Discerning God’s Call Together: Inside the 2026 Legionary Candidacy
This year, 12 candidates from across the United States and Canada are spending the summer at the Legionaries of Christ Novitiate and College of Humanities in Cheshire, Connecticut, discerning God’s call to become Legionary priests. During the two-month candidacy program, they’ll live like a Legionary, following a disciplined lifestyle and schedule, engaging in community life, participating in courses, sports, and apostolate, and strengthening their prayer and sacramental life as a band of brothers seeking to follow God’s will.
This year’s candidates come from:
- Georgia
- Massachusetts
- Wisconsin
- Florida
- Louisiana
- Nevada
- Idaho
- Ontario
- Alberta
- Nova Scotia
Candidacy is a summer program lived in the seminary in Cheshire, where the young men discern and prepare for entrance into the novitiate in the fall. It is the first formal step into formation for Legionary life, which, after approximately 10–12 years, culminates in the profession of perpetual vows and thereafter finishing theology and priestly ordination.
The candidacy begins with an orientation week, followed by a hiking and camping trip to strengthen the sense of brotherhood and charity among the candidates. Each week, the candidates have courses on discernment, Regnum Christi, theology of the body, apostolate work as Legionaries, and the formation principles that will help them throughout their preparation for Legionary life. There is daily meditation, Mass, examen time, rosary, adoration, and spiritual reading.
And the candidates also have plenty of time for sports and hiking, along with daily work assignments, and a “tech detox” to round out the experience of authentic manhood. They are accompanied and guided by a team of brothers and priests who are with them every step of the way as they experience religious family life.
Fr. Joseph Brickner, LC, candidacy director at the novitiate, shares that because community is so essential in the life of a Legionary priest, it is important that the candidates have that same experience of community during this time of discernment.
“During the candidacy, they experience team life, dive into Sacred Scripture together in their Encounter with Christ, and pray, work, and play together as they form a deep brotherhood,”
says Fr. Joseph.
“It is absolutely amazing to see different ages, different stories and personalities, all gather around Christ because he called them here.”
“As our Constitutions state, ‘Legionaries make present the mystery of Christ gathering the apostles around him, revealing to them the love of his heart, forming them, and sending them out to collaborate with him in building up his Kingdom.’ This, in a nutshell, is what they get to experience.”
Meet Two of This Year’s Candidates!
“I got to know the Legionaries of Christ primarily through doing two years of mission work as a Regnum Christi missionary. It was during these two years that I realized God was calling me to serve him even more. It is my hope that in candidacy, a time of deep prayer and drawing closer to Christ, I will be prepared to take a bigger step of commitment to God, and enter the novitiate this fall.”
“I began to seriously discern the feeling in my heart to give everything to God in the spring of 2025 with the help of the Legionaries. A powerful step forward was joining the aspirancy program to give more room in my life to God to let him lead me, which has led me here to candidacy. My time here has been such a blessing, and my favorite part has been growing closer to God through community and brotherhood with my fellow candidates, especially during our visit to New Hampshire for camping, hiking, and fellowship. For the remainder of candidacy, I hope to give God more and more room to work in my heart each day, and I trust he will lead me to whatever the next step is in my journey to follow his will for my life.”
“Remember the counsel of Jesus: ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore to the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into his harvest,’ (Mt 9:37). We readily recognize the need to pray for vocations to the priesthood and to consecrated life. It is not surprising that, where people pray fervently, vocations flourish.”
Join us in praying for this year’s ten candidates as they discern God’s will for their lives. Vocation Action Network is an apostolate that seeks to foster a culture of vocations in the Church and in society; visit Adoration for Vocations for vocation prayer resources and more.
Come & See
Want to learn more? Visit beautiful Cheshire during the Summer Candidacy program, and join the candidates and novitiates for “a day in the life.” Open visitation dates include July 20–27 and August 5–17. Click hereto register or contact Fr. Joseph Brickner with any questions.
To learn more, check out these links about LC Cheshire and discerning a vocation to the Legionaries of Christ, or follow lc_cheshire on Instagram. Or check out this video from the 2025 candidacy program.
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