On Hybrid Hermits and the Relation of Active Ministry to the Rest of One's Eremitical Life

[[Dear Sister, you do some active ministry so I am wondering what is the difference in Cole Matson's case and your own? Doesn't c 603 allow for any apostolic activity? If Cole Matson is betraying c 603 by her involvement in the theatre ministry he has why aren't you betraying eremitical life in the same way?]]

This is such a great set of questions!! Thank you very much for asking!! I hope I can articulate what is really a vast distinction! In a conversation I had the day before yesterday, someone described Cole as having said he was a "hybrid hermit"; they wondered what I thought about that and my response was that the term is a falsehood, it's like saying something is a "half-truth". I learned in studying theology that there was no such thing as a half-truth; either something was true or the falsehood involved would vitiate the whole. That is true in this case too. While the church does recognize semi-eremitical life, this does not refer to folks who are semi-eremites, but instead to hermits who live eremitical life within communal contexts like the Carthusians, or the Sisters of Bethlehem for instance. They are truly hermits, not half or semi or hybrid hermits, but the real deal who live their lives within a specialized communal context that protects and fosters their eremitism --- rather like my parish has done for me, especially under my former pastor!

When I first became a hermit I remember talking with my spiritual director pretty regularly about the tension between active ministry and my life in the hermitage. For a long time I was convinced I would battle this apparent conflict the whole of my eremitical life. At one point I came to a sense that it was a "tension" I would never get past,  that perhaps it was built into the vocation or something.

Except I did get past it!! Eventually I came to a place where the tension I expected to see and feel was gone. And, I only recognized that as I looked back over where I had been until that time. So what had changed? Well, over the years I worked through a lot of the roots of my own self-questioning and self-doubt. Also, it was during this time that I really became the contemplative I had thought perhaps I was called to be, and more, that I really became a hermit who could, if I discerned this was the right thing to do, rightly seek ecclesial standing under c 603. But this meant that I was also the hermit who, if I discerned that it contributed to my eremitical life or to the witness I was called to in that, could play in an orchestra one evening a week, or write a blog, or teach a Scripture class each term or each year. It was not a matter of balancing the contemplative and active dimensions of my life so that if I lived x amount of contemplative "stuff" in my life, I could or should add y amount of active ministry. It was a matter of BEING a contemplative and BEING a hermit and then being true to that in the various ways God did/does that. What I discovered, of course was that being who one is called to be leads to one being able to do incredible, unimagined things.

Sometimes we compartmentalize things, there's a contemplative eremitical side to one's life and there's an active or apostolic side to it. But this is a false dichotomy and if it is true for a "hermit", that "hermit" is not (yet) really a hermit. What must happen is that one must discover a call to eremitical life and commit to that as fully as one can. This means letting go of active ministry to whatever degree one can until one does whatever active ministry one does because one is a hermit and that active ministry actually contributes to one's eremitism. You see, c 603 and solitary eremitical life is not merely a superficial or canonical means to church approval so that I can do the active ministry I really feel called to do. Instead, the activity I undertake is part of the fruit of my eremitical vocation. I do the things I do in terms of limited active ministry because eremitical life itself calls me to do it. I do it because I AM a hermit and am committed to growing as a hermit, not because standing under c 603 gives me some justification for doing what other religious do and what is truly necessary ministerially. No, my primary ministry is to be a hermit! (cf On the Importance of Charism) It took long years to understand what that actually means, long years before I could see or embrace that as my vocation!!

I was once asked by a candidate for c 603 profession how I made time for the hermit things in my life and the non hermit things. The question confused me so I asked what the non-hermit things were he was thinking about. He explained about washing the dishes, doing the laundry, scrubbing the toilet, grocery shopping and the like as "non-hermit" things, while prayer, lectio, etc were seen as "hermit things". What I tried to explain was that if and insofar as one was a hermit these were all hermit things embued with the grace of eremitical life and one's life with God alone. There was no dichotomy in my life between hermit things and non-hermit things. I think that is the first step in understanding what is so wrong or false with Cole's characterization of himself as a hybrid hermit. The fact that he had to figure out a new term for himself says to me he understands what he is living is inauthentic and not truly eremitical. (That said, I should note that were he, at this very early point in his exploration, to stay in and pray all day, he might still not be ready for profession as a c 603 hermit and certainly not for consecration. But back to the main point...)

Sister Kathleen Littrell SHF

Once one has discerned the vocation one is called to and determined it is eremitic, one may also discover God calling one to do some forms of limited ministry. (So, for me, spiritual direction, writing, teaching, and accompanying candidates.) What should be clear, however, is that these very activities call one back to eremitical solitude and live from that same solitude. In other words, they presuppose the one doing them IS a hermit!! I remember a comment made a number of years ago by Sister Kathy Littrell, SHF, who noted to a reporter that not everyone needed to be a Sister to do the active ministry she did, but she needed to be a Sister to do it. My point is similar. Not everyone needs to be a hermit to write, teach, accompany others, etc., but I need to be a hermit to do these things with the uniqueness and integrity God has called me to in everything! In all that I do, I do it as a hermit, not because the Church identifies me as a hermit under c 603, but because it really IS who I AM as a person and as a Catholic. My ministry serves my vocation, it isn't added onto that, nor does it conflict with or even stand in tension with that.

Excursus: 

 One final question in all of this, though you have not asked it, has to do with self-support. I will add it here because it can be a red herring or otherwise lead people (including bishops and c 603 candidates) astray. It is a challenging and neuralgic question for many who would like to be hermits as well as for many of us who are hermits, namely, how does one support oneself if one is to live as a hermit? Is Cole's involvement in theatre work really incompatible with or is it actually necessary for him to live as a hermit? This is the general answer I gave 14 years ago, Diocesan Hermits and Full-time Work. I still hold this position. I believe, however, that it is becoming more critical that ways to support hermits with ecclesial vocations need to be found by the Church, particularly for those of us who are getting older and may be unable to support ourselves in the ways we have done for the first fifteen to twenty years of our canonical eremitical lives. Still, it has always been true that bishops refused to profess hermits who needed to work full-time and those who needed to work outside the hermitage. This is part and parcel of the history of c 603 and it ought not be overturned easily, if at all.

Back to the Questions: A conclusion re Cole Matson

Because Cole Matson is not a hermit, does not feel called to be a hermit (as of 6 weeks prior to his first vows), but does feel called to work in the theatre and on behalf of artists, it is not surprising he spends all afternoon and evening in the local theatre. I sincerely believe --- and have shared this with Cole in some detail via email in 2022 --- that I believe this is where his truest vocation lies. If he and the Holy Spirit can bring Cole's dream of a community of and for artists to life I would praise God and celebrate with Cole for truly following his heart! When that day comes, IF it comes, God will indeed be glorified. It will be a unique gift to the Church and to artists. 

Unfortunately, as it stands now his "pray-in-the-morning-go-out-in-the-afternoon-and-evenings" picture of his days is not even remotely eremitical. It will never be eremitical because he is trying to use eremitism as an excuse for something else, not as its foundation. To expect that to lead to authentic eremitism would be like expecting a gardener to grow healthy, edible, vegetables while watering them with gasoline. Nor is it valid for him to call himself a hybrid hermit. And all of that is on Bishop Stowe, not on Cole. Again, this characterization sounds to me like a clear indication Cole knows he can't honestly claim to be a hermit. His use of the term hermit monk is the same. Being precedes doing in eremitical life (as it tends to in every authentic field or form of life). Once he really IS a hermit (though not a diocesan hermit!) I would think that even limited work in and on behalf of the theatre could be possible and legitimate! 

On Dealing With Worthy and Unworthy Motives in Discerning a Vocation

[[Sister, I don't know if you have time for this question as well, but seems to me that another problem in all of this are the unacceptable motives held by both "Brother Christian" and her Bishop. Is it common for people to approach their dioceses for admission to vows with such dishonest motives? How does a diocese uncover these if you know?]]

