On the Threshold of Religious Life: an Interview with Jesuit Novice Erik Sorensen

By John O’Brien, S.J. 

Erik Sorensen is in the final days of the first phase of Jesuit formation known as novitiate. For two years, he has been studying, praying and embarking on experiences known as “experiments”, all designed by St. Ignatius of Loyola to test the candidate and help him grow in his vocation. Erik, 24, will be professing vows of perpetual poverty, chastity and obedience on August 17, 2014. 

Erik, tell us a little bit about yourself and your family background. 
I grew up in Red Deer, Alberta with my parents and two younger sisters.  Ever since I was young, I have been interested in aviation. This interest led me to get both my pilots license and a Bachelors Degree in Aerospace Engineering. 

What brought to the doorstep of the Jesuit novitiate? 
During my years in high school, I entertained the thought of being a priest. But I was never super serious about it because I was so intrigued by my passion for aviation and I was unable, at the time, to reconcile these ideas.

Vowed for Life and Lord

By Adam Lalonde, S.J.

Three weeks ago I made my first and perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Interiorly I had been telling myself that there would be no public display of emotion. I wondered if some people would be put off. Would they understand that I had spent two years preparing for the vows I would now profess? If so, then it should be obvious that I had already been through the struggles, the joys, the discernment. I had spent countless hours in prayer, in retreats, in seminars, and spiritual direction. Everything that was to be experienced emotionally had been done. Now I would simply be declaring publicly what I was already living in my heart.

That’s not quite how it turned out. The moment came. I knelt before the elevated Eucharist as per the centuries-old tradition of the Society of Jesus. And that’s when it began to hit me. I was suddenly aware of my Lord before me and my family, friends, and my brothers in the Society behind me. And then (in French) I said the words: