The candidacy is the stage prior to the Novitiate for young people who feel a calling to religious life in the Legion and who have undergone a vocational process and accompaniment for some time.
In the candidacies, young people are given the opportunity to test whether the Legion of Christ is the place where God is calling them and, at the same time, live a period guided by formators to make the right decisions.
Mexico and Central America
This year, it started on June 30 and ends on August 31 at the Santa María de la Montaña Novitiate in Monterrey, N.L. These are two months during which young people experience spiritual, human, intellectual, and apostolic growth.
In the civil center candidacy, 21 young people from different cities in Mexico, Guatemala, and Chile participate. Some of them have completed their professional studies, and others have interrupted them to embark on the great adventure of discovering God’s will for their lives.
In the vocational centers candidacy, 10 young people from the apostolic centers of La Joya, León, and Monterrey participate. All are Mexican, and after living and being formed in the Legionaries of Christ vocational centers, they continue their discernment process this summer. As time progresses, the two candidacies will unite into a single community.
The team of formators for this candidacy includes: P. Galo González, LC (director), P. Roberto Villatoro, LC (spiritual director), P. Marcos Salazar, LC (spiritual director), P. Francisco Aguilar, LC (vocational guide), P. Esteban Castellanos, LC* (vocational guide), P. Lucas Machado, LC (assistant), H. Duban Corredor, LC (assistant), and H. José Alberto Rincón, LC (assistant).
Colombia – Venezuela
Ten young people undertake the candidacy period in the territory of Venezuela-Colombia, which began on Friday, July 15 (ends September 14): 7 come from the civil center and 3 from the vocational center. Except for one young person from Panama, the rest are Colombians. The director of the candidacy is P. Óscar Gamboa, LC, and the assistant is P. César Pérez Luzardo, LC. H. Samuel Canal, LC, is part of the auxiliary team.
From July 16 to September 15, the candidacy takes place in Mérida, Venezuela. Six young people participate: 1 from the Vocational Center and 5 from the Civil Center. The candidates come from Caracas, Carora, Acarigua, Mérida, and Barquisimeto. P. Julio Martí, LC, is the director, and Fathers Elías Sayegh, LC, and Saúl Gutierrez, LC, are the assistants.
United States
The 2022 candidacy began at the Novitiate and Humanities Center in Cheshire. Seven candidates participate, three from the Indiana Vocational Center and four from the civil center.
The importance of the candidacies
The Legionaries of Christ play a fundamental role as formators of the candidates, assisting them in spiritual direction, as well as in sacramental life. They also have moments of prayer together, classes, apostolate, fellowship, and sports.
All of this aims to provide the participants with an environment of prayer, fraternal life, and the necessary means to listen to God’s voice, which wishes to manifest His will to each candidate.
The candidacies in various territories are a necessary stage so that both participants and formators can reach a sufficient degree of certainty regarding each young person’s step toward the first stage before religious life, which is the Novitiate.
The purpose of the candidacy is not solely to accompany young people as they discern their path in priestly and religious life within the Congregation, but to guide them in discovering God’s will for their lives.