I believe that all of us discover within ourselves both worthy and unworthy motives in approaching and desiring to live our vocations. That may be even more true when we are older and no longer just out of high school or college, for instance. What is really critical during periods of discernment and formation is that we become aware of these motives and too, their roots in our lives. For instance, in considering solitary eremitical life, I approached this potential divine calling with a background in and deep desire to live religious life and an academic background in systematic theology with experience in clinical pastoral roles. At the same time, I struggled with a chronic illness which made life in community difficult or impossible. All of this co-existed in me when c 603 was published in 1983. My immediate sense was that this canon might be a good way of "securing myself" canonically and living the religious life I felt called to. However, as intriguing as this made c 603 to me, it did not mean God was calling me to this vocation.

Over the years in discerning this vocation there were many questions to answer and many things to process, to make sure were healed, strengthened, etc. as well as a lot to learn about the eremitical life itself and what living authentically according to canon 603 might actually mean on an everyday basis. The question of authenticity recurred throughout these years and only gradually could I be sure I was really listening to God in this and indeed, that God was calling me to live as a solitary hermit. Had I truly grieved my inability to live community (which, by the way, does not mean the pain of that loss or inability to fulfill this desire ever goes away completely)? Had I established myself in a parish community in a way which might allow me to live and minister even if I were not a religious or canonical hermit? (This was important so I could freely choose what canon 603 legitimately allowed or not.) Had, for instance, I dealt with the shame and "failure" associated with being disabled by the seizure disorder so that canonical standing or "status" was not something I sought illegitimately? These were a few of the things that had to be processed or dealt with on the way to discerning and embracing an authentic vocation to c 603 life.

The point in all of this is that the prospect of c 603 profession and life was associated with motives that were both worthy and those that were not, those that were generous and those that were more self-centered, those that stemmed from woundedness and those that came from wholeness or health (including spiritual health). In living from the ones that are worthy and working through the reasons for those that are unworthy we achieve a part of our response to the vocation itself! If one does not do this, then whatever external liturgies one goes through, one has not truly responded to God and the gift God gives as vocation. This is another reason significant preparation for a formal profession is required. In some ways the preparation is part of one's actual profession or is carried into one's vow formula and becomes part of the gift one gives God and receives in embracing God's call.

In the work I sometimes do with candidates with c 603 profession, uncovering the motives that are unworthy is, relatively speaking, less important than the candidate's ability to identify and articulate the truly compelling ways God is calling her in this process. I am aware of some of these unworthy motives, of course, and in the main trust that the candidate is working through things with her spiritual director. It is not difficult, however, to see clearly when a person is speaking of what God is really calling them to and why they believe this. This particular truth is so foundational in their lives that they can shape themselves (or rather cooperate with the Spirit's shaping of their very selves) in terms of the vocation being considered and the candidate's whole life comes to make an amazing and often paradoxical sense in terms of it. With Canon 603 vocations, hermits and candidates will let go of other avenues and avocations in which they may also have been truly gifted to become the person and gift God is calling them to become as they grow to be fully, abundantly alive in God in terms of this canon and the eremitical tradition.

Because I (and the diocesan team members with whom I might be working) also watch a Rule that is faithful to and deeply embued with a lived understanding of c 603 gradually come into existence (or not!) as the candidate distills her life with God and experiences of the central elements of the canon into a personal vision of this life which reveals the truest essence of the canon, it becomes clear when the whole person resonates with the truth and life of this vision and no other. It also becomes clear when this does not happen and something is askew, mistaken, or perhaps concealed (whether this is done consciously or unconsciously). In such cases, though this also depends on the severity or centrality of the issue, it is usually the case that more work needs to be done before final determinations regarding admission to profession and/or consecration.

But conscious dishonesty and the kind of disingenuousness and potential canonical incompetence we have been occupied with here for the past week (or which I have been concerned with in this case for several years now)? No, these are not common. In fact, I believe they are unprecedented because here we have lies on top of lies at every level of the situation. Ignorance of c 603, its history, and its nature is not uncommon. But once these have been clarified, my own sense is that a candidate's lack of vocation (which means lack of this vocation, not others!) ordinarily becomes clear right away and generally speaking, chancery staff do not collude in the uncharitable process of misusing the calling involved. Canonists protect the substance of the canons so that law may truly serve love, they don't empty them of content and misuse them as legal loopholes. Bishops entrusted with canons 603-605 learn all they can about these canons and their vocations for the praise of God, the sake of the People of God, and the actual vocations entrusted to them. 

Earlier in the history of c 603, some mistakes were made and some professions that should have never occurred did occur. But my sense is that these were good faith errors associated with legitimate growing pains, which have more or less ceased over time and increased experience with authentic vocations under this canon. None of these, however, were as consciously dishonest or as deliberately provocative and political, not to say ecclesially or theologically careless, as the various actions in the Diocese of Lexington case. However, I should note that since the vows made are temporary, there is still time for the diocese to rectify the situation. At the very least the diocese should refuse to exacerbate the situation by attempting a consecration. Again, c 603 has been misused in the past. Honest or good faith errors can be corrected. For the sake of all involved, and the good of a fragile and essential vocation, I pray Bishop Stowe finds the wisdom and courage to do so.

On Bishop Stowe's Comments to his Diocese and Media: Looking at the Damage done to c 603 Vocations

[[Dear Sister Laurel,  Bishop Stowe wrote about "Bro Christian's" request to make her a hermit: “My willingness to be open to him is because it’s a sincere person seeking a way to serve the church,” and then too, “Hermits are a rarely used form of religious life … but they can be either male or female. Because there’s no pursuit of priesthood or engagement in sacramental ministry, and because the hermit is a relatively quiet and secluded type of vocation, I didn’t see any harm in letting him live this vocation.” What hit me about this was the way Bishop Stowe focuses on all the things the hermit is not, not what a hermit is. He seems to be saying since "Bro Christian" won't be running into many people and because they won't be depending on her for valid sacraments and such, no one needs to worry. I find this incredibly insulting to hermits like you who write so passionately and inspirationally about eremitical life. May I ask you how you felt or what you thought when you read this comment from the bishop? Surely this can't be typical of the level of understanding you get from bishops!

Sister, I don't know if you have time for this question as well, but seems to me that another problem in all of this are the unacceptable motives held by both "Brother Christian" and her Bishop. Is it common for people to approach their dioceses for admission to vows with such dishonest motives? How does a diocese uncover these if you know?]]

LOL! Well, if you have paid attention to the amount of writing I have done this last week on this and related topics you may have an inkling of how the comment made me feel. I was angry. I still am. I also agree with you that it is insulting to the vocation at hand to give such an obviously feeble reason for professing someone. If Bishop Stowe's own community were to profess someone on the strength of those words, Franciscans around the world would be offended, even outraged. I suppose I am not entirely surprised by Bp Stowe's decision re Cole, but I am disappointed with his deliberate shortsightedness and studiously adopted ignorance regarding the c 603 vocation. 

You see, As I think I noted earlier this week, I wrote him at some length in June, 2022 and spoke not only of the nature of canon 603 and solitary eremitical life (especially its redemptive capacity and potential for healing a person's deep woundedness and emptiness when approached honestly), but also the problems with Cole's motivations (being called to public vows per se, not to a calling that required public vows), his true sense of vocation (community, particularly a community of artists, not eremitical life), and the drawbacks of proceeding with vows and the people who would be harmed by such a "profession." I wrote about who would be harmed by this profession (including Cole!!) and the c 603 vocation more generally. Thus, when I read what he told reporters (and apparently the people of the Diocese of Lexington), I felt affronted not only by the "well he's not asking to become a priest" dimension of the comments, but by what seemed to me to be careful and deliberate disingenuousness.

