Mariannhill Mission Society
Serving God in the Foreign Missions
Greetings! We Mariannhill Missionaries are a religious congregation of the Catholic Church, dedicated to the foreign missions. As religious, we take the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience for life, like most religious men and women of the Latin Rite. Entrance into the congregation proceeds through various satges:  postulancy (six months to two years), novitiate (one year), temporary vows (three years to six years) and final profession.  The vowed life begins after the novitiate.
Mariannhill priest with New Guinea children
The vows are our promise to give up everything to follow Jesus Christ more closely, as his disciples and the apostles did (cf. Mt 19:27f), and as Jesus Himself recommended (cf. Mt 8:18-22, 16:24-27, Mk 10:28-30, Lk 18:18-22).
Because we are a missionary congregation our vows have an added dimension, a missionary dimension. Our Constitutions describe this dimension as follows: "Our common ownership [i.e. poverty] has a missionary character. It helps make means available for the task of the Congregation" (Const. No. 218). "Insofar as we succeed in [living chastity], we make the meaning of human community manifest and bear witness to the fact that all men are required to love" (Const. No. 211). "By [obedience] we offer our fellowmen an orientation in regulating their behavior toward one another" (Const. No. 236).
Profession ceremony
In fact, our whole religious life is permeated by our missionary charism. "Our vocation to the religious life and missionary service constitute one vocation. On the one hand, the apostolic work of our Congregation belongs to the essence of our religious life and, on the other hand, our consecration to God makes us available to mankind. Hence our religious life must be permeated by an apostolic spirit, just as our missionary activity must be animated by the spirit of the [Evangelical] Counsels" (Const. No. 206).
Signature given during a profession
Those who join us must be ready to live and work wherever their superiors send them.
Mariannhill Brothers in South Africa work a printing press
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For more information write to:
Vocation Director
Mariannhill Missionaries
23715 Ann Arbor Trail
Dearborn Heights, MI 48127

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For those searching out their vocation in life,
Fr. Vergil offers some reflections on vocations.
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