On Working with a Diocese Toward the Discernment and Formation of c 603 Hermits

 [[Sister Laurel, I want to become a diocesan hermit but my diocese doesn't have the personnel to work with me. Is that common? You said you sometimes work with dioceses who are unfamiliar with c 603 or don't have the personnel to work with the candidate sufficiently to discern and help in the formation of an eremitical vocation. Would you consider doing that with me or does my diocese need to contact you first? What do I need to do to get this started? Thank you for taking the time to answer this. I am fine with you doing that on your blog except for private information of course!]]

Hi there, and thanks for your questions. In the main, though you gave permission to post this on the blog, I'll answer you privately; at the same time, there is some general information I can post here which may help others so thanks for your permission. First of all, it is not uncommon these days that dioceses don't have sufficient personnel, especially in dealing with other than priestly vocations. There are shortages of both priests and religious and vocations offices tend to be less fully staffed than was once the case. Some dioceses no longer have Vicars for Religious or Consecrated Life, The work of these offices is taken on by Vocation Directors working mainly with priestly vocations. As you can imagine, this leaves gaps re c 603 vocations. At the same time, DICLSAL has published Ponam in Deserto Viam (The Hermit's Way of Life in the Local Church) Libreria Editrice Vaticana (2022), which, among other things, encourages the use of qualified c 603 hermits to mentor or collaborate in the discernment and formation of such vocations.

To that end, yes, over the past seven or eight years or so, I have worked with people from several dioceses in the US and Great Britain. As I have noted here in recent years, there are a couple of ways c 603 can be approached to assist with discernment and formation of vocations. One is to add canonical layers to things (requisite time frames, required canonical hoops to jump through usually drawn from established approaches to religious life more generally). This tends not to work in my estimation. The second is to develop a workable and individualized process of discernment and preparation (formation) from within the canon itself with minimal extraneous requirements.

That latter is the approach I have taken with these others based on my sense of the adequacy of the canon itself and its history (especially in terms of the dozen monk-hermits who preceded c 603 in time as its forebears with Bp Remi de Roo, who was their Bishop Protector and made the initial intervention at the Second Vatican Council to see the eremitical vocation, but particularly the solitary eremitical vocation, recognized as a state of perfection). What this approach provides is a process of supervised growth in the vocation based on the requirements of the canon, especially that of writing a liveable Rule of Life, and a minimal set of formal time frames (minimum time to temporary vows, writing of a liveable Rule, readiness for perpetual vows and consecration). While every diocese can approach this differently, the candidate still needs to negotiate certain things to be truly ready for profession as a c 603 hermit. All of those things can be achieved while assisting the candidate to write a liveable Rule of Life that truly reflects his/her own experience of c 603 eremitical life and the way God works in his/her life.

Sometimes dioceses (the Vicar for Religious or Consecrated Life, or the Vocations Director) contact me directly, most often they ask the candidate to contact me and then we (all) go from there. It is the case that you (or any potential candidate really) will need to write (email) me personally AND also speak with your diocese about working with me (more about that in a moment). Before this, however, you will need to check with these persons to see if they are open to professing anyone at all who shows themselves to be a suitable candidate who is adequately prepared for profession under c 603. If they are open to implementing the canon under these conditions and will commit to that, then you (or any potential candidate) are in a position to take next steps. Unfortunately, nothing can be done if your diocese is unwilling to implement the canon at all, but if they are open to it, then there are several ways of proceeding. All of these require someone from the diocese who will meet with you regularly and (less frequently) with me as well. Meanwhile, (mainly depending on the personnel the diocese has available) you and I would meet periodically as is helpful to us both.

What is optimal is to have a couple of people from your diocesan staff (a small team from the Vicar for Religious, or vocations office and perhaps a canon lawyer) meeting with you regularly or periodically (though not particularly frequently) to assess your progress. I can serve as mentor to you and/or consultant to your diocese or diocesan team for the process. We would need to work out the best and most helpful arrangement for all concerned. The idea, however, is that based on your background, your experience with eremitical life and c 603, and your ability to write a liveable Rule, the Diocese follows you either directly or more indirectly as we discern and help form you in a c 603 vocation. (All this presupposes you have already been living as a non-canonical hermit for at least a couple of years.) Once the diocese has determined you are a suitable candidate for a mutual process of discernment and for formation (not everyone is), the ongoing project of preparing to write and writing your Rule and covering how you do and will live the elements of the Canon provides the basis for regular conversations with and assessments by your diocese.

The next step would be for you to write me and tell me your story. If your diocese is open to implementing c 603 at all, they will need the same information as well as your sacramental records, etc. From there we will see how to proceed. (The details of this include working out general arrangements between you, your diocese, and myself to make sure we are on the same page.) It will partly depend on your theological background and background with religious life (if any), eremitical life and spiritual direction, and your age and motivation; it will also depend upon your own and your diocese's openness to working together in collaboration with me (and/or another c 603 mentor) in this way.  The process to be worked out will represent a journey of several years since it is based on your (or any candidate's) ability to write a liveable Rule of Life that adequately reflects c 603 life and its quality as a public ecclesial vocation. 

