​Religious Profession in Australia

In Australia, religious profession remains a vital and visible witness of consecrated life. From the earliest days of colonial settlement, religious sisters have offered their lives in service, teaching, health care, and mission. The first religious profession in Australia was recorded in 1839, and the first Australian congregation founded was the Sisters of the Good Samaritan in 1857. The Josephite order, formally known as the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, was founded soon after in 1866.

Religious profession is the public, solemn commitment by a man or woman to live out the evangelical counsels — poverty, chastity, and obedience — within a religious institute or order. It is both a gift and a call: a gift of God’s grace, and a call to radical discipleship, to live in community, for mission, prayer, and witness.

Across Australia there are more than 150 congregations of religious men and women, comprising over 5,000 professed members, all affiliated through Catholic Religious Australia. Religious communities contributed significantly to the foundation of Catholic education, health care, and social services, especially in remote and regional areas, and continue to be part of the Church’s mission in justice, care, and presence among those on the margins.

The Formation Path and the Meaning of Vows

Religious formation in Australia typically proceeds in stages: postulancy (initial introduction to religious life), novitiate (more intensive formation), temporary vows or promises, and finally perpetual vows or final profession. During this journey, the candidate is accompanied by a community, guided by the institute’s charism and rule, and immersed in prayer, ministry, and communal life.

The three vows traditionally professed by members of religious institutes in the Catholic Church are poverty, chastity and obedience. These evangelical counsels are not simply ideals but are foundational to the identity of those who profess them. Poverty involves simplicity and detachment, chastity invites a heart wholly given over to God’s love, and obedience is about freedom rooted in listening and service. These vows are transformative, both for individuals and for the communities of which they become part, as their witness invites the wider Church to deeper holiness.

Ritual, Symbolism, and Public Witness

Locally in Australia, the ritual of profession is celebrated with great solemnity, often during Mass, so that the community can see and share in the commitment being made. The habit or religious attire, sometimes the presentation of a crucifix, ring, or profession cross, the public reading of the vows, the signing of the profession document, and often a liturgy of song and thanksgiving all mark this moment.

Religious profession is not only a private matter of personal consecration; it is deeply communal. It shapes parish life: the professed become living signs of God’s Kingdom, places of contemplation, hospitality, service, and prayer. Many religious in Australia serve in schools, hospitals, social services, pastoral care, and mission among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, migrants and refugees, people living with disadvantage, and others often on the periphery.

Challenges, Hope, and the Future

Though the numbers of religious in some congregations have declined over recent decades, and the lifestyle of consecrated life faces cultural challenges, there remains a strong longing and respect in many Australians for lives given wholly to God. New forms of community, lay collaborators, ecumenical outreach, and inculturation (including Indigenous expressions of faith) all offer hope for renewal.

In changing times, Australia’s religious communities are discerning together, strengthening formation, inviting laypeople to share in their mission and ministry, and continuing to serve God’s people with faithful creativity.