Canon 603 Misuses and Abuses: Part 1, Lauras vs Communities

[[Hi Sister, your last post raised additional questions for me so I am writing to see if you can answer them. You said that lauras are very different than communities of hermits. Can you say what these are? You also described the flexibility of the eremitical life and described conditions that allowed for such flexibility. It seems to me though that these same conditions can lead to abuses and misuses of C 603. Has this happened? Is it common? Is Canon 603 itself enough to prevent such abuses or does the Church need something from Rome like the other poster mentioned --- a document like Vita Consecrata?]]

WOW! Now THESE are really great questions. They actually capture the concerns of a number of diocesan hermits with various areas of interest who feel proprietary about this vocation, not out of ego, but because they recognize how fragile is this vocation which is the work of the Holy Spirit. Diocesan hermits wish to honor the work of the Spirit and do so in a way which contributes to an understanding of a vocation which is at once RARE and infinitely valuable while also contributing to its integrity and authenticity. Because of this we are aware of abuses or misuses of Canon 603 --- usually stemming from an understandable (though not excusable) ignorance of its central elements or the very nature of eremitical life itself. Such ignorance (which occurs on every level, from the merely curious, to candidates, to canonists, to Vicars for Religious, to Bishops) allows the canon to be used to justify profession of individuals who are not hermits and may never be hermits. But let me answer your questions and get back to this as part of those answers. I am going to break these into more than one post, one on the laura/community distinction, and one addressing the remainder of your questions!

Canon 603 and Lauras vs Communities

First, let me reiterate that Canon 603 is meant to foster, nurture, and govern solitary eremitical lives, not the lives of hermits living in community. The first thing that Canon 603 says by its very existence is that the Church has recognized the ecclesial validity and significance of the existence of solitary hermits and wishes to protect them. Canon 603 believes in solitary hermits, and affirms that indeed, the Holy Spirit calls individuals to authentic eremitical life in a solitary way whether in deserts, on mountain tops, or even in the unnatural solitudes of urban life. Canon 603 is an implicit affirmation in her belief that human isolation can be redeemed and transformed into true solitude and that one does not need to be part of a religious community (or even a laura!!) to live eremitical life authentically and fully. Further, given the prevalence of parishes and dioceses and the access of the Sacraments and Christian community, as well as Canon 603's insistence on an approved Rule and the supervision of the local Bishop, the solitary eremitical life is more possible than it has been in the past. (Remember that Paul Giustiniani once concluded that solitary eremitical lives could no longer be considered legitimate because of the need for and Church requirements regarding regular participation in the Sacraments. He posited lauras as the answer.) Finally, it is important to remember that for various reasons eremitical life has always been threatened to disappear in two primary ways: either it "becomes" and is absorbed into cenobitical life, or it is suppressed or simply dies out. Canon 603 is, in its own way, a law which is meant to prevent both of these eventualities and the reasons which lead to them.

The first way is by allowing for lauras but NOT communities. Now, let's be clear that the Canon does NOT itself specify this allowance. Everything about the Canon is geared to the solitary eremitical vocation. Commentators however, do recognize that the Congregation for religious (CICLSAL) in Rome acknowledges lauras to be a possibility and they have allowed this as an option FOR THOSE DIOCESAN HERMITS WHO DECIDED TO COME TOGETHER IN THIS WAY at the discretion of the local ordinary. So the first element in determining the difference between a community and a laura is the recognition that a laura is not a place where a non-hermit may go to be formed as a hermit. In a Canon 603 laura, then it seems to me that there would be no postulancy, novitiate, juniorate (or their correlative superiors or formation personnel), etc. It would be, by definition, a place where SOLITARY hermits who are already professed according to Canon 603 with their own Rules of Life, their own spiritualities, ministries, interests, confessors, directors, and delegates, etc, may come together to mutually support one another in greater physical solitude and solidarity than would be possible otherwise.

Thus the structure of the laura would be minimal. A set of approved guidelines or "house rules" to ensure the solitude of the place, provision for some common prayer and meals at regular intervals, a set of rotating charges or chores which are to be done on a regular basis, and a general expectation of common regard and assistance may be all that is required. Each hermit would generally follow her own horarium and work and pray on her own. Except for communal meals to which each would contribute in some way, each hermit would be responsible for her own food, cooking, etc. I am envisioning a laura without a priest so attendance at Mass would be part of the hermit's regular participation in a parish community. (Liturgies of the Word with Communion would be extensions of parish liturgies.) In general the laura would not be the place a hermit entertained friends, but if the grounds are sufficient, there is no reason occasional friends could not come for walks and quiet talks, or even a meal and period of recreation, etc. Meetings with spiritual directors and delegates could take place at the hermitage whenever these need to be scheduled (or not, as the hermit works out). The hermits would generally be free to come and go as they individually needed without answering to anyone at the laura so long as their obligations there were otherwise met and folks were informed of and understood the basic itinerary and contact details. (A sign out sheet would be an easy solution here.)