To do that you need lived experience of the elements of c 603, and you need to understand all of these well enough to write about them and determine how God is calling you to live them in a healthy way in a public and ecclesial vocation for the sake of God, the Church, and the salvation of others. (An ecclesial vocation is one that belongs first of all to the Church to whom God has entrusted it, and who then entrusts it to you first by admitting you to profession and then by mediating God's own consecration of you in the hands of the local bishop.) Meanwhile, by healthy I mean you will live the solitary eremitical vocation in the heart of the Church, in ways that edify and represent the eremitical tradition to and for the entire Church because this is the way God has called you to achieve human wholeness and holiness. In all this, you become a silent preaching of the Gospel of God in Christ. An adequate mutual discernment and formation process helps ensure all of that before admission to perpetual profession and consecration.

I  hope this is helpful. I'll be in touch. 

Second Consecration, Ecclesial Vocations, and C 603 Hermits Making a Return to the Church

 [[ Sister Laurel, you referred recently to a second consecration besides the consecration of baptism. When another hermit [name withheld] calls herself a consecrated Catholic hermit but has not received this second consecration, is that the source of her misunderstanding in identifying herself in the way she does? In a similar vein, if someone claims that God consecrates but men do not  --- wondering why she is not [considered to be] consecrated, is she misunderstanding the mediation needed to enter the consecrated state of life in the Catholic Church? I have not been reading your blog for long -- only since the Cole Matson case in Lexington exploded at Pentecost, so you may already have talked about this, but what principle do you think is most important for understanding the significance of c 603 and the whole notion of 2nd consecration or admittance to a second consecration?]]

Thanks for writing, and especially for your questions.  At this point, I am open to suggestions on making matters clear. Still, I have written many times on this blog about the distinction between dedication and consecration and the way that distinction was carefully maintained at Vatican II and in works on monastic commitments. I have also referred to the consecration associated with baptism and its distinction from the "second consecration" that initiates one into the consecrated state of life. This distinction holds despite the confusing translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in Par 920-921 which has sometimes been misread as allowing private vows to be used for a hermit's initiation into the consecrated state because of course, Par 920-921 must be read in light of other paragraphs of the CCC, the revised Code of Canon Law, and the Church's theology of consecrated life, not otherwise. 

Finally, I am pretty sure I have spoken many times about the importance of mediation in the church's life, particularly concerning sacraments and ecclesial vocations. I have explained that God is always the one doing the consecrating, but that this occurs through the diocesan bishop's authority because it is a gift of God to the Church which the Church must take serious responsibility for and extend on God's behalf to individual hermits. Partly I have tried to clarify these issues because of misunderstandings and questions, but even more I have tried to do it as I explored the meaning of the term "ecclesial vocations" like that of c 603. It is probably the notion of ecclesial vocations that is the most important one for understanding the distinction between non-canonical and canonical vocations, including all of the discussions just mentioned -- particularly in considering the significance of c 603 and the meaning of 2nd consecration. Because they are part of understanding the difference between an ecclesial vocation and one that is not, some of these issues will continue to need to be emphasized for those beginning their journey as hermits --- some of whom will eventually do this as canonical hermits under c 603 or as part of a canonical community of hermits.

Catholic and Hermit vs Catholic Hermit

It should go without saying that one represents the church when one is a c 603 hermit and, moreover, that the church herself has chosen this person to represent the church, not simply as a Catholic (one is commissioned to be and do that through baptism), but as someone whom God has called through the church's mediation to represent her consecrated eremitical tradition. Contrary to what some argue, not every person through history who decided to call themselves a hermit led an edifying desert life witnessing to the God or Gospel of Jesus Christ. "Just going off alone" is not enough to be a hermit in the way the church uses the term. Contemporary life calls some forms of self-chosen solitude "cocooning". This conveys the isolation and individualism of this way of life. But the Church's eremitical life, and especially her consecrated solitary eremitical life, is not this; instead, a Catholic hermit lives the church's eremitical life according to the norms this same church has established. More, the Church herself entrusts the Catholic hermit with this Divine vocation and calls her to live it in the Church's name.

Ecclesial Vocations:

One of the most difficult things I had to get through my own head and heart during novitiate (and later!) was the whole idea of mutual discernment. It was very difficult to understand how one's own sense that one was called to a vocation might be mistaken or insufficient. I don't think I learned the term "ecclesial vocation" until much later --- something that was crucial for my understanding! Once I had that term and appreciated that the vocations described this way first of all belonged to the Church herself and only then were entrusted to the person who also discerned such a vocation, I began to understand not just the reason for mutual discernment, but also why the church celebrates such vocations establishing and indicating them with liturgical rites, unique titles, and so forth. None of this was or is about the individual, much less some supposed desire for power, prestige, status, authority, etc. It is about God and the way God has gifted his church with this vocation. It is about the church in turn entrusting persons with this gift in ways that ensure they are empowered to live it and glorify God as fully as possible.

