Visitation Associates Community Mission Statement

We, the Visitation Associates, are Christian women and men coming together from different walks of life to share in the deepening of our spiritual lives according to the vision for Christian renewal of St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal.

It is our commitment to be witnesses to the Good News of Jesus.  By our devotion to the endeavor, through study, (contemplative) prayer and service (to the larger community), we hope to truly
LIVE JESUS with joy in our hearts.

We bond with the Visitation Sisters in striving to grow in our trust in God, our love for one another and in appreciation of our differences, not only in our Associate Community but in the world community.

Who We Are

Visitation Associates are women and men, married and single, who are living the embodiment of St. Francis de Sales' affirmation and St. Jane de Chantal's experience that the devout life can be lived in every form of life in the Church.  

The Visitation Sisters' heritage is offered to persons who wish to join with them through the Associate Community.  In the tradition of Francis and Jane, Associates participate in a program of prayer, study and ministry.

Women and men enter a process in which they experience the Salesian charism through relationships with Visitation sisters, Visitation associates and other candidates by learning the history, spirituality, charism and ministry of the community.  Associates emerge from the process more conscious of how to LIVE JESUS. 

Participation in the program will help each Associate to:
à  strengthen his or her baptismal commitment
à  study and live the spirituality of Francis and Jane
à  share life, talents and resources in service to others
à  support each other in the community of Associates

What We Do

- opportunity to initiate or expand experience with Visitation Community
- enrichment of the monastic and Church communities through personal participation in the Salesian way of life
- support
- join the Visitation Sisters for celebrations such as
          – Liturgy of the Eucharist
          – Liturgy of the Hours
          – retreats, feast days, jubilees 
- time and space for personal reflection at the monastery

Our Spirituality

Salesian spirituality is the basis for this community endeavor.  At the beginning the 17th century, St. Francis de Sales in Introduction to the Devout Life specified that every Christian is called to a life of holiness.  He wrote, "Devotion, the spiritual life, must be exercised in different ways by the gentleman, the worker, the soldier, the servant, the prince, the married woman, the widow or widower and the young.  Not only is this true, but the practice of devotion must also be adapted to the strength, temperament, activities and duties of each person."              (Introduction to the Devout Life 1:3)

More specifically, Francis believed the heart of devotion is always to "keep in mind the main lesson [that Jesus] left us ... 'Learn of Me, that I am gentle and humble of heart' (MT 11:29).  That says it all ..."                    (Letter CCXCI, to Mme. de Limojon)

In other words, the primary aim of Salesian spirituality is to put on the mind of Christ, to live Jesus.  This we do by dedicating " ... our whole life and all our works to union with God so we might assist in the renewal of the Church and the salvation of our neighbor by our prayer, works and good example."   (Spiritual Directory, Preface)   Also, since "we have no bond but the bond of love which is the bond of perfection"  (Col. 3:14), love of God and of neighbor become the motive of each action in our individual lives.  This vision of the Christian life transforms the ordinary into holiness.