Access to phone, computer, media, internet, etc is determined by the hermits' OWN Rule of life. Similarly, each hermit would continue to maintain individual bank accounts and be responsible for her own needs and expenses. Some portion of each hermit's income could be given to cover common expenses, rent, and/or upkeep, but these hermits would remain solitary hermits, responsible for their own personal and living expenses, healthcare, etc, in all the ways any other diocesan hermit would be. They would also, therefore be allowed to earn money doing spiritual direction or whatever else they are skilled at and this money would NOT become part of the common pot. (Given the frequency with which lauras fail for whatever reason, it is important that the individual hermits, who remain professed in the diocese, be able to move to other places on their own if necessary. The provision for individual earning and bank accounts is something specifically addressed in the Guidelines for Eremitical life by the Diocese of La Crosse.)

Significantly, there would be no general superior here. Delegates (quasi superiors who serve both the diocese and the individual hermit) will more likely (and far more prudently) be drawn from religious or others outside the laura. Confessors and spiritual directors are also chosen by the hermit in complete freedom from those outside the hermitage. The choice of ministry, recreational activities, friendships, degree and nature of parish participation, etc are up to the hermit so long as these choices do not impinge on the solitude of the hermitage itself or the individual hermit's own Rule and solitary way of life. Whether hermits are spiritual directors, writers of icons, authors, medical transcriptionists, etc, since they carry these activities out as solitary hermits, the laura is neither responsible nor liable for problems which might occur as a result. Only the hermit herself is so liable --- as would be the case for any C 603 hermit anywhere. And, as mentioned above, the laura is not a house of formation. Hospitality might (and, in the desert tradition, should) be offered if there is an adequate way to do so, but that is a very different matter than becoming a house of formation!

Similarly, there is no concerted common garb, spirituality, mission, or ministry here (though the garment given at perpetual profession besides the habit may be the same or similar for all hermits in a given diocese). The laura might be composed of diocesan hermits from Carmelite, Benedictine, Camaldolese, Carthusian, Trappist, Franciscan, or other spiritual traditions. Habits, when habits are worn at all, might reflect any of these or none of them. Each hermit will live out the diocesan hermit's charism of "the silence of solitude." This is the gift she brings to Church and world but the way in which she embodies this in presence and ministry to others can and will likely differ one from another. A Canon 603 laura will be rich and diverse in terms of spirituality with no single or predominant vision of reality or even of eremitical life beyond that articulated in Canon 603.

Why the concern?

As you might be able to tell, I believe that there are communities of hermits today professed under canon 603 which merely call themselves lauras in the sense truly allowed by Canon 603. I think this is a mistake and a betrayal of the Canon and the vocation it governs. Some members of these actually consider the Canon "impossible" and suggest that it is inadequate to live a good eremitical life (although these persons are professed under it and have committed themselves to living out an eremitical life in accordance with it). Some mistakenly argue that commentators note that Canon 603 allows for communities. (Beyer, who is misquoted by one of these persons for instance, explicitly notes that lauras are permissible but should NOT rise to the level of communities.) Some, in a rather different situation, want to be or belong to a community from the beginning and use Canon 603 to get individual members (or themselves) professed on the way towards this. This actually crosses the line from betrayal of the canon and vocation it defines to outright fraud. The question at bottom of all of these instances is whether we really believe that solitary eremitical life is possible or not. The question is important because there are millions of isolated persons in our world who could be given great hope if the answer is yes. Either "the silence of solitude" --- that is, the silence of a simple and committed solitary life lived in union with God --- is possible for the individual who lives without benefit of formal community, or it is not. Canon 603, by its very existence and formulation, says that it is.

This is one area where the Canon is not specific even though everything in the Canon is geared towards the solitary hermit and the Canon itself was formulated with this specific vocation in mind. History tells us that the solitary eremitical vocation is fragile but vital and significant. Canon 603 is a way of protecting and governing such vocations and the gift they are to the Church and World, especially to isolated individuals everywhere --- individuals with no chance or even desire of becoming religious or living in community, or to those individuals who need the model of solitude and contemplative prayer of what are sometimes disparagingly called "freelance" or "solo" (rather than solitary) hermits right there in their parish communities. Canon 603 nurtures and protects a unique eremitical charism then, but this is one place where unawareness of this charism leads to misuse and abuse of the canon. It is also a place where greater clarification and education might be prudent. As I have stated before, it is one thing to argue for the canonical possibility of something, that is, it is one thing to argue that the law does not specifically preclude that thing, and entirely another to argue for its prudence in light of the gift it is to Church and world.