When we think of c 603 consecrated life as countercultural, one of the most significant ways this is true is in the vocation's rejection of individualism. Yes, within clear limits, c 603 is incredibly flexible and diocesan hermits live eremitism in individual (not individualistic!) ways. So, for instance, I live a 24-hour day very differently than Sister Rachel Denton in the Diocese of Hallam (UK), or Sister Anunziata Grace in the Diocese of Knoxville, or any number of others throughout the world. Yes, there are commonalities in terms of the silence of solitude, assiduous prayer, etc., but at the same time, each day is marked by the dynamic constituting the hermit's life in, with, and through Christ and the Holy Spirit. In our faithfulness to the Holy Spirit, unity is not uniformity, particularly in solitary eremitical life. 

At the same time, when we get together to catch up or talk about living the vocation using books like The Eremitic Life by Cornelius Wencel, Er Cam, or Solitude and Communion, ed Allchin, to guide our sharing, what we recognize are all the elements of this vocation we share -- the struggles, the joys, our own constant surprise at finding again and again that, despite our own weaknesses and incapacity, God has called and continues to call us to this vocation. We share the same Spirit, often the same hearts (generally speaking), even, sometimes, similar forms of woundedness and certainly the same essential wholeness in Christ, and we have been entrusted with this Divine calling by the Church who was herself entrusted with it by God. We recognize this because we know our lives are called to glorify God in this specific way and are not ashamed to have answered this call and represent it publicly -- even within our hiddenness! We are part of a long and sacred stream of eremitic tradition in the church; her recognition of this vocation, now raised to the consecrated state with a "second consecration," is a source of personal and ecclesial life and holiness.

C603 Vocations Assisting one Another and Making a Return to the Church:

One of the things this means is that we c 603 hermits each recognize we are called to assist the Church in understanding this gift more deeply and implementing it prudently and effectively --- as only someone living it faithfully from within the vocation may truly do. Thus, it was really gratifying to hear CICLSAL (now DICLSAL) write about the importance of mentorship of c 603 vocations by other c 603 hermits (cf. Ponam in Deserto Viam). Additionally, we are slowly beginning to come together regularly to read and discuss with one another so our own eremitical vocations may be deepened and more fully realized. At the same time, we are working with our own and other dioceses to assist in the discernment and formation of c 603 vocations. A part of this means educating those who really don't understand the vocation all that well, including some canonists, vocation personnel, and bishops!!  Additionally, within the limits of c 603, but also because of the profoundly ecclesial nature of our vocations, we contribute to the growth of community in our regions. Again, central to all of this is the recognition that we are solitary Catholic hermits called to live this vocation in the Church's name because the Church herself has entrusted us with this ecclesial vocation and commission.

In light of all of this and other things that gradually are growing or being realized with regard to c 603 life, this takes more of my time and interest than trying to clarify terms for those who seem intransigent. Also, canon 603 is better known today and so is the history of eremitical life in the church. Thus, I was reassured to see that one of the persons who commented on your referent's videos correctly affirmed the flexibility of the eremitical vocation and the very real possibility of living non-canonical eremitism today right alongside c 603 hermits. At the same time, she insisted on the importance of maintaining the distinction between being a Catholic and a hermit (i.e., being a non-canonical hermit) and being a Catholic Hermit (i.e., a solitary canonical or consecrated hermit living the life in the Church's name). Surprisingly, the comment was allowed to stand. Some misunderstandings and outright fraud will continue to occur, but some (like the recent case in Lexington) will be much more important to address directly. Meanwhile, I believe c 603 will function to encourage others to live as hermits even if they choose or otherwise must do so in the lay or clerical states of life without the benefit of second consecration. 

It cannot be said often enough (for the present) that Canon 603 is normative of solitary eremitical life and that is also true for non-canonical hermits even though they are not bound juridically by the canon. (I continue to believe these non-canonical hermits will remain the most numerous in the church despite the growing use of c 603 and the profession of consecrated solitary hermits.) The bottom line here is that the Western Church has finally embraced solitary eremitical life as a Divine gift particularly when lived according to this norm. While there have been less universal norms and statutes throughout the centuries, and while local bishops have tried to provide for edifying hermit life throughout the Church's history, c 603 symbolizes this embrace by the universal church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, published a dozen years later than c 603, provides a vision of eremitical life which is helpful for teaching and intriguing in its descriptions, but without being normative in the same way as c 603. 