It is very disappointing to have this done at the expense of the solitary eremitical vocation, the appropriate implementation of c 603 itself, as well as at the expense of all genuine diocesan hermits who seek to have the Catholic world understand our hidden vocation and benefit from its witness -- especially when that costly act occurs at the hands of a bishop and an apparently unschooled (in c 603) canonist he apparently depends on. I was personally struck as well by Bp Stowe's comment that Cole had lived in ways that were "consistent with" this vocation. Here I would merely note that the education, spiritual formation, etc., of many of those I know or direct has "been consistent with" this vocation; of these, I am the only one who would honestly claim to be called by God to be a solitary hermit. Stowe's misleading comment on this is a very careful (not to say weaselly) form of speech and a far cry from an observation that Cole is or clearly seems to be called to such a vocation. Bishop Stowe knows that neither of those statements are true ones and so he equivocates.

When I wrote various versions or applications of Whom Could it Hurt? over the past several years, I didn't really imagine an appropriate degree of potential betrayal or damage a single Bishop could do. After a mere 41 years of careful, patient, persistent, and quiet establishment of this vocation within the church so that the Church might truly see and be edified by its silent but potent witness especially to those who have nothing and no one but God, the diocese of Lexington has come shouting and careening through the scene with a badly conceived agenda of "trans justice"; in so doing they have destroyed the fragile foundation created in a few decades by 100's of solitary hermits glorifying God in their aloneness with Him despite the more common skepticism and lack of understanding of the larger church regarding the hermit vocation. This vocation has a significant and powerful, if also subtle, witness value, and what is so sad is that in many many people's minds (including many bishops), Bishop Stowe and Cole Matson have likely managed to undercut that as well.

What I know now is that because the term "Diocesan Hermit" has become inextricably linked not only to Cole Matson and the hypocritical motives Bishop Stowe accepted, I am afraid every diocese in the country and even the world will now be dealing with folks who would like to be professed on the same vacuous basis Bishop Stowe used to profess (or attempt to profess) Cole Matson. Much more importantly, however, I fear that even those of us whose vocations are genuine and whose discernment and formation has been substantial and appropriate will be looked at skeptically --- as though our motives are as self-centered and deceptive as Cole Matson's. And again, I believe that dioceses that don't want to deal with the challenge of implementing c 603 prudently and honestly who have not yet had the privilege of dealing with a genuine c 603 hermit and their unique charism, or those who once deemed c 603 to be about "fallback" vocations alone, will simply stop professing anyone at all under this canon. "Diocesan hermit" is now a term to which Cole Matson and Bishop Stowe himself may have done almost irreparable damage, so I also feel incredibly sad! On the other hand, I am part of a living tradition in which c 603 is a fragile but hope-filled thread and we authentic diocesan hermits will persevere.

You also ask if this is typical of the knowledge of the c 603 vocation bishops demonstrate? Well, it was partly because I don't expect bishops to understand Canon 603 except in terms of canon law that I wrote him as I did. Even so, I expect bishops to allow themselves to be educated by someone with greater knowledge of something so rare, fragile, and vulnerable as c 603. For instance, I am writing a guidebook for dioceses on Canon 603 which provides a process of discernment and formation based on the c603 requirement that the hermit write her own Rule. It is to be used with a small team of chancery personnel, a c603 hermit consultant, and a candidate for profession under c 603. The candidate gains the experience and knowledge necessary to write a liveable Rule while the diocesan personnel discern and assist in the formation of a genuine eremitical vocation. Dioceses often are unsure how to proceed in discernment and formation of these specific vocations, so yes, generally speaking, there is a need for education here. But typical of bishops' knowledge of c 603? I certainly hope not!

I think at this point I have written about all I can write about this topic. It's been a heck of a week!! Thanks for your questions and comments; I do appreciate them and will return to your question regarding motives in another post! It ties in well with this one so give me another day or so!

[[I earnestly desire to respond to the gift of vocation to the eremitical life . . .]]

Hi Sister Laurel,  I wondered what happens next to Brother Christian? What happens with her vows? What could the Church do since the Bishop has professed her? From the articles I read involving Bishop Stowe's and Cole's responses they seem to be waiting for push back from the Vatican. What does that mean?

Thanks for your questions. In part, I would ask your questions this way: What happens next since Cole Matson has attempted temporary public vows in 2022 and renewed that attempt last year? And my answer is that, in some ways your guess is as good as mine. The situation is unprecedented and some determinations regarding the appropriateness and even the validity of Cole's profession need to occur. For instance, there is a significant question regarding whether, canonically speaking, any profession actually occurred, and thus too, whether the vows made are even valid. (The former CDF published a document in 2000 that concluded transsexuals could not enter religious life, so that must be considered. At the same time the issues I have raised regarding the misuse of c 603 must be considered.) In any case, one thing I think we all must remember, however, is that these vows were temporary and will lapse. That means that this August, if the renewal was for one year, either Cole and Bishop Stowe will attempt to renew them or they will attempt not only to profess Cole perpetually but to (have God) consecrate him in a very public ceremony. I personally believe this is the reason Cole came out now. Next steps are only three months away (August 25 or thereabouts) and the Church, as we all know, ordinarily moves at a glacial pace.

What can or will the Church do? As a diocesan hermit, I truly don't know. Here are some ideas though. 

• 1) Perhaps the simplest option (in light of the Dicastery's 2000 document on transsexuals) is to forbid Bp Stowe to profess Cole again and require he let the vows lapse (if they were ever truly binding in the first place). Bp Stowe could admit that Cole has not truly (yet?) discerned this vocation, remove him from the Diocesan directory (probably a good idea in any case), and let him continue with his non-canonical community for artists. Bp Stowe could proceed from there. 
• 2) Less simple, but also possible is to declare Cole's vows invalid due to fraud or dishonesty re what Cole felt called to when he made his profession and again forbid a repetition of such an action. 
• 3) Alternately, the church (or Bishop Stowe himself) could do what one Bishop did in Australia about 15 years ago when he was hoodwinked into professing someone on false grounds under c 603, and declare that these eremitical vows are private in nature, not public; let Cole continue to live private vows, keep him in the Diocesan directory whether as a quasi-hermit or not, and change his designation (the Lexington directory allows individuals with private vows to be listed), because Cole would not be and could not be listed as a Diocesan Hermit.

If the Church cannot or is unwilling to take any of these steps or fails to address the transgender issue in regard to admission to vows (again, if and only if we prescind from the 2000 document of the DDF which disallows admission of transsexuals to religious life), and if Bp Stowe continues to insist Cole should be publicly professed and consecrated as a solitary hermit under c 603, then 

• 4) allow that profession to take place, but only after a suitable discernment and formation period has taken place in genuine eremitical silence and solitude. Usually, this period occurs before any vows are made, but it would still need to mean a period of either no or carefully limited involvement in theatre or other work outside the hermitage (at least three to five years as Matson lived this discernment and formative desert experience and a commitment to a clearly eremitical life); limitations would need to be required thereafter as well, just as they are for all c 603 hermits. During the initial 3-5-year period, Cole would need to find ways to work from his hermitage and pay for his own living arrangements. (If he remains at Mt Tabor Monastery, Cole would still need to be responsible for all his own expenses: rent, food (or room and board), insurance, medical expenses, etc.) 

Finally, (again setting aside the transgender issue for now) it would mean that for there to eventually be a legitimate and credible perpetual profession, Cole would need to write his own liveable and genuinely eremitical Rule of Life that includes the affirmation required by the church as part of my own vow formula at perpetual profession, namely:

 [[I earnestly desire to respond to the gift of vocation to the eremitical life and freely follow the inspiration of grace to a hidden apostolic fruitfulness in a life of prayerful contemplation as a solitary hermit.]] 

