Inviting Others to Join me in my Eremitical Journey? Establishing a Lavra?

Dear Sister, Greetings in Christ! I was wondering if you plan on inviting women to join you in your eremitical journey? Developing a Laura perhaps. God bless]]

Interesting question. Thanks! I have given thought to (participating in) the establishment of a virtual lavra for already-professed diocesan hermits who are open and excited about supporting one another via ZOOM meetings and email contacts. We are actually in the (very casual!) process of doing that (or at least discussing doing that!) with hermits from several dioceses and countries. Personally, I would also be open to considering a lavra for other perpetually professed hermits in the Diocese of Oakland, once we have three perpetually professed hermits who might also be interested in that, and some commitment by the local church to provide adequate facilities; unfortunately, these requirements are nowhere on the horizon, so no, I have no plans at all to establish a lavra for other women to join. The most important point to remember about c 603 is that it was established to protect and nurture vocations to solitary eremitical life. 

Remember too that Diocesan hermits are professed in the hands of their local ordinaries; to move to another location (diocese) requires the bishop of that place to agree to accept responsibility for the hermits' professions if they are to move and remain diocesan hermits. Also, as I understand lavras, they are not meant as houses of formation. Under c 603 they would work well for diocesan hermits who have lived as solitary hermits for some time and who could always go back to living that way should circumstances call for them to do so.

However, because lavras are not to rise to the level of a canonical community (there are other (and legitimate) ways to establish communities canonically), as well as because most hermits are neither called nor competent to do formation work or even spiritual direction, and because solitary hermits require the support of other professed solitary hermits, it really does not make sense to open lavras to either non-professed (aspiring), or to non-hermit members. That is especially true since lavras fail or are suppressed far more often than they succeed. Further, even when they succeed, for several of the reasons mentioned above, they are established as temporary and are not meant to be self-perpetuating.

My own preference is to work with candidates for c 603 profession along with representative diocesan personnel (when available) to assist with discernment and formation leading to eventual consecration as a solitary c 603 hermit. The hermits who are considering/talking about establishing a virtual lavra include hermits one or two of us (c 603 hermits) have worked with or are now working with in their journey toward consecration. Once the individual hermit is professed and/or consecrated, we (hermits) may all support one another in eremitical life. This arrangement (working in a mentoring-type relationship similar to the elder-to-junior relationship common among the Desert Fathers and Mothers) assists the dioceses involved to actually discern such vocations, allows for one-on-one formation, and makes sure the c 603 hermit (if this is the direction discernment takes them) can live as a solitary hermit while leading to or providing options for a kind of lavra support and community. 

I do think most hermits need such support and the challenge and vision other hermits can provide, but at the same