Is there a learning curve involved concerning all of this? As I have noted before, yes, absolutely! Will mistakes and indiscretions occur like those associated with the Archdiocese of Boston, the dioceses of Denver and Lexington, and others? Sadly, yes. But the bottom line remains the same and is inspiring!! Canon 603 provides the means to a God-given, Church-mediated ecclesial vocation for those publicly professed and consecrated accordingly. The same canon is normative for all solitary eremitical life in the church, including the non-canonical hermit. For this, I give thanks to God.

On Baseline Values: Fundamentals and Diversity in Eremitical Life

[[Dear Sister, you recently wrote, "What is absolutely critical is that in some way the hermit writing the Rule combines the requirements of Canon 603 with her own life story, not because she cannot let go of her life before the hermitage, but because in every way, the Rule she is proposing to live indicates the continuation and fulfillment of a long journey towards redemption by God's love. It spells out a coherent way of living out the victory of that redemption as it has unfolded to bring her here and still continues to unfold in this new commitment." I was struck by a couple of things. First, your vision of solitary eremitical life as a continuation of a redemptive journey that began long before one reached the hermitage (or the hermitage stage), and secondly, that your Rule could not be used by anyone else; you were not writing for a group. 

In approaching the canon in this way, I really like the flexibility and personal integrity this allows for, but I was wondering how great is the danger of hermits who really aren't living the silence of solitude at all? If your Rule looks very different than that of another hermit, then who judges what hermit life really looks like? What happens if one person discerns a call to limited ministry as you have, and another says no to that? Won't people be confused by this? It seems a particular problem if no one spells out the baseline values for silence, solitude, prayer, penance, etc., so who does that? I don't mean hermits need to meet the kinds of rigorist qualities some have written about in the last several years --- you know, absolute silence, total hiddenness, and all of that -- but what does it mean to live a life of the silence of solitude (and the other elements of C 603) no matter who you are? Do you see what I mean? I also have some questions on time frames, temporary vs perpetual professions, and things like that, but I'll hold those for now. . .]]

Thanks for writing again. Your questions are very well-taken and I appreciate them. I will need to come back to parts of these in further posts. With Canon 603, as I have noted many times, we find a uniquely written canon that combines elements that are non-negotiable (that is, they must be defining terms of the hermit's life or s/he is not a Canon 603 hermit) and great flexibility, because these elements or terms are less legal terms with entirely fixed meanings, than they are gates or doorways to Mystery, specifically, the Mystery of Love-in-Communion. In other words, Canon 603 itself represents a vision of eremitic life that allows for room to grow, explore, make mistakes, make corrections, discern, submit to ongoing formation, consult, and so forth. The terms identified as non-negotiable are themselves mysteries more than terms with single, limited or common meanings --- especially when these meanings are set from the outside by those who know nothing of the life. Yes, there are foundational, "beginning," or common senses to these terms, and these foundational senses set a high bar for the hermit, but what is also true is that once one has truly entered the world of eremitism, once solitude has opened herself to the hermit and the hermit has accepted the invitation, these beginning senses open to even greater richness marked by paradox and surprise.  

One of the surprises is that each foundational term must be defined in terms of relationality (including that between oneself and 1) one's true or deep self, 2) one's God, 3) others, and 4) the whole of creation). Each term describes a living reality, dynamic in the way it opens us to it and itself to us. I have always loved Star Trek's various series and the opening of each series refers to the last frontier, identifying this with space, outer space. But hermits know the truth is different than this. The last frontier is inner space and from there, the inner life of God (him)self. What Canon 603 spells out, it seems to me, are the basic requirements for a person to make such a journey as a hermit: stricter separation from the world, assiduous prayer and penance, the silence of solitude, commitment to the evangelical counsels, an approved Rule of Life, lived in a desert context with supervision! (One piece of this single picture which will witness to all of the other elements is the hermit's stability and perseverance in cell -- more about this later). 

Remembering the importance of relationality, especially as one begins the inward journey in earnest and is tempted to mistake isolation for solitude or individualism for individuality; we need to stress that the reason one makes the journey is for the salvation of others. Alternately stated, the hermit makes the journey she makes in the way she does so that God might truly be the God he wishes to be, God-With-Us, (not simply God-With-her). Because the hermit's journey, that is, the way she uniquely poses the question of existence with her own life involves a particular desert quality, the way God is Emmanuel will correspond and be revealed in her life in a different way than occurs in the life of a ministerial religious, for instance. This difference must be evident. And yet, this life is lived for the sake of God and God's entire creation; relationality stands at the center of the hermit's life just as it does for any Christian.