As things stand now, there are a number of elements in this affirmation that I believe Cole not only cannot affirm but that he has explicitly contradicted or even rejected in statements made to me just weeks before attempting first vows, as well as to media representatives in the years and months preceding those vows. But, assuming Mr. Matson has truly discovered an eremitical vocation in the past year or year and a half, the Church could easily require this same affirmation to be added to whatever vow formula Cole writes. Since Mr. Matson has said publicly in the recent past that he does not feel called to eremitical life but to community and even more narrowly, to public vows per se (meaning he believes he is called to assume a public position or achieve public standing from which he might continue his own agenda) I believe such an affirmation is even more imperative than it might be for any other diocesan hermit.

While I recognize Cole's yearning in all of this, sympathize with his desires and empathize with his profound disappointments over the years, what the Church does moving forward will likely have to have more to do with Bishop Stowe and his actions in all of this than with Cole directly. Continuing to put the transgender issue aside for the moment because my concern is with c 603 and the life it defines, it would have been immensely easier and more honest, I think, had Bishop Stowe required of Cole the same thing the church demands of every candidate for c 603 profession. Had he done this the case for Cole's profession would have been much stronger, even with Cole revealing his transgendered status. No matter who they are, male or female, the one making profession under c 603 must have truly discerned and been formed in an eremitical vocation. (This is not the same as visiting monastic communities here and there, even for extended periods.) 

To give one's life to Christ in a religious or monastic community comes only after significant testing of one's capacity and fit for that and is vastly different than an extended "come and see" visit. To then leave such a community after years of solemn vows because of an overwhelming call to solitude is wrenching. Yet that is the context out of which c 603 was born. In any case, candidates for c 603 profession need to be contemplatives who, over some years of supervision and mentoring if available (not the same as spiritual direction), have discovered a yearning for greater solitude than they were (or would be) able to live in community life. Finally, they must have been prepared to make vows including chastity in celibacy and obedience! All of this takes time and supervised formation in the silence of solitude --- none of which, so far as I can tell, Cole ever received. 

Ultimately, this is Bishop Stowe's responsibility to make right. If he can't do that, I honestly don't know what steps the larger Church will take next.

Reprise of 2014 Post, "Fraudulent Catholic Hermits: Is it a Big Problem?"

Ten years ago tomorrow (25.May.2014) I posted the following article. Because of recent events in the Diocese of Lexington, it is particularly timely. Two points in this post are especially critical; they tie in with other posts I have put up this week. First, eremitical life is about letting go of any impersonation we may be living, and secondly, eremitical life itself, and not the various forms of apostolic ministry that might sometimes flow from it in the very limited ways they legitimately can, is an important gift lived for the salvation of others. In other words, the hermit says that life lived alone with God is itself the gift or charism of eremitical life, and the gift that our world, and especially those who are marginalized in any way, needs desperately. 

[[Hi Sister Laurel, is the problem of fraudulent hermits a big one? Do many people claim to be Catholic hermits when they are not? I am asking because you have written recently about the normative character of c 603 vocations and some who pretend to be Catholic hermits. Was the Church concerned with frauds and people like that when they decided to create this canon?]] 

No, on the whole this is not really a huge problem, or at least it was not a problem when I first started the process of becoming a diocesan hermit. I don't think it is that much of a problem even now though I do hear (or know firsthand) of cases here and there of folks who pull on a habit (or the gaunt visage and behavior of a  supposed "mystic"), don the title "Catholic hermit" and then turn up on the doorstep of a parish expecting to be recognized and known in this way. There was also a website a couple of years ago using the names of legitimate (canonical) diocesan hermits to get money through PayPal without the knowledge of these same diocesan hermits. Part of the problem is that the authentic vocation is so rare and little understood in absolute terms that a handful of counterfeits or frauds can have a greater impact relatively speaking. Those disedifying and fraudulent cases aside, however, the origins of the canon are actually pretty inspiring and had nothing to do with frauds or counterfeits. To reprise that here:

About a dozen monks, long solemnly professed, had grown in their vocations to a call to solitude (traditionally this is considered the summit of monastic life); unfortunately, their monasteries did not have anything in their own proper law that accommodated such a calling. Their constitutions and Rule were geared to community life and though this also meant a significant degree of solitude, it did NOT mean eremitical solitude. Consequently, these monks had to either give up their sense that they were called to eremitical life or they had to leave their monastic vows, be secularized, and try to live as hermits apart from their monastic lives and vows. Eventually, about a dozen of these hermits came together under the leadership of Dom Jacques Winandy and the aegis of Bishop Remi De Roo in British Columbia (he became their "Bishop Protector"); this gave him time to come to know the contemporary eremitical vocation and to esteem it and these hermits rather highly.

When Vatican II was in session Bishop de Roo, one of the youngest Bishops present, gave a written intervention asking that the hermit life be recognized in law as a state of perfection and the possibility of public profession and consecration for contemporary hermits made a reality. The grounds provided in Bishop Remi's intervention were all positive and today reflect part of the informal vision the Church has of this vocation. (You will find them listed in this post, Followup on the Visibility of the c 603 Vocation.) Nothing happened directly at the Council (even Perfectae Caritatis did not mention hermits), but VII did require the revision of the Code of Canon Law in order to accommodate the spirit embraced by the Council as well as other substantive changes it made necessary; when this revised code eventually came out in October of 1983 it included c. 603 which defined the Church's vision of eremitical life generally and, for the first time ever in universal law, provided a legal framework for the public profession and consecration of those hermits who desired and felt called to live an ecclesial eremitical vocation.

So you see, the Church was asked at the highest level by a Bishop with significant experience with about a dozen hermits living in a laura in British Columbia to codify this life so that it: 1) was formally recognized as a gift of the Holy Spirit, and 2) so that others seeking to live such a life would not have the significant difficulties that these original dozen hermits did because there was no provision in either Canon Law nor in their congregations' proper laws [for hermit life].

The majority of diocesan hermits (i.e., hermits professed in the hands of a diocesan Bishop) have tended to have a background in religious life; it is only in the past years that more individuals without such formation and background have sought to become diocesan hermits. This has left a bit of a hole in terms of writing about the vocation; it has meant not only that the nuts and bolts issues of writing a Rule of life, intimately understanding the nature of the vows, and learning to pray in all the ways religious routinely pray, have needed to be discussed somewhere publicly; it has also meant that the problems of the meaning and significance of the terms, "ecclesial vocation", "Catholic hermit," etc. as well as basic approaches to discernment, formation, the central elements of the canon, and so forth, have needed to be clarified for lay persons, some diocesan hermits, and even for those chanceries without much experience of this vocation.

My Own Interest in the Ecclesiality of the C 603 vocation:

I have been interested in all of these issues since I decided to pursue admittance to canon 603 profession --- now about 30 [40] years ago ---  and as I grow in this vocation, in my appreciation of it and of the wisdom and beauty of the canon which governs it, my interest remains --- but for rather different reasons. It took me 23 years to work out for myself many of the issues mentioned in the above paragraph; now I am able to give back to the larger Church community in ways that I sincerely hope allow others to more fully understand and esteem this vocation. Most important is what I have said over the past few days (and the past several years!!): this vocation is a gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church and world. In particular, it can witness to the fact that the isolation and marginality so many people experience today can be redeemed by one's relationship with God, just as it stands as a prophetic witness against the individualism, narcissism, and addictions (especially to media and to remote, packaged, and soundbite-approaches to reality and relationships) which almost completely define the world around us today. However, frauds, counterfeits, and curmudgeons can get in the way of or detract from this witness --- not least because, unless they are simply ignorant, they are generally mired in pretense and self-centeredness that makes the vocation incredible.

