The Collaborative Dominican Novitiate (CDN), sponsored by 23 U.S. Dominican women’s congregations, allows novices from various congregations to form a peer group and to gain a broader perspective of the Dominican family.

Each novice is encouraged to deepen her personal prayer and to meet regularly with a spiritual director. The CDN experience includes daily morning and evening communal prayer, weekly reflection days, and opportunities for daily Mass and monthly home liturgies.

Novices spend one day each week in ministry in such areas as jails, schools, social service agencies, hospitals, and homes for young mothers and people with AIDS.