I guess perhaps more explicitly: why would hermits in a laura who are discerning in becoming a community (including living like such) not wait for the approval of at least an institute which as an entity have the capacity to accept public vows and exercise other rights proper to it instead of seeking dispensation of vows and enter into private vows until such time. One reason I can think why they should not seek dissolution of c 603 status, and you cited this although not exactly in response to this question, is that the private association or "community" might fail. So why would a group of hermits give up their vows with their rights and obligations as c 603's for a possible community?? Maybe your response is BECAUSE THEY ARE NO LONGER HERMITS!!]]
I'm not sure I have understood your questions so let me give them a shot. You can also get back to me again. In the sentence you are quoting I am not necessarily referring to either a private or public association of the faithful (it could be either or neither of these), but to a colony (laura) that is not (or is no longer) really a colony of solitary hermits, but instead becomes structured and governed as a community. The hermits continue to live as hermits but they do so within the context of a community with all the elements of a community. Canon 603 was meant to be used to foster and govern the life of the solitary hermit. It was not meant to be used as an end run around the already-established process of becoming an institute of consecrated life -- which process some find onerous --- and yet some have actually done that. Meanwhile, some people have been or have sought to be professed under canon 603 while desiring to start a community of hermits. In such instances, these persons have not really discerned nor intended to live a c 603 vocation; for this reason I believe this constitutes a misuse or abuse of the canon and might invalidate any vows made.
My own diocese required that my vow formula's statement of intention included the phrase "solitary hermit". By this I mean that I was asked to specify that I intended to make profession and be consecrated as a solitary hermit, and so too, that I intended to live the rest of my life as one. Though I thought at the time the phrase "solitary hermit" was a weird linguistic redundancy, I now understand this was very wise and see it underscoring an understanding of the c 603 vocation which comports with the original intention of the canon's authors as well as similar work done on c 603 by the Spanish bishops, and others.
And yes, you are absolutely correct that sometimes things grow more or less organically from solitary hermit to colony of solitary hermits to association of the faithful, to (this next step is not organic since a conscious decision to move in this direction has to be made by both hermits and diocesan bishop) a semi-eremitical community of hermits. When this last step takes place a lot of things must change and change in a conscious and intentional way: the colony must accept more than the prudent limit of members, individual hermits must surrender their own Rules, relinquish responsibility for their own finances and self-provision (for education, spiritual direction, ongoing education and formation, insurance, retirement, choice of delegate, etc., etc.). Thus, I do not consider the move from laura of solitary hermits (even as an association of the faithful), to a group structured as a community to be a strictly organic development. It is not so much that these people are no longer hermits; they would be hermits in the same sense the Carthusians, and Camaldolese are hermits. Rather it is the case that they have chosen to become and are no longer solitary hermits which is precisely the eremitical life c 603 was meant to protect and nurture.
Because of the choices necessary in moving from one form of canonical eremitical life to another, once the discernment process is completed, such hermits (those no longer wishing to be a solitary hermit under c 603) should have their vows under canon 603 dispensed (or declared to be no longer be valid) and their group should be required move through all the steps outlined by the Church for any other putative or nascent institute of consecrated life. At the same time any member of the laura who does not wish to be part of such an experiment or community should re-establish themselves as a solitary hermit in the diocese. Presuming they are already perpetually professed and consecrated, they will still need to write a Rule of life which is approved by the bishop if they have not already done so, and provide for their own independent life as does every other c 603 hermit. If there are two or three such hermits, they could continue (somewhere else in the diocese) as a laura but the same requirements would need to be met (Rule written by the hermit herself, independent status, provision for oneself, etc.).
You asked about the sense it makes to move from perpetually professed to temporary vows were one to move from life under c 603 to becoming a member of an institute of consecrated life (or laura on the way to becoming an institute of consecrated life) so let me try to address that -- though I don't believe I referred to such a situation directly in my last post. Temporary vows indicate a standing in law of someone who is not perpetually professed which is part of an ongoing process of mutual discernment where one has a chance to live vows in a way which deepens one's commitment and also to continue to discern whether or not this is really one's vocation.
You asked about the sense it makes to move from perpetually professed to temporary vows were one to move from life under c 603 to becoming a member of an institute of consecrated life (or laura on the way to becoming an institute of consecrated life) so let me try to address that -- though I don't believe I referred to such a situation directly in my last post. Temporary vows indicate a standing in law of someone who is not perpetually professed which is part of an ongoing process of mutual discernment where one has a chance to live vows in a way which deepens one's commitment and also to continue to discern whether or not this is really one's vocation.
In the situation I outlined earlier I was not speaking of anyone seeking a voluntary dispensation of perpetual canonical vows; rather I had in mind the need for dispensation from a canon 603 profession if one means or feels called to live in a community (not a laura) of hermits. When one becomes certain that one is called to live as a member of an institute of consecrated life, or that they are no longer called to life as a solitary hermit, a dispensation will be granted or the hermit's c 603 vows declared invalid depending on the circumstances. I don't think the vows need be dispensed or invalidated unless or until the hermit becomes clear that she is called to communal life. (Some reasonable time limit on the discernment process is prudent here, however. The hermit cannot be discerning -- and thus fail to live her own Rule -- indefinitely.) There would be no need for private vows in such a situation.
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