All Redemptorist candidates participate in a formation program.
Candidates who intend to profess vows enter a program that has three basic steps or levels. The first step in Formation is the preparation for novitiate. After an individual applies and is admitted to formation as a postulant, he moves into the pre-novitiate formation community. This is a community of Redemptorists whose primary purpose is to prepare postulants for novitiate. Some Redemptorists in the community have other full-time work in ministry.