeals. This lends itself well to hearing first hand a bit more about the current missionary work going on in each country and the experiences of those who are there.