As you well note, all of this requires certain baseline values for the terms of the canon. There must be external silence and physical solitude and there must be "enough" of these in the right configurations to provide a context for and support such an incredible inner journey. At this level of these terms, there must be silence and solitude sufficient to define the hermit's world in visible or identifiable ways and allow other elements to do the same, but which, at the same time, are not confused with the end or purpose of the life itself. Silence and solitude need not be absolute, for the measure of the hermit is not the degree of external silence or (physical) solitude she embraces, important as these are, but the journey they help facilitate into (and of) her deep self and the very Life of God. The same is true of the other elements; they must be sufficiently definitive of the life the hermit is living to allow for the specific journey the hermit is proposing to make with her life. At the same time, these defining elements are not to be absolutized but rather are meant to serve the goal of allowing God to be God-With-Us and Us to be completed in God for the sake of others. 

You asked if the diversity of vocations will be confusing to folks. I think that is doubtful so long as the dioceses who have hermits show real care in their discernment and each vocation shows clear signs of being defined by the constitutive elements of the canon. (No more professing "hermits" who live contemplative lives on the weekends alone while working highly social jobs during the week, or those for whom the term "hermit" is merely a metaphor describing personal eccentricity and a failure to "fit in"!!) Perhaps more importantly, I don't believe folks will be confused so long as the vocations they are exposed to are healthy, vital vocations centered in Christ and clear embodiments of Canon 603. I don't think any hermit I know believes they live eremitical life the only way it can be lived. There has always been diversity in such vocations. We each recognize that while we must and do live the defining elements of the vocation as faithfully and paradigmatically as God calls us to do, variations in the appearance of the vocation are possible depending upon how God works in a particular life. 

So who decides about all of this? The hermit does this with the assistance of her delegate and spiritual director. The bishop and diocesan staff who help discern such vocations also discern whether the vocation in front of them rises to the level of an ecclesial eremitical vocation or not --- is this person really living a life defined by the silence of solitude, assiduous prayer and penance, stricter separation from the world, and so forth and are they called to live this in the name of the Church? What needs to be strengthened if this is so, for instance? In what ways does the person still need to grow into the vocation in order to make an initial or even a definitive profession and what will assist in that? How have things changed for this hermit in the past several years in her continuing faithful response to God's eremitical call? Finally, if the diocese is being assisted by a mentor who is already c 603, then s/he will be helping in this same discernment. 

After perpetual profession the hermit is assisted by her delegate, spiritual director, bishop (this will be true less frequently in most cases), and others with the expertise needed. She will speak with other hermits, and of course, first, last, and in between, she will pray regarding the way she perceives God calling her. Folks will need to be able to trust that there is a framework in place for all of this precisely because she is living an ecclesial vocation; if there are concerns, these will need to be brought to the hermit and (usually through her) to those involved in assisting her to live her vocation with integrity. Sometimes clearing up such concerns is merely a matter of educating folks about what a hermit is and what eremitical life looks like apart from entrenched stereotypes and imposed rigidities by those truly unfamiliar with the life. And sometimes, the diocese itself will learn from such conversations and find ways to take more care in their discernment of such important vocations! Hopefully, however, the hermit's place in the faith community will be strengthened and she will be supported to grow in her vocation as she, in the silence of solitude, witnesses to the sufficiency of God alone to complete us as human beings!!

I hope this is helpful! Definitely get back to me with your questions on time frames, etc.

On Being a Hermit Before One Petitions for C 603 Standing

[[Hi Sister Laurel, in the process you are describing about c 603 discernment it sounds sort of like you are saying a person already needs to have discerned a call to contemplative and then eremitical life before she or he approaches her/his diocese with a petition to be professed under c 603. Is that right?? Is that why c 603 has no provision for periods of formation and all that goes with those? Your use of the term "shoehorning" in your last post was helpful, a pretty vivid way of describing a process which could never really fit into arbitrary time frames and canonical schemata.  Also, it was important that you noted that the majority of the process would never involve the diocese at all. I could see clearly that the really important formation must go on apart from the diocese -- in solitude between the person, God, and perhaps a good spiritual director. Should dioceses be thinking that c 603 is to be used to raise to canonical standing a vocation that has been long in development and is already largely "formed"? Is that what you have been talking about when you say the candidate "must be a hermit in some essential sense" already?]]

Thanks for your questions and comments. I think you've got it, yes!! The history of c 603 grew out of a situation in which a number of solemnly professed monks had discerned vocations to solitude over long years of monastic life, ongoing formation, commitment, and service. To retell the story briefly, in order to follow an eremitical vocation they had to leave their vows and monasteries and be secularized. They then had to find a way to live an eremitical life as best as they could apart from their monasteries in more ordinary surroundings. Roman Catholicism had a history of such persons coming under the protection of the diocesan bishop and eventually this occurred with a dozen or so of these men coming together in a laura under the aegis of Bishop Remi de Roo who, at Vatican Council II, brought up the need to recognize the genuine eremitical vocation as a "call to perfection." Only after another 20 years did the Revised Code of Canon Law include the solitary hermit call in law in canon 603. 

