Application Process
1. Attend a Deacon Discernment Day offered by the Institute for Diaconate Formation.
If you are married, your wife should also participate.
2. Complete the Catechetical Institute Pillars program or be enrolled as a current student.
You are welcome to attend the Deacon Discernment Day to learn more about the diaconate vocation even if you are not already a participant in or graduate of the Catechetical Institute. The pre-requisite is that you have completed or are enrolled in the Catechetical Institute by the time you formally apply to the Institute for Diaconate Formation.
3. Complete the pre-application form.
This form is sent upon request after you attend a Deacon Discernment Day.
4. Participate in an initial interview with the director and the associate director of admissions.
If you are married, your wife should also participate. This interview is for mutual discernment about whether to continue with the application process.
5. Complete the application for admissions to the aspirancy program for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
This application includes gathering of necessary official documents, recommendations, medical assessment, background checks, autobiography, and Scripture reflections. Other prerequisites will be explained during the Deacon Discernment Day and include being VIRTUS certified.
6. Participate in an interview with the Admissions Committee.
This interview is for mutual discernment about whether you are to be recommended to the archbishop for admission to the aspirancy program of the Institute for Diaconate Formation. If you are married, your wife is required to participate in the interview.
7. Determination on acceptance into aspirancy.
The Archbishop makes the final decision on an applicant's acceptance into the aspirancy program of the Institute for Diaconate Formation.