One of the least spoken of non-negotiable elements of canon 603 is that this is a life lived for the praise of God and the sake and indeed, the salvation of others. The usual focus in most discussions and in discernment as well tends to be on the silence of solitude, assiduous prayer and penance, and stricter separation from the world, as well as on the content of the vows, but I have not heard many talking about or centering attention on the phrase, "for the praise of God and the salvation of the world." However, this element very clearly signals that this vocation is not a selfish one and is not meant only for the well-being of the hermit. It also, I believe, is integral to the notion that this is an ecclesial vocation with defined rights and obligations lived in dialogue with the contemporary situation.  

To say this vocation has a normative shape and definition is also to say that not everything called eremitism in human history glorifies God. Further, calling attention to the fact that this is a normative or ecclesial vocation is just the flip side of pointing out that this is a gift of the Holy Spirit meant for the well-being of all who come to know it (as well as those who do not). I am keen that diocesan hermits embrace this element of their lives fully --- and certainly I also desire that chanceries understand that the discernment of vocations cannot occur adequately unless the charism of the vocation is truly understood and esteemed. The ecclesial nature of the vocation is part of this charism as is the prophetic witness I spoke of earlier. By far this is the larger issue driving my writing about the normative and ecclesial nature of this vocation or continuing to point out the significance of canonical standing than the existence of a few counterfeit "Catholic hermits".

 Letting Go of Impersonation: the Real Issue for all of us

As I consider this then, I suppose the problem of frauds (or counterfeits) is certainly more real than when I first sought admission to profession under canon 603 (the canon was brand new then and few knew about it), but for most of us diocesan hermits the real issue is our own integrity in living this life and allowing the Church to discern and celebrate other instances of it rather than dealing with the sorry pretense and insecurity which seems to drive some to claim titles to which they have no right. What serious debate takes place does so on this level, not on more trivial ones. The question of fraud is an important one for the hermit both personally and ecclesially because as Thomas Merton reminds us all: [[The . . .hermit has as his first duty, to live happily without affectation in his solitude. He owes this not only to himself but to his community [by extension diocesan hermits would say parish, diocese, or Church] that has gone so far as to give him a chance to live it out. . . . this is the chief obligation of the . . .hermit because, as I said above, it can restore to others their faith in certain latent possibilities of nature and of grace.]] (Emphasis added,  Contemplation in a World of Action, p. 242)

In any case, as Thomas Merton also knew very well, some of those who are frauds (and I am emphatically NOT speaking here of lay (non-canonical) hermits who identify themselves as non-canonical) might well embrace true solitude in the midst of their pretense; if they do, if they find they have a true eremitical vocation, it will only be by discovering themselves getting rid of any pretense or impersonation as well as finding their craziness or eccentricity dropping away. After all, as Merton also noted, one cannot ultimately remain crazy in the desert (that is, in the absence of others and presence of God in solitude) for it takes other people to make and allow us to be crazy. He writes: [[To be really mad you need other people. When you are by yourself you soon get tired of your craziness. It is too exhausting. It does not fit in with the eminent sanity of trees, birds, water, sky. You have to shut up and go about the business of living. The silence of the woods forces you to make a decision which the tensions and artificialities of society help you to evade forever. Do you want to be yourself or don't you?]] (Idem, 245, emphasis added)

You see, the simple truth which makes the existence of fraudulent hermits not only intriguing but also tremendously sad and ironic -- and which is also the universal truth we all must discover for ourselves -- is that alone with God we find and embrace our true selves. Through, with, and in God we find ourselves made true and fulfilled as persons. If we must continue in our pretense or various forms of impersonation then something is seriously askew with our solitude and therefore too, with our relationship with God (and vice versa).

Letter from Another Hermit on the Situation in Lexington, KY

I have raised the question of dishonesty and the misuse of c 603 concerning the situation in the Diocese of Lexington. In a conversation today regarding the canon lawyer's notion that c 603 could be used for Cole Matson's profession, because there's no community involved and no limitation on whether one is male or female, a good friend of mine (without a degree in canon law) certainly understands the principle involved here. She summarized the situation this way: 

[[Well, right! While one can be either male or female to be professed under c 603, one still needs to be a hermit!!]] 

And that has been the point of contention I have been addressing this week rather than Cole Matson's sexuality. It is true that eremitical life is little understood by most folks but there are more of us out there than most folks realize. Many are non-canonical, either by choice or perhaps because their dioceses have chosen not to implement c 603 for the consecration of solitary hermits. Some readers will remember I waited for 23 years for this possibility in the Diocese of Oakland. Another friend and Diocesan Hermit in New Zealand waited 17 years. These kinds of waiting periods are not atypical, and while they can be frustrating, they can also be a grace and essential for the authentic hermit's discernment and formation. After all, during these years God made Sister Nerina and me into hermits and did that as all hermit vocations are formed, viz., in the silence of solitude. What one brings to the Church for profession and then consecration in an ecclesial vocation is the gift of a true eremitical vocation forged over long years in humble faithfulness to God and God's Church.

There are a number of reasons the Church makes hermits wait for such lengths of time.  First of all, the vocation itself requires years to be formed. And sometimes bishops themselves need to learn more about the vocation they are honoring (or in the case of Lexington's Bishop Stowe, dishonoring) in this way. Sometimes dioceses lack sufficient personnel to make certain the hermit vocation is adequately discerned and formed. Sometimes dioceses that once consecrated hermits get a new bishop and that new bishop may decide he does not want to give permission for any further use of c 603. In such cases, the non-canonical hermits have to decide whether to move to a diocese where c 603 can be implemented (arguably the only form of bishop-shopping that is valid for such vocations), or whether to continue faithfully living their eremitical lives where they are while praying for the day c 603 profession and consecration will be possible in the diocese again. I heard from one of those hermits yesterday. While I don't usually post whole letters or author's names (or their chosen pseudonyms) in this blog, I am going to do so in this case. In contrast to the situation in Lexington, this letter is edifying and should be heard.

Sr. Laurel,
I just wanted to write and say how much I appreciated your posts on the issue concerning the issue of the professed transsexual hermit Cole Matson. I thought your post on May 20, 2024 was particularly useful in answering people's questions about the situation as it was comprehensive and honest. It was particularly helpful for me in answering some of the questions I was presented with by others concerning what I thought of the matter.

In the Diocese I live in, we do not have an option to be a Diocesan hermit as the current Bishop has made the decision not to consecrate anyone seeking the eremitic vocation. However, he does allow those of us who have discerned a vocation to the life of a hermit to do so in front of our parish at a public Mass. Of course, as you know, this means I do not have canonical status but it does allow me to live out my vocation authentically and with the support of my parish family until such time as a new bishop may reverse this decision.

I mention that to say, as someone who is living the eremitic life, besides all the issues you addressed in your post, I was also very much struck by the fact that Cole made the conscious and deliberate decision to make a public announcement concerning her being transsexual. My issues with this action are two-fold. First, the very act of making what amounts to a very public press announcement which an individual knows will garner widespread attention would, in itself, seem to be quite contrary to the spirit of the eremitic life. It would seem to me the last thing a hermit should be seeking is public notoriety. Second, to do anything that, by its very nature, would cause public scandal for the Church is an egregious violation of the eremitic vocation. Pardon my naivety but it seems that making such a public announcement has little to nothing to do with the need to authentically live an eremitic life and more to do with using that vocation to make a statement about an individual's view of what constitutes social justice and to forward a particular socio-political agenda.