The canon itself presumes and implies a personal history of spiritual and personal formation as a hermit prior to contacting one's diocese re c 603 even though it does not spell this out. For instance, "stricter separation from the world" is not simply about closing the hermitage door on the things outside these premises, but rather about separating oneself more strictly from the things which are contrary to or reject Christ while one cleaves to Christ more strictly and wholeheartedly with all one has and is. Assiduous prayer and penance are not about more prayer and penance than usual in Religious life, or at least it is not only about this; it is primarily about being a truly human person whose heart, mind, body and spirit, are given over to their source, ground, nourishment, and enrichment in God alone in the silence of solitude. 

This takes time; finding the way God calls one to this takes serious weighing, trying, and discerning the various paths to God any life offers as one grows first as a person of prayer, then as a contemplative, and then as a solitary hermit. It is possible to read the central elements of c. 603 in a more superficial way. The silence of solitude, for instance, can be read merely as describing a context for eremitical life, but for the actual hermit, the silence of solitude is also the charism of her vocation, and, in fact, a goal -- the way to describe a fully human life lived alone in communion with God, a life of shalom and wholeness in the silence of solitude.

In other words, c 603 was never meant for beginners in the spiritual life, nor were dioceses meant to form such persons in the eremitical life. (I'll say more about this below.) Canon 603 was meant to be used for hermits (not those who were still hermit wannabe's) who had lived into their vocations over a span of time and brought themselves to their diocese because they recognized that this service (eremitical life lived in and on behalf of the Church) was an essential part of their call to life in solitude. It was meant, this means, to be relatively rarely used when strong candidates with experience as contemplatives and deeper yearnings for solitude presented themselves with a petition to be professed. The canon defines eremitical life as the Catholic Church regards it and adds certain conditions to those who feel called to live this life as an ecclesial vocation in the name of the Church. 

In some ways this is a tension-filled and paradoxical situation. The Church defines the signs and ways to genuine freedom in Christ found in hermit lives throughout her history and otherwise: stricter separation from the world, a life of assiduous prayer and penance, the silence of solitude, ordered according to a Rule the hermit writes herself, framed in terms of the Evangelical Counsels, and then provides a canonical framework to live such freedom in the name and on behalf of the Church. In this way, the Church entrusts an ecclesial vocation to someone committed to the freedom of a prophetic life of grace. Thus, the person should also have the wisdom to deal with a vocation which is at once ecclesial and also deeply prophetic. None of this indicates or implies a vocation which is to be embraced by beginners or those without sufficient experience and (even) expertise (e.g., the ability to write a liveable Rule, for instance, or an articulable sense of the way the silence of solitude functions as more than the context for one's life -- a sense which is rooted in the hermit's lived experience).

Dioceses do not and apparently were never meant to form hermits. This is so not only because hermits are formed in solitude (you restated my position very well), but also because dioceses tend to need time frames into which the formation program can fit without lots of flexibility or freedom --- for the hermit and for the Holy Spirit! And eremitical vocations require time, freedom, and greater flexibility sometimes than canonical norms can ensure. Also, while dioceses have within them people who could effectively accompany a hermit in her formation and discernment, the diocesan offices of Vicar for Religious, etc., ordinarily don't have the time even if they should have the expertise and willingness (and my sense is this is rare). However, after the hermit is formed in an essential way, and know they are called to eremitical life (which may require the assistance of a Delegate for the Diocese and Hermit candidate), dioceses (beyond the Delegate) are precisely the ones to assist in the discernment of a c. 603 vocation. Thus, your final question is exactly right. Dioceses should think that c 603 is to be used to (admit) to canonical standing a vocation that has been long in development and is already largely "formed". After all, there are other ways to live eremitical life. C 603 is only one way and not everyone is meant to live as a solitary hermit in the name of the Church even when their eremitical vocation seems very certain.

Again, because I believe in this approach to c 603 vocations, I have written about a process which can work for dioceses and for hermits and their Directors (diocesan delegates). It is not a program, but a process drawn organically from the requirements of c 603 itself, and for that reason does not impose arbitrary time frames or stages which are more appropriate for coenobitical religious life. I believe the canon was artfully (wonderfully!) wrought; it stresses the freedom of the hermit within a given set of essential (not optional!) characteristics. The addition of additional and strict time frames, etc., which are not drawn from the canon itself will actually "offend" against the sufficiency and beauty of the canon and the life it defines. Ironically, only a process drawn directly from the canon itself can do justice to the canon and the vocation it governs. 

The single point in the canon which allows this, the single requirement marking the combination of lived experience, one's personal and mature embrace of the essential canonical elements, institutional supervision and accompaniment, and one's growth in and commitment to an authentic (responsible and ecclesial) eremitical freedom is the requirement that the hermit write her own (liveable) Rule of Life. The process, therefore, grows directly and organically out of the hermit's varying and various attempts to fulfill this requirement. 

