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 she 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 or on behalf of artists** could be possible and legitimate! 

** In reflecting on such ministry I am reminded that truth and beauty are central categories for perceiving and appreciating Divine Mystery. What Cole feels called to could well serve the church and the church's proclamation, but not from c 603 profession or a vocation as a diocesan hermit.