On Consecrated Widows in Western and Eastern Churches

[[Dear Sister Laurel, you have articles on hermits and consecrated virgins. I wondered if you have any information on consecrated widows. John Paul II mentioned them once or twice that I know about, but I can't find out anything more about them. Should I contact my diocese the same way someone wanting to become a hermit should do?]]

Hi and thanks for your questions. It is true that in the early Church consecrated widows were a pivotal segment of the Church and central to her ability to carry out ministry, maintain house churches, etc. Over time, however, this particular vocation became less pivotal, in part as the Church opted for male deacons and codified their roles for men (vir) only. While c 605 instructed bishops on their responsibility to pay attention to new forms of consecrated life, and while St John Paul II wrote about consecrated widows, the contemporary Western (Roman Catholic) Church as such has never implemented this vocation except sporadically. It is not included in the CIC, the Roman Catholic Church's Code of Canon Law, although there is room for it because of c 605. Rome would need to concur, however, and establish the vocation officially in universal law. Under John Paul II, a canon was included in the CCEO (1990), the Code of Canon Law for Eastern Churches. While individual Roman Catholic bishops have "consecrated" some widows, it remains the case that the vocation is undefined (what are these persons actually called to in the church?) and the canonical authority to do so is currently doubtful. 

I believe you should contact your diocese, yes, but I cannot honestly encourage you to believe or hope that they will consecrate you; that is unlikely in the extreme unless you live in a diocese where this has already been done. Even then, the nature and content of this vocation is unclear which tends to empty it of meaning in the eyes of the Universal Church. On the other hand, if you have the courage and the will to go this route you could be among those who help to define such a vocation in the Western Church, sort of as the monastics who allowed themselves to be laicized in order to pursue eremitical life. Eventually this led to recognition of solitary eremitical life under c 603. Since c 605 already exists to encourage bishops to be attentive to new forms of consecrated life (approval can only be given by the Apostolic See), you would be a pioneer possibly helping in a humble way to move the Western Church towards canonical approval of Consecrated Widows as a specific public and ecclesial vocation.