Addendum: A postscript on the absence of time frames from c 603:

One final word re your question on why c 603 does not provide time frames as a kind of P.S. Given the care with which the canon has been crafted, my sense is the authors wanted dioceses to use the contents of the canon itself to gauge the quality and readiness for consecration of the vocation in front of them. I believe they knew that once time frames were set up in one diocese others would follow and the time frames themselves would become the markers used for gauging readiness, etc. In the various offerings of canonists writing on c 603, what stands out is the use of time frames without any real discussion of the depths of the vocation itself or the essential characteristics of the c 603 vocation. Thus, as dioceses pick up these books, they fasten on the time frames (for these are more easily understandable and accessible) and not on true discernment of an eremitical vocation. The approach of hermits to the matter is quite different --- give the individual time to grow into a contemplative and then, if they feel called to this, into a hermit, and perhaps too, to one with a c 603 vocation (again, there are other avenues for living eremitical life, after all). In such a process, the hermit will need to find someone who can accompany her through all of this, and she will turn to the diocese with whom she will discern the vocation mutually when she reaches this point of readiness.

On Accompanying a Cloistered Nun Discerning a Call to Eremitical Life

[[Hi Sister Laurel, I'm not a nun, I'm not considering becoming a nun or living as a hermit of any sort. But I read your blog fairly often because I think living as a hermit is an intriguing thing to do. I missed some of the vocabulary in this morning's post [a week ago now] on transferring to c 603 life (like exclaustration and indult of departure), but one thing struck me like a bolt of lightning. The idea of leaving a vocation one has been "solemnly professed" in for many years, in order to embrace eremitical life without even knowing what form of that will really be best for one or is God's will --- and without even knowing if a bishop will allow the use of canon 603 in his diocese --- finally sunk in for me. You said recently that it was important to understand how much the monks who left their monasteries and were "secularized" so they could live as hermits had sacrificed. I am beginning to really see what you meant.

Anyhow, this triggered some questions for me. Like when you wrote that the nun would need to figure out which form of eremitical life she was called to after leaving her monastery and everything I wondered how someone does such a thing? I mean does she go around the country trying to live in different eremitical settings? And how does one even know which one is right for them? Who helps with something like this?  Did you have to deal with questions like this when you "accompanied" someone? (And what does that mean anyway??) How would you know if someone should be a canon 603 hermit or should join a laura or a "smaller monastery" or something? I need to think about all this more but that's the one question I could put into words right away.]]

Thanks for your comments, the time you have spent pondering, and for the huge "one question" you put into words. I'll try to answer some of it here.  Here is where the idea of exclaustration can help some. The word literally means  "the state of being outside the cloister." Nuns who wish to discern another form of consecrated life, for instance, can, after some mutual discernment with their congregations, request to be admitted to exclaustration. With this status (specific standing in law) they can continue to discern new/differing forms of life free from most of the obligations of life in their monastery but without leaving their vows. It is a supervised period of exploration, experimentation, and discernment.

So, for instance, if she is considering becoming a c 603 hermit should the bishop agree she is so called, she can set up a small hermitage (e.g., rent an apartment or other residence) in the diocese in which she proposes to petition to be admitted to profession and take up life as a solitary hermit. Her community is responsible for her living expenses at this time, but during this same time she will also make sure that when this period of exclaustration is ended she is capable of supporting herself. Exclaustration is meant to allow for appropriate discernment, for testing how one does in differing contexts. It provides a structured space of relative security and freedom to discern, and to prepare for a new vocation and the assumption of new rights and obligations. It is an important piece of the Church's esteem for ecclesial vocations and the importance of mutual discernment in making such weighty decisions regarding how God is calling us.

With that in mind I can try to answer your questions about accompanying someone in this kind of process, supporting them in (for instance) their discerning the form of eremitical life that is right (if any of them are!), etc. First, in my experience, the Sister considering eremitical life will do research before she ever gets near requesting exclaustration. Such a step by itself is so huge that it does not happen without significant mutual discernment. She will ask her superiors and congregation for whatever accommodations seem important and reasonable both to live the vocation she is committed to and for solid discernment (for instance, freedom for greater silence and solitude at times during the week, dispensation from certain charges or work assignments, freedom from certain forms of  mandatory devotion in order to embrace other forms of prayer, etc).

Only over time will she come to know more clearly whether she feels she is being called to eremitical life at all. If these accommodations tend to whet the Sister's appetite for contemplative prayer, contemplative life, and greater silence of solitude and, if, in terms of personal growth and integrity, it nurtures her life with God and her authentic humanity, one may be seeing the grounds for allowing, 1) periods of extended time in the silence of solitude, 2) an extended directed retreat, or even 3) exclaustration. Depending on what seems right at this time, the Sister could, and perhaps should, speak with her bishop re his willingness to consider using c 603 to profess/consecrate her if her discernment continues moving in the same direction over the next years (toward, including, and even during exclaustration, for instance).

