Formation Syllabus for the Aspirancy

General Objective:

To become familiar with the community, the style of life and service to the Church proper to the secular Order of the Teresian Carmel that will provide the community the opportunity to make an adequate discernment .

Specific Objectives:

At the end of the formation, the formands should have gained:

• an enhanced Catechetical Knowledge on the divine plan of revelation and its transmission as entrusted to the Church;
• a familiarity with the Church: Her Structure, hierarchy, and the role of the Laity;
• an acquired an appreciation of the History of the Order;
• an understanding of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, fundamentally the OCDS: is secular Identity, the way of life of its members and its role in the mission of the Church; and
• a keen desire to live a life of prayer that is liturgical, devotional and personal.

Outline

Part 1 Introduction to the Aspirancy

1. Orientation

Part 2 The Call to Holiness

1. God Comes to meet man
2. Christ Jesus: Mediator and Fullness of all revelation

Part 3 Man's Response to God: Following Jesus Christ

1. The Church in God's Plan

Part 4 Our Identity, Values and Commitment

1. The Birth of the Order - 1
2. The Birth of the Order - 2
3. Three in One: The Order of Discalced Carmelites
4. Vocation to Carmel: A personal Call

Resources: 

1. The Holy Scriptures (Catholic Edition)
2. Liturgy of the Hours
3. Catechism of the Catholic Church or (Catechism for Filipino Catholics) 
4. Constitutions of the Discalced Carmelite Family (Friars, Nuns, Secular)
5. "Setting Out From Essentials", General Chapter of the Discalced Carmelites, Avila, 17 May 2003
6. Deeney, OCD Aloysius, Conference given at the OCDS International Congress in Mexico, September 2000
7. Deeney, OCD Aloysius, web log, OCD 4 OCDS, http://ocd4ocds.blogspot.com/
8. Rohrback, OCD, Peter-Thomas, Journey to Carith: The Story of the Carmelite Order
9. Vatican II Documents 

• Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation
• Christi Fidelis Laici

Source:

"Introduction to the Aspirancy" OCDS-Philippines Program of formation, St. Faustina Printing Press, pp 11-12