Yours in Christ
Paul

I found Paul's letter (and another one in our mutual correspondence yesterday) to be immensely consoling and inspiring. Many of us who have honestly discerned an eremitical vocation recognize that God has done something rare and edifying in our lives by making us hermits; we desire, because of that, to gain canonical standing. However, to watch as the fragile and purposely little-used canon under which we either are or would be professed and consecrated is misused and abused as it has been in the Diocese of Lexington brings some foreboding as well. We know well that as a result of the hypocritical circus in Lexington, some bishops will now reject c 603 and let it go unused for even the genuine hermits waiting for a chance to live authentic eremitical life in the name of the Church. My prayer is that the hermits whom God has called from the midst of a suffering world will be able to witness publicly to this grace in the way c 603 first made universally possible in 1983 --- authentically, faithfully, and humbly in the silence of solitude.

Once Again, on the Importance of Charism, Discernment and Formation of C 603 Vocations

Despite the circus-like hoopla over the "coming out party" and revelation of so-called "diocesan hermit" Cole Matson's transgendered status, several really central elements of the story, and thus too, of the vocation which is supposed to be at the heart of the matter, are getting lost in the shouting. The pious justificatory spin and congratulatory backslapping over Matson's "heroic faith" and the apparent coup he and Bishop Stowe have accomplished in the name of "justice" in the church have distracted almost everyone from the main issue in their use of canon 603.

Canon 603 describes a rare and significant vocation that is a gift of God to the church. It deserves better! Not least, it deserves to be represented by someone who has, over long preparatory years, truly discerned such a vocation as their God-given life calling. Similarly, it deserves to be supervised by a bishop who understands and regards such a calling at least sufficiently not to betray and distort it by allowing the canon defining and governing it to be used as a legal loophole to accomplish an agenda the church considers illegitimate. Even were the cause a righteous one, c 603, and the full-time life vocation it defines and governs should not be betrayed in the egregious way Cole Matson and Bishop Stowe have admitted to doing in the Lexington situation. This is not the way we treat divine gifts.

In my life, I identify what c 603 calls, the silence of solitude as the charism of solitary eremitical life. This is so because first of all, I identify solitude with more than physical aloneness (I see it as a "place" of quiet and wholeness where the noise of human woundedness, struggle, and pain have come to rest in the deepest truth of the life, love, and peace of God). It is also so because I identify silence less with a still-essential external silence and more with hesychia or stillness that results when one's life is rightly ordered in terms of one's relationships with God, self, and others; for these reasons, the silence of solitude represents the completion and fullness of life in relationship that occurs when God completes one and she exists in communion with God and God's creation (including one's own deepest and truest self).  This completion and fullness is a gift of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the authentically eremitical life of prayer, stricter separation from the world, silence, and solitude. The word charism reflects this gift quality (gifts = charisma) and provides a unique form of community (covenant) that is absolutely foundational for other more common forms of community.

Generally, as most will know, a religious congregation's charism refers to a unique gift quality their life and ministry represent for both Church and world; this charism is given to the institute as the Holy Spirit acts in conjunction with human beings to meet significant contemporary needs.  In c 603 life, both charism and ministry are defined in terms of being the person that is created in and comes to personify or embody the silence of solitude. You see, when I think of eremitical life and especially that under c 603, assiduous prayer and penance are not unique to it, nor is stricter separation from the world. The Evangelical Counsels are not unique to it either, although all of these elements are gifts of God to the hermit and others in the church. The one central element of c 603 which, it seems to me, orders all other elements towards significant contemporary needs is the silence of solitude.  Always more than the sum of its parts, the silence of solitude takes up all of the other elements of the eremitical life and the hermit herself and transforms these into a new creation who (that) can effectively proclaim the Gospel to every person. 

I see the silence of solitude as a countercultural reality that speaks not only to Religious but to anyone seeking reassurance that the isolation of alienation that so marks and mars our world can be borne creatively and transfigured and transformed in the process.  Eremitical solitude is antithetical to alienation and isolation; it is relational through and through. The silence belonging to this solitude is neither the part-time "peace and quiet" of the dilettante "hermit", nor is it the anguished cry of emptiness of the misanthrope, but a distinct song that rejoices in God's love as that love-in-act completes us as human beings and we come to live in union with God and the whole of God's creation. Eremitical life teaches us that the term "silence of solitude" refers not just to the context in which one lives and grows in this life, but to the human person made whole and holy through the power of the Holy Spirit therein. It refers to what occurs when we are healed of the wounds that cause us to cry out in anguish or withdraw in fear and exhaustion from the struggle to live fully. It is the human being as language event brought to her most perfect and powerful fulfillment in God. All of this belongs to the promise c 603 embodies when its vocation is carefully discerned and faithfully lived. 

Think what it is like to sit quietly with a friend, without strain or competition or the need to prove oneself or be anyone other than the person we are while resting in the presence of that other. That moment of selfhood achieved while at rest in the life and presence of a friend (and, in part made possible by that presence) is one of the silence of solitude. We all recognize such a moment as one in which alienation is overcome, the noisy striving of everyday life is quieted, and the human potential and need for profound relationship is, for the moment, realized. When the hermit rests in and enjoys the company of God in a similar way, when, that is, she becomes God's covenant partner and allows God to be hers in all she is and does, something similar but even greater and more definitive occurs. It is this that I believe c 603 recognizes as the silence of solitude; moreover, it is something every person yearns for and hermits witness to with their lives. Thus, I identify the silence of solitude as the context, goal, and charism of the eremitical life.

Does the fact that my life is charismatic and has a specific charism make a difference for me? Yes, absolutely.  For instance, because I have a sense of the charism of my vocation it means recognizing that my entire life is lived for others even in the absence of active ministry and therefore, that the call to wholeness and holiness in silence and solitude can never be allowed to become or remain a selfish or me-centered reality. It means recognizing and committing to living this vocation well because, as Thomas Merton once said, this life "makes certain claims about nature and grace"; to live it badly is to fail to allow it to witness to the truth of such claims, namely, that whoever we are and in whatever situation or condition, our God delights in and desires to complete us and bring us to fullness of life with and in God himself. 

In the midst of the present situation involving the dishonest use of canon 603, it also means insisting that dioceses and candidates understand this charism so that vocations to c 603 life are perceived as significant and needed vocations, and discernment and formation processes (both initial and ongoing) are undertaken carefully with equally significant rigor. Hermits are those who are called by God in our original and often pervasive brokenness to witness to the truth that only God completes us, only God makes us who we are called to be, only God can transfigure and make us whole in and as what c 603 calls the silence of solitude.

When we forget the charism of this vocation (or any other vocation for that matter), we open the door to professing and consecrating those who can neither live nor witness to others as a c 603 hermit is called to do. I have been convinced for some time that it is in neglecting the charism of this vocation (that is, in forgetting that this vocation has a charism and is essentially charismatic) that we open the door to fraudulent hermits and stopgap vocations that are disedifying, scandalous, and even sacrilegious. Once dioceses identify and commit to honoring the charism of this vocation, they will have a better way of faithfully discerning and aiding in the formation of authentic vocations to eremitical life under c 603. Understanding the gift quality of any vocation helps one to live it well and to commit to growing in this ability for the whole of one's life.

All that said, it is particularly difficult to have this charism and this vocation being hijacked and distorted as a means to notoriety in the service of an ulterior motive! Almost nothing I can think of could betray this vocation more vividly or significantly. 

Sister Laurel, was this the Case You Were writing about?

For those wondering if my blog posts on the 6th and 17th of May were about the situation referred to in the following link Cole Matson Diocesan Hermit?, the answer is yes. Both posts (cf. Professing a Transsexual? and Followup Questions) had the situation with Bishop John Stowe and Cole (aka Christian) Matson in mind. I have seen the article strategically announcing Cole's coming out as transgendered; over time I will write further about the situation (including some questionable canonical advice apparently given to Bishop Stowe). 

