Revisiting the Significance for Extended Time in a Monastic House During c 603 Discernment

[[ Hi Sister Laurel, you wrote a few years ago that candidates for c 603 profession/consecration should spend some extended time in a monastic house, especially if they have not been formed in a religious congregation. Do you still hold that and do dioceses require it? How would one go about finding such a monastic house?]

Hi and thanks for the questions. I do still recommend this for all of the reasons I listed back in February, 2012. (cf., Eremitic Life sans Monastic formation?) I have heard of a couple of dioceses asking this of their candidates, one just recently, in fact. A Sister friend whom I first met when I was becoming a diocesan hermit, was attending weekend Mass at a monastery near her home. On that weekend she was introduced to a gentleman who is becoming a c 603 hermit and she mentioned knowing a hermit in the Diocese of Oakland. Turns out this candidate for profession knew who she was talking about because of this blog. (I don't think my Sister friend told this person who she was and is to me (she was the Vicar for Religious for the Diocese of Oakland when I began the c 603 process and today I consider her a good friend)! Really small world though!!!) In any case, this person's bishop had asked that he spend some time in a monastic (and in this case, eremitical) house so he was there for a couple of months. It is a great idea I think.

What is of interest to me is the way the financial arrangements and requirements for such a stay are taken care of. I am sure the monastery would not require the same remuneration as they would for a retreatant, and it might be difficult for a would-be c 603 hermit to cover both rent and the expense of staying at a small monastic house. If the diocese believes this is a good candidate and requires the stay, then I would hope they would also pick up the tab. It would certainly be worth their while in the long term. Because really strong candidates for c 603 profession and consecration come so rarely in the life of a diocese, it is unlikely a diocese would find themselves much out of pocket in arranging such a stay. On the other hand, if the individual seeking profession has the means to pay for such a stay perhaps she would choose to do that instead. (And of course, halving the cost with the diocese might be a good option in such a case.)

One of the benefits of such an arrangement I had not mentioned in the earlier article might also be the chances of establishing a long-term relationship with the monastic or eremitical house itself. In the case I mentioned, the hermit candidate had traveled across the United States from his home diocese so it is unlikely he will return to this house for retreats, desert days/weekends, or the like. Even so, it is important that c 603 hermits have places they can go for retreat where they feel entirely comfortable and have a relationship with the nuns, monks, or friars who live there. 

Paradoxically, it is precisely because one will be mainly silent and solitary during one's time there (one will ordinarily participate in liturgical prayer, some work, and meals in common) that one needs such relationships; there is a big difference between being a guest who is largely "done for" by the community and feeling like an extended part of the monastic family where one lives especially one's silence and solitude not just for oneself, but for the others in the house. This is a reason for the silence of solitude one needs to have inculcated to some degree if one is to live an ecclesial vocation. And of course, assessing one's capacity for community and for generous sacrifice in living and working with others is important. I think for hermits these related expressions of self-gift for the sake of others are important, even critical, dimensions of a healthy eremitical life.

Presuming the candidate for profession is agreed by the diocese to be a strong one before such a stay, it is possible as well for the superior, formation director of the monastery, or (perhaps, and only if they agree!!!) someone who does spiritual direction for the person while they are at the monastery, to agree to give the candidate feedback on the experience. If, this stay is more than an opportunity for discernment and formation but also is meant to be evaluative for the sake of the diocese, that must be agreed upon by all parties and specific areas of concern surfaced ahead of time with the candidate. I am personally divided about the use of monastic personnel to provide evaluations of the candidate beyond a statement regarding whether the candidate could do well as a diocesan hermit or might be unsuitable for admission to eremitical profession at this particular time. A summary of the individual's strengths might be appropriate from monastic personnel with the candidate themselves providing a summary of areas they would like to grow in, experienced as particularly challenging, or, on the basis of their stay, feel they need assistance with before profession. If used in this way, a constructive evaluation could be another benefit of a stay in such a house. Note well: none of this should relieve the candidate's diocese from doing their own substantive and careful discernment of the person's suitability for eremitical profession.

How to find such a situation? Many monastic houses allow for long-term retreatants or guests within the cloister itself. Some have claustral or "regular" oblates --- lay persons living within the enclosure according to the Rule. Others do something similar for members of other religious congregations and some might be similarly open to the arrangement in the case of a diocese seeking a place for a specific c 603 candidate to spend a couple of months. If the stay goes well, the diocese may be able to work out a standing arrangement in the rare instances other good candidates contact the diocese.  Once the hermit is professed, an occasional extended stay at the same house might be really beneficial. The best I can do is suggest that someone interested in this kind of arrangement search out monastic and eremitical communities and begin a correspondence. See what they are open to and under what conditions. If the recommendation of one's diocese is required one can secure that if one is an established candidate discerning a c 603 vocation.

N.B. I have written this post and the earlier one presuming the candidate for c 603 profession knows s/he is called to be a solitary hermit. However, one benefit I had not mentioned is that staying in a monastic or semi-eremitical house might help one clarify one's discernment of whether or not they are truly called to c 603 or to something else. A diocese might well request a person stay for an extended time in a monastic house to be sure it is solitary eremitical life to which she feels called. One needs to be able to compare I think.