Basic Vocabulary: Status and Approval

[[Dear Sister Laurel, why would a hermit want status in the Church? I am asking about the idea of canonical status. Why would a humble hermit desire "status"? Also, why is it important to be approved by the Church as in being approved for canonical status or profession. One hermit points out these are hardly what Jesus would want so why should you want these?]]


Thanks for your questions. I'm pretty sure I have written about these terms before so please look them up under labels. Still, let me point out briefly that you seem to be using these terms in ways contrary to the way the Church uses them, especially in regard to profession and consecration as a hermit. First, status refers to a particular kind of standing in law. It does not mean status in the sense of higher social privilege, ranking, or status. Once admitted to public profession a hermit has a standing in canon law she did not have before. What this means concretely is that she has new rights and obligations in law and is commissioned to live the eremitical vocation in the name of the Church. She has "canonical standing" or is "canonical" to use a more informal term. Statum et Status are the Latin forms of the terms status or standing.

Approval, in the limited sense the Church uses this term, is given to someone who meets the Church's requirements and discernment to be admitted to profession or ordination, for instance. A person petitions to be admitted to public vows, and this is true whether one is in a congregation or whether one is a solitary hermit seeking to be professed under canon 603. (One must petition the Church in this matter; it indicates personal freedom, a genuine sense that God is calling one in this way and has done for some time, and so forth.) After the petition has been received the person may be approved for admission or denied admission to profession or profession and consecration; sometimes one petitions only at the end of a long discernment and formation process so one knows fairly well whether the petition will be granted or not). However, admission doesn't mean this person is generally approved by the Church -- though they will have been vetted as to their suitability (the usual term used to speak of character, personal habits, integrity, etc.) to make a public commitment in the Church beyond that of baptism itself.

Some vocations in the Church are called "ecclesial" because they "belong" to the Church herself, to her life of holiness, and sometimes to her hierarchical nature. These vocations must be mutually discerned. It is never enough for an individual to discern such a vocation herself. This is because the Church plays a part in mediating God's own call to the person. So, for instance, once my petition to be admitted to profession under canon 603 was granted we celebrated a Eucharist in which the Church called me forth from the assembly, questioned me regarding my readiness to accept this call, and then received my vows and extended God's consecration to me. The canonical eremitical vocation, like any religious vocation, "belongs" to the Church and she will discern, mediate God's own call to the hermit --- as well as supervise, and govern such vocations on God's behalf precisely because she regards the fact that she, not only the individual, has been entrusted with such vocations as God's own gift to the world.

Given the nature of these vocations (rare, difficult to distinguish from individualism without significant discernment and formation) and the Church's esteem for them and the God who calls those gifted with them, I actually don't think "approval" is too strong a word for determining "suitability" but since it has a much narrower sense than ordinarily, I am careful about pointing out that one is approved, for admission to profession, consecration, or ordination and that such "approval" is not more global. For instance, the Church does not approve my writing, my friendships, etc. They do approve my Rule with a Bishop's statement "(Decree) of approval" that is very clear the Church hopes it will serve the eremitical vocation well. The Rule, therefore, passed muster in terms of content and canon law but no one was sure it would serve the vocation as hoped --- not exactly unqualified "approval."

Regarding the question of humility, my answer is simple. Canonical standing provides a context for living my vocation which creates or ensures stability, accountability, integrity, and freedom. Because eremitical life is lived in the silence of solitude with God in a way which bypasses most normal (and ordinarily necessary) avenues for personal growth, community, and love of and by others (the primary ways we become who God calls us to be), the need for structure including spiritual direction and those in the ministry of authority becomes especially important. Because eremitical solitude is not individualism and is actually antithetical to individualism, in a world largely defined in terms of individualism and a license which is mistaken for authentic freedom, canonical standing and all it implies is particularly critical for the hermit with an ecclesial vocation. Accepting this requires humility where humility means a loving acceptance of the truth of oneself (and others) vis-a-vis God.