[[Dear Sister, thanks for your response. Am I right in concluding that when one leaves the consecrated state one leaves the rights and obligations of this state even though one is still consecrated by God? If there are no rights and obligations is there a consecration?]]
I first added this to the last question you asked because it fits so well; however other related comments have come my way so I am moving it to a new post and appending those comments. Yes, you are exactly correct. When one leaves the consecrated state even though they were once consecrated by God (something that cannot be undone), they also leave the rights, obligations, and also the expectations behind. A state of life is characterized and structured by the rights and obligations associated with it. The inner spirit of this state of life is illumined by the person's sensitivity to the legitimate expectations others rightly hold in her regard. When she is responsive to all of these elements, she lives a witness which is fruitful and contributes to the tradition her life is now a living part of.
It is important to be clear that one either is or is not in the consecrated state of life. Equivocal statements like, "I am part of the consecrated life of the Church" can be (and unfortunately, have, even recently, been) used to confuse and slide past the actual truth. When one has had extended to them, and when one has accepted the rights and obligations associated with the consecrated state of life, they exist in that state; when those rights and obligations have not been extended to nor accepted by the person, or, when one has relinquished these rights and obligations, one is no longer considered a "consecrated person" because they have left (or never been part of) this state of life. This is not meant to deny that (some of) these people were consecrated by God, but it is meant to underscore the nature of a state of life, and the importance of the rights and obligations associated with the consecrated state of life.
Meanwhile, your last question is very perceptive and follows logically! Consecration in the Roman Catholic Church is ALWAYS associated with public rights and obligations/expectations. To claim to be consecrated without being able to identify public rights and obligations (along with correlative expectations) is to claim a fiction. Just as profession is a broader and richer act than the making of vows alone, so too is the consecration of a person in the Church a broader act than we might think. To set someone apart as a "sacred (or consecrated) person" in the Church is not only to convey God's solemn blessing, but also to explicitly structure their lives in terms of public rights and obligations spelled out in Canon Law, Rule, and/or Constitutions/Statutes.
[[Dear Sister, I do wish you had spelled out the rights and obligations of a diocesan hermit several years ago! This was the first time I truly understood the difference between a public and private commitment. It also helped me to understand what you meant a while back when you wrote about someone "having their cake and eating it too." It just never occurred to me that I actually have a right to hold expectations in your regard because your commitment is public, while not having the right to expectations on the basis of a private commitment. Also, I think I understand better what you mean when you speak about a "state of life" or, "living a vocation in the name of the Church".
Because I didn't understand what the rights and obligations were that were associated with your vocation, I thought having expectations in regard to your hermit life meant that I was overstepping my own rightful bounds and that calling yourself a Catholic Hermit was pretentious, particularly when you wrote that those without public profession could not do so. But committing to live and living a vocation "in the name of the Church" implies much more than just being a Catholic and living privately as a hermit! I think I really see that now. I just wanted to thank you for making this clearer for me!! Thank you!
As I write this, I do have one question: do you think that hermits with private vows understand all of this? One who has written about this a lot seems to think the difference between canonical and non-canonical vocations is just a matter of formal approval. I don't think she gets there is a substantive difference made up of rights, obligations and related expectations. Do most lay hermits get this substantive difference?]]
I am glad you wrote. Thank you! In the years since I first began this blog I have become dependent on folks asking questions and that means that I don't always write about the things I need to. Sometimes I assume that if folks have a question they will ask. But that is not always true, not least because they may not have enough knowledge to raise the important questions and sometimes because they don't know how important the questions they have actually are. The rights and obligations associated with this canonical eremitical life may be among such important questions. For that reason I too am sorry I did not spell this out earlier! It really is up to me to see what is important and explain that --- though I love getting questions and am helped by them a lot!
I really don't know what most lay or non-canonical hermits do or don't understand. You are correct though in your observations that some do not understand my life or the lives of other c 603 hermits in terms of rights and obligations/expectations. At least they have usually not indicated such an understanding nor do they seem to have had it spelled out for them by those who have made such commitments. What does seem to be true is that many lay hermits (and some canonical ones as well!) do have a gut level resistance to others holding legitimate (valid) expectations of them. This is one of the things that gives their lives a distinctly individualistic shape --- and as you probably know, I believe an individualistic hermit life is inauthentic and antithetical to eremitical life within the Church. When some write about remaining anonymous, when they claim the title Catholic Hermit while also claiming they can remain entirely hidden, or when they can post all manner of disedifying things leading others to believe in the eccentricity and selfishness of this vocation, they demonstrate they do not have a clue about the way rights and obligations are extended to someone committing to live this vocation in the name of the Church.
The same is true with regard to those who treat canonical standing as though it is a matter of superficial formalism or legalism. The rights and obligations assumed by a hermit and extended to her by the Church are meant to govern and nurture a specific vocation which 1) proclaims the Gospel of God in Christ, and which 2) is meant for the inspiration and edification of others. The graces associated with a canonical eremitical vocation are the graces God gives which allow these two foundational elements to be lived with integrity and vividness. Canon 603 does this for the solitary eremitical vocation just as other canons do for semi-eremitical life (eremitical life lived in a specifically communal context with other hermits).All of this points to one reason many bishops tend only to profess and consecrate hermits who have been formed and professed in religious life, namely, such persons understand what we mean by the consecrated state of life; they know what it means to live according to rights and obligations extended to them by the Church herself. They know what it means to have others hold legitimate (valid) expectations about the way they live their life, and they are prepared to accept the obligations as well as the rights that are part and parcel of a state of life. It is hard to get all of this merely from reading about it; one needs to have lived it. In fact, it is one of the most central qualities of religious formation ---readying a person to live a public vocation shaped by public rights and obligations and animated by the graces which make one responsive to these --- even if the life is lived in a cloister or hidden in the way eremitical lives are hidden. An individualistic life whose supposed "freedom" is shaped by selfishness and superficiality may look like eremitical life from a distance or at first glance, but the beating heart of an ecclesial vocation is vastly different than this. It is moved and shaped instead by the Love-in-Act we call God --- and thus too, is it empowered to accept and fulfill the public rights, obligations, and expectations associated with ecclesial vocations to the consecrated state.
I'll leave this here for now. Thanks again!
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