Assuming the bishop is open to using c 603 if an authentic vocation is discerned (such usage is not automatic), and if the Sister has discerned that it is time to request exclaustration, she will take the steps necessary to begin living eremitical life outside of the monastery. Accompanying someone in something like this is really a matter of supporting them, trying to give them ways to explore the different dimensions of this vocation and share what that person has discovered herself about these over time. One accompanies such a Sister as a friend and Sister who has more experience in eremitical life (and maybe a good deal less in religious life generally!) and who hopes that experience can be of benefit to her.  When the one on exclaustration has such a vocation, accompanying her will mean watching as she truly grows into a solitary hermit who is comfortable in a different, and more original, stream of monastic tradition --- and as she matures to a point where she is truly prepared to accept her own place in it. Generally speaking then, accompanying someone like this means listening, watching, and encouraging, while drawing on one's own experience and understanding of solitary consecrated eremitical life, especially its inner heart.

As you have already noted, the Sister herself is the one taking the risk and doing the real and deep work in all of this. She is the one taking on an entirely new way of Religious life and living the vows --- sometimes after decades of solemn profession in a very different tradition. She is the one facing herself honestly, continually assessing her weaknesses and strengths, attending to her own deepest yearnings, needs, and potentialities, and living in God's presence in a new way. She is the one who has consented to a process of real conversion, the one who knows and humbly shares what God is doing in her life and whether, as a result, she loves more fully in this form of life, as well as whether she is more profoundly happy, more authentically free, and even more whole and holy.

She is the one learning to live with God alone for the sake of others and who is transparent to how faithfully she does so with whatever difficulties and what ease and joy this entails or implies. She is the one who will begin establishing relationships with others in her parish even as she also explores the deep meaning of c 603 and negotiates the tensions in (or paradox of) an ecclesial vocation to the silence of solitude. She, especially because of her canonical situation and identity as a Religious, is likely to also work with the Bishop himself as well as with appropriate chancery personnel during a period that will take several years of careful supervision. In sum, all of this is part of a demanding process of discernment and personal growth; accompanying someone in this means walking with this person because one wants the best for her and for the solitary eremitical vocation itself.

During this time it may, for example, appear that this Sister would be happier in a laura, or even that the yearning for solitude was not related to a call to eremitical life at all but to something else. If the call to c 603 is genuine it might also become apparent that while she has this new "base of operations" and the support of a number of experienced people, she might want to explore life in a laura, for instance. My own opinion is that it is easier to do this after moving to solitary eremitical life as defined in c 603 than it is while one is still living in a monastery. This is so, I think, because once one becomes capable of living as a solitary hermit and becomes confident that eremitical solitude itself has indeed, "opened its door" to her, such a Sister can also consider eventually establishing (or perhaps moving to) a laura with other c 603 hermits at some point in the future. If, the laura doesn't last, or never gets off the ground (or if the Sister cannot find one she feels called to move to), solitary eremitical life remains as an option she has been prepared for, assured of being called to in being admitted to profession, and one she knows how to live without the support of a laura. Moving to a laura directly from a monastery, and before one has truly discerned a call to solitary eremitical life, might merely indicate a need for changes in one's monastic context, not a genuine call to eremitical life.
       

Still, if the Sister discerns she should explore living in a laura, yes, she will spend some time in one, work with others to evaluate the experience, and decide what to do in light of this. It is the same with other options during exclaustration. The point in all of this is that accompanying a Sister in this way means participating in a dynamic, demanding, and (I personally find) incredibly gratifying process of accompaniment in order to assist, support, and celebrate her journey with and in God. Occasionally, the process eventuates in a perpetual profession and consecration as a person embraces a call to live solitary eremitical life in the name of the Church.

When this is so, accompaniment is apt to continue (it usually lasts longer when the one being accompanied has an eremitical vocation than when she finds she is not called to eremitical and/or c 603 life) but now in a new key. It is still a matter of listening, sharing, encouraging, supporting, and celebrating the way God has worked, and continues working, below, in, and through all the moments of doubt, risk, uncertainty, and hopefulness --- but also right on through the joy-filled time of new certainties and commitments, and into the demands and relationships of mature canonical eremitical existence which both Sisters love, and strive to embody, with their whole selves. At this point one is probably not the new hermit's spiritual director; as accompanist one is simply a bit more experienced in living the vocation and so, is available to share as the new c 603 hermit negotiates next steps and the various possibilities and dimensions of this vocation. In time this relationship can grow into a profound friendship rooted in the silence of solitude and the grace of God, but also in the joy, humor, and other experience shared in Christ through the years.

I hope this is helpful. I will get to the rest of your question(s) in another day or so. Thanks again. This was a pleasure to write!