To enter the Confraternity as an Inquirer who wishes to learn more about a life of penance, please complete the application below.  Please note that you cannot complete the application directly on this site.  To submit the application, you may:

a. Print the application, complete it, and postal mail it to us. 

Or

b. Copy and paste the application into an email, complete it,  and email it to us. 

If you have difficulty, please contact us and we can email or postal mail you a copy.

Note: Please keep a copy of your completed application. If you do not hear back from the Confraternity within a week of mailing your application, please contact us again. We may never have received your application.

May God give you His peace and guide you on your journey!

Value of Submitting an Inquirer Application

Perhaps you are on our Penance Means Conversion email list and have been receiving our periodic mailings and urgent prayer requests. Perhaps you are in touch with us via email or postal mail.  Maybe you have been sharing on our public forums.  Or you may have returned frequently to this site and reading and re-reading what you find here, praying about what to do.  You feel drawn in some degree to this way of life.  Should you submit an inquirer application?

Here are some benefits of submitting the application to bring to prayer.  Praying about these may help you decide how to proceed.

a. Inquirers have access to additional CFP pages and services that are available only to members of the Confraternity.  These include:

• A members' forum that will put you in dialog with other living the Rule or in formation, no matter where you live in the world.

• A chat room in which are held monthly chat gatherings on Scripture, the saints, our Lord, and our Rule, moderated by a pledged member of the Confraternity.

• A possibility of being put into contact with others living the Rule or interested  in it who are within reasonable traveling distance of you.

• Additional web sites of interest to members.

b. As an inquirer, you will have direct contact with a Regional Minister who will assist you on your journey.

c. You will be preparing for entering formation, if that might be your ultimate goal.

d. All members, including inquirers, are prayed for daily by name.

Submitting an inquirer application does not mean that you have definitely decided that you wish to pledge to live this Rule for life!  It means that you want to learn more about the lifestyle from those who are living it.

If you would like us to pray for you while you are discerning how to proceed, please contact us and we will add your name to our daily prayer list.

May God enlighten you as to how to proceed, for His greater honor and glory and the good of your soul and that of others in your life!

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To enter the Confraternity as an Inquirer, please complete this application at any time of the year and postal mail or email it us. Please keep a copy of your completed application.

If you do not hear back from the Confraternity within a week of mailing in your application, please contact us again. We may never have received your application. 

Inquirers who have already completed an inquirer application in the previous year but who do not feel ready to enter formation by Ash Wednesday, are asked to resubmit the Inquirer Application each year before Ash Wednesday, until they enter formation.

Please check:

_______ New Inquirer for year

_______ Continuing to Inquire

Date of application: _______Month _____Day ______Year

Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss______________________________

(last name) (first name) (middle name)

Address_______________________________________

City_________________State____________________

Nation_____________Zip_____________

Telephone Number (____ )_____________________

E-mail Address________________________________

Date of Birth ___ (day) _____ (month) ____(year)

Married____Single______Div______Sep______Annul___

Where baptized_______ Where confirmed____________

(A copy of your updated Baptismal Certificate will be required before you can enter the Novitiate of the Confraternity.)

Your Parish_____________________________________

(name)(city and state)

Parish Telephone Number (______)__________________

This is an Confraternity for penitents and sinners. No one will be denied membership due to past values, lifestyles, or serious sins. No one is expected to be perfect upon entering the Confraternity but rather ought to hope to become more conformed to Christ through living this Rule. Therefore, please provide a brief response to the following questions, recognizing, however, that membership in the Confraternity is not automatic. Applications may be rejected, or membership terminated, by a consensus vote of the Council of the Confraternity where the PRESENT conduct or values of the individual involved are deemed to be in conflict with the desire for conversion, reconciliation, and surrender to God which are the spirit and intent of the Rule.

How and when did you first hear of the Confraternity of Penitents (CFP)?

Have you read the Rule and Constitutions on this link?  ____ Do you understand them?____

Do you understand that only Catholics who accept all the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and remain in union with the Pope and Magesterium of the Catholic Church can become official members of this Confraternity? ____

Do you understand and accept that lessons of formation will be Catholic in orientation?  ___.

Do you have spousal approval to begin the inquirer process? ____

Are you currently involved in any apostolates and or religious organizations? If yes, please list them. (i.e.. Third Orders, parish associations, Knights of Columbus, Religious Education, Legion of Mary, etc.)

The Confraternity of Penitents is consecrated to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. What are your thoughts about this?

Do you have any questions about the Confraternity?

Within two weeks of receipt of your application, your Regional Minister will generally request a short interview via phone. When is a good time to call you?

 __________________

If you do not hear from your Regional Minister within two weeks of submitting your inquirer application, please contact the CFP Office at the address below. We do want to speak with you.

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SITUATIONS WHICH PRECLUDE FULL MEMBERSHIP IN THE CONFRATERNITY OF PENITENTS (please check if applicable)

___ You are a member of a Third Order which disallows dual membership in that Order and the CFP. These include the Secular Franciscan Order, Third Order Carmelites, and Franciscan Tertiaries of the Primitive Observance.  Please circle your Order or write it here:_________

___You had previously been an inquirer or member of the CFP but then dropped. 

___You are a non-Catholic.

___You are a Catholic in an irregular marital situation (that is, you had been married, then obtained a civil divorce but not an annulment, and have since remarried. Or you have been married by a Justice of the Peace or are in a "common law" marriage.)

___Your spouse has not given approval to enter the inquirer phase.

___You are a non-practicing Catholic.

___You have another condition which may preclude full membership. Please name _________________.

If you meet one of these conditions, you may be accepted as an Associate of the Confraternity and then proceed in formation with members.  With permission, you may attend all CFP on line and other gatherings.   You will live as much of  the Rule as possible. 

Associates are not members of the CFP nor may they pledge to live the Rule. They cannot hold office, vote, or conduct formation in the CFP.

If the situation which caused an individual to be accepted as an Associate is rectified, or if an Associate who previously dropped from the CFP persists as an Associate for several years, the Associate may then apply for full membership without losing any formation time.   The CFP Council will make a decision on all such applications.

If Associate status interests or applies to you, please share why you would like to enter formation as a CFP Associate.

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Mail completed application by postal mail or by pasting the application into an email (do not email as an attachment as our email servers randomly delete emails with attachments and we may never receive your application) to:

Someone will be in touch with you as soon as possible regarding your application. If you do not hear from us within a few days, please contact us again.  No response most likely means that we did not receive your application.

Upon receipt of this application, you will be added to our daily prayer list. Please continue to pray about this way of life and for our Confraternity as we will pray for you.

God bless!