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on one's perspective) this matter is now an open church issue and, within the limits of my vocation as well as my theological expertise, I will continue to contribute to any ongoing dialogue, particularly from the perspective of the appropriate and inappropriate uses of canon 603. As always, if readers have other specific questions or comments on diocesan hermit life or on this specific case,  I am more than happy to respond. If you are simply wondering if this was the case I was referring to and have been involved in in one way or another during the last several years, this is your answer. Please, no more emails on that question!

Postscript: By the way, in case folks are wondering, while I am disappointed with and seriously critical of Bishop Stowe regarding this specific situation, I have more generally agreed with his positions and appreciated his courage on some things. I also was touched by his timely and gracious response to my letter of June 2022. Perhaps all of that is another reason besides c 603 itself that the current situation raises such complex and intense feelings for me.

Followup Questions: On Professing and/or Consecrating Transgendered Persons to Consecrated Life

[[Sister Laurel, you said you opposed the proposed profession of a transsexual. You also said you did it for reasons apart from the person's sexual identity. What you outlined was a pattern of fraud, duplicity, and dishonesty. That raises several questions for me: 1) was there a profession; if not, why is it an issue? 2) is it possible that the bishop does not (or did not) know the person seeking profession was and is a transsexual? What I was thinking was that if it were me I might keep it quiet and maybe play dumb. I know you don't like the question, "Who could it hurt?" but if the person lives as a hermit and doesn't publicize that they are transsexual, maybe they could remain a good hermit without bothering anyone. Maybe that was what the bishop involved was thinking.

3) In what way did you oppose the profession? I can't see you picketing outside the cathedral on the day of profession (just kidding) so what do you mean?! I was also uncertain why you said one does not make vows to gain more data. 4) Aren't temporary vows made while one is still discerning a vocation? Shouldn't they be made exactly to gain more data? I think my last question is a what if question. 5) If you discover there has been a profession, now, several years after you opposed this, what will you do? 6) Do you feel the same way you did when you first opposed the profession? 7) Isn't it possible the person you described has discerned a real eremitical vocation?]]

Thanks for your questions; I've added numbers and divided things into two paragraphs for readability. I have also opted to use feminine pronouns throughout (except for bishops) because that is the form I ordinarily use in my blog pieces; the alternatives open to me are way too clumsy and unreadable. Also, any initials used in this piece were chosen at random. (I picked a couple of scrabble tiles for this!) Finally, while the church's position on professing and consecrating transgendered persons is fundamental to the situation prompting your questions and at least implicit throughout this post, except concerning the idea of using profession under c 603 to achieve justice in the church (one must ask for whom?!), I mainly prescind from a direct discussion of the issue itself here.

The background: 

 Yes, I outlined a pattern of fraud, and dishonesty in the use/abuse of canon 603 and the vows/profession being planned or proposed. I should also have noted I found a kind of desperation and glibness that set this person up both to manipulate and to be used herself. You see, the person seeking profession and I had spoken of the options open to her during a serious correspondence in 2019, as well as about various peoples' opinions that the church's teaching on the profession of transsexuals was going to change. She had been given a great deal of false encouragement regarding potential changes in church teaching and I thought this did her a distinct disservice in its clear lack of candor or realism. 

When she and I began to correspond again in 2022, she had spent extended time as a guest in a couple of monasteries and/or congregations. In one case, when the bishop of the diocese in which the congregation was located became aware of the situation, they were required to make her leave. C____ described this as personally devastating. Though not an actual member of the Order she had been allowed to wear the habit and having to divest herself of this was something that hurt her very deeply. Once out of her guestship (she could never have truly experienced a novitiate) with the congregation, she continued to style herself as a religious and to introduce herself with the usual formal title along with a new religious name in public and correspondence.

As noted above, C___ suffered from several experiences involving the unreasonable raising and (unfortunately) necessary subsequent dashing of hopes and expectations during just these few years; this may have exacerbated an (increasing?) resistance to accepting the truth of what the church herself (not just this or that priest or religious) was saying to her regarding her ability to enter consecrated life. It was my impression that, at least partly because some within the church raised her expectations unreasonably, C___ continued in her efforts to find a way to make public vows. Eventually, she located and moved to a diocese with an amenable bishop and enlisted him to assist in accomplishing C___'s will. 

The Questions:

So, with this added background, let me give your questions a shot! 1) Has there been a profession? The answer to that is apparently yes, though I don't know the details of it and only learned of it this week (in part because of a directory listing C___, and in part because of a spate of visitors from the area of C___ chancery, residence, cathedral, etc). The diocese involved has not publicized it in any way except to list C___ in their directory as a diocesan hermit apparently living on a local monastery's grounds. Remember that even with temporary vows, diocesan hermits have been entrusted with a public ecclesial vocation with specific rights and obligations. Remember that this also means that people from this diocese and parish (and indeed, from the entire church) have a right to certain expectations regarding c 603 and this candidate, not least, that the profession was seriously, honestly, and conscientiously discerned as God's chosen way to wholeness and holiness for this person, as well as that the brother/sister professed exemplifies a commitment to chaste love in their foundational manliness or womanliness, (cf. Professing a Transsexual?) the capacity for profound obedience to God, to God's church, and faithfulness to and regard for her teaching --- particularly regarding consecrated life. In the situation at hand, I think there are doubts about each of these points.

Was the Bishop Knowledgeable?

The bishop knew of C___'s transgendered status. C___ said she had been entirely open with him in this and that the two of them were looking at profession under c 603 as a matter of justice in the church. I also mentioned it when I wrote the bishop as well as that I would prescind from the issue of sexuality and focus on the misuse and abuse of canon 603 itself except where C___ raised the issue herself. I was advised by a second canonist to write not only C___'s bishop, but the metropolitan and Nuncio to the Vatican as well with a summary of the issues this proposed profession would raise. I did that, so yes, C___'s FtM transsexual status was known. I also wrote C___ directly and reminded her of what she had written during our original correspondence or published in interviews around the same time. In that C___'s very real Spirit-breathed vocation was evident; she would have to give that up if she chose to pursue profession under c 603 and live solitary eremitical life faithfully in all of its depth and dimensions. She would also need to find that eremitical life itself involved a personal fulfillment that was deeper and richer than the more apparent vocation she would be required to give up if she continued to vows under c 603. And ordinarily, she would need to explore and gain a true sense of this before admission to vows.

You see, whether temporary or perpetual, vows imply the gift of the whole person, body, soul, and spirit to God. We make vows not to do initial experimentation and discernment, but rather, because in the process of discernment --- sometimes over long years, both the candidate or novice and those discerning with her have come to reasonable clarity that this is indeed the way God is calling the person to human wholeness and holiness. Yes, temporary vows allow for further discernment, particularly as one moves into a new situation with new expectations and responsibilities. But one makes temporary vows with the same sureness one makes perpetual vows, giving the whole of oneself without reservation or reserve. More importantly in this situation, one does not admit another person to vows without the sense that this is God's call they are answering, and more, that they are answering that call appropriately. To do otherwise is to indicate one does not regard this person's growth and sanctification (God's making them whole and true) as an authentic human being. Yes, post-profession, of course, there will be continuing exploration of the vocation for the candidate, but it will be an exploration of one's deepest self and the depths of the vocation in which one is professed and made transparent to God and God's love!!

Unfortunately, none of this comports with C___'s own account of her dicernment, nor were the reasons she gave for seeking profession under c 603 an adequate reason to make vows of any sort. After noting that "Frankly, I still feel called to community" and "I hope I will be given brothers" maybe even returning to the community I lived with. . . C___ explained it this way: [[The available position [i.e.,  the only canonical "slot"] that feels closest to the identity I have discovered within myself is that of hermit. . ..I don't know yet if that position will lead to the discovery of a new vocation [i.e., I don't know if profession under this canon will lead to the discovery that God is truly calling me to be a hermit], but I can't know until I have begun to explore from it. In the meantime we are going to experiment for a year and see how the exploration goes. If exploring from the position of a hermit does not work, then very well -- we have gained that data and can reorient. If it does ring true, then we will have gained that data. we're constantly checking in with each other, discerning, reassessing, and trying - together - to find the next right step.]] 

Again, all of this kind of experimentation and exploration needs to take place before profession, and a lot of it before a candidate even knocks on the chancery door to petition for admittance to a mutual discernment process and eventual vows and consecration. No one is ever admitted to profession until and unless everyone involved in the discernment and formation process agrees this is God's call. Why should C____ require what no one else is ever given to discern an eremitical vocation? Most candidates instinctively (or quickly come to) understand and accept that they must explore eremitical life as a non-canonical hermit long before seeking admission to public profession. Many bishops and chancery staff, especially those with a background in formation, are even more keenly aware of this! Most seekers also recognize they might be wrong in what they have discerned and may need to humbly discern anew. 

But not in this case! After all, what C___ sought was not the ecclesial recognition and commissioning of a long or even a newly-sensed eremitical vocation but public ecclesial standing itself with the freedom to continue her artistic activity (what I believe was and likely is her real vocation) outside the hermitage and lobby for "justice". C___ was honest that she was settling for public standing within the best canonical slot she could find (likely because no monastic communities, nor their necessary discernment processes are involved directly though this was what she truly desired and is still aspiring to). But settling in this way is not discerning, and making even a temporary profession in these terms is not a canon 603 profession. It uses c 603 as a stopgap to living a fiction and compounds that with an invalid and potentially sacrilegious act. Even more, C___'s bishop, though a religious whom I wrote prior to the profession with detailed summaries of these and additional concerns, was knowingly complicit in this. This is what disturbs me most about the situation. 

Could this Person Discern a True Vocation to Eremitical Life?

Yes, though I think it is unlikely, it is not entirely inconceivable that C___ will one day discover a true vocation to solitary eremitical life, but not before living it consciously, authentically, and faithfully for some years. There are recognizable and sometimes overlapping stages to this vocation; one moves through a process of becoming a person of prayer, to learning to pray contemplatively, to another stage of becoming a contemplative, and then to a stage involved in discerning the presence and meaning of deeper and more extensive desires and needs for silence and solitude; additionally one needs to discover that one is fulfilled by God as a man or woman precisely as a hermit in the silence of solitude. Even after all of this one will still need to discover which eremitical context is best for living this life authentically and well. Will it be non-canonical eremitical life or canonical? Part of a community or solitary? It is typical (and usually necessary) for those becoming diocesan hermits to have lived in the silence of solitude for some years before approaching their chanceries with their petition to be professed and allowed to live eremitical life as it is normatively understood. 

Because this vocation "belongs to the church" before it belongs to any individual, once one has approached her diocese, she will engage in a mutual discernment process with a small team from the chancery; this team may also include a c. 603 hermit consultant or other experts to assist with discernment and formation. Once admitted to this process, and as an integral part of the process, the candidate herself will take time to write a liveable Rule based in her own lived experience and reflecting the non-negotiable elements of c 603. This Rule, throughout the entire process of writing, can (and I sincerely hope will) become the basis for conversations with and contributing to an inspired discernment and other assessments by the formation team. C 603 requires significant experience in a solitary eremitical setting; it is this experience coupled with an understanding of the terms of Canon 603 that makes potential diocesan hermits capable of writing their own Rule or professing the Evangelical Counsels required by the canon. 

It was telling then, that C___, just a month and a half before the proposed profession, could not articulate for her own Rule of Life the way she understood and lived Evangelical poverty. Though honest about not having discerned an eremitical vocation, she actually asked me to help the Sister writing her Rule with an appropriate vow of poverty. (N.B., C____ noted that the Sister doing the work was not familiar with living poverty in an eremitical sense under c 603. Unfortunately, neither was C___ though she proposed to make a vow binding in conscience and law in just six weeks or so!) In such a case, precisely because the vocation belongs to the church before it belongs to any individual, the bishop and diocesan staff are responsible for understanding and regarding the vocation itself; they must do so sufficiently to at least try to prevent such inadequate discernment and formation.

As a bit of an excursus, let me note that besides the ability to write a liveable Rule, one of the things I personally look for when discerning with someone regarding their call to eremitical life is the experience and fruits of a redemptive experience integrally tied to this specific context. This may come slowly over time in a pattern of smaller "highs" and lows, or surprise one with a more abrupt and pronounced inbreaking of God's powerful love. In whichever way this occurs, if we are to conclude someone is truly called to solitary eremitical life, that person must have met Christ within the hermitage context and have been brought to a degree of wholeness and holiness they have truly found nowhere else, in no other life context. One's life itself must then proclaim the freedom and compassion of the Gospel lived in the silence of solitude. I admit I cannot see how this can happen when everything is built on a series of lies (including those one has either wittingly or unwittingly told oneself) and has been conditioned by a foundational agenda shrouded in secrecy. Eremitical hiddenness is not rooted in dishonesty, fraud, hypocrisy, bad faith, or secrecy. Instead, it is the result of having one's personal truth bound up in an ineffable intimacy with the deepest Mystery we can know and be known by. It is from this place of intimacy that the most profound truth of ourselves becomes both transparent to the God who dwells within us and entirely visible to those who know us.

Next Steps and the real and potential disservice done to others: 

Your fifth question is the most difficult one. What more can I do? What more am I called to do, if anything? There is no doubt the fact of the profession makes the situation more problematic than when I answered the questions in the last post on all of this. I became aware of the profession unexpectedly. As a result, my feelings in the matter have intensified and become more complex, particularly those concerning the bishop responsible here.  For that reason, I will continue to pray about everything and likely ask for assistance in considering what is necessary and possible. That can include conversations with canon lawyers, the USCCB (members and committees), and even representatives of DICLSAL. At the very least the situation requires clarification regarding the validity of vows already made. You see, from my perspective, this profession has done a serious disservice not only to the person admitted to profession dishonestly, but to the vocation itself, and to the People of God who should be able to trust the seriousness, faithfulness, and honesty with which bishops are called to approach implementing canons like ##603-605. 

I believe it could also become a significant disservice to other members of the diocese in question who may also be admitted to c 603 profession (or other forms of consecration like that of c 604) while trusting the church has done a really competent discernment. (The fact that the church discerns this vocation with us can be particularly reassuring in times of struggle and self-doubt. Usually, this allows one to persevere despite difficulties. But what happens when the diocese shows it is truly careless in dealing with questions of discernment and formation of vocations?) Similarly, it could do a disservice to others who find themselves turned away from admission to profession and/or consecration even though they have the same qualifications (or lack thereof) as C___. And consider if bishop-shopping for an amenable bishop is permitted in something like this for one person without the vocation, then what of others with similar "medical history", avocations, desire just to get professed, and ability to relocate at will? How far will the solitary hermit vocation be stretched and distorted to accommodate these persons in the name of some agenda-driven "justice" before it ceases to have any real meaning at all? The situation raises many questions; these are but a few of them.

Summary:

For the present, in this specific situation, here is where things stand. A Catholic Bishop and one who sought him out --- now identified as Bishop John Stowe and Cole Matson--- acted fraudulently and without regard for the 603 eremitic vocation itself, for its true nature and charism (gift quality), or for those who might be either directly or indirectly affected by this act to accomplish an agenda the church herself regards as illegitimate. Fraud was done to achieve "justice," though at the expense of diocesan credibility and more, at least possible damage to the vocation itself. Thus, again, I see it as a very serious matter with the potential for significant destructive fallout. Though I never thought I would find myself saying this, I would almost rather see bishops refusing to implement c 603 for anyone at all than indulging in this kind of travesty.

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Postscript 5/21/2024 In light of the events on Pentecost, I have added the appropriate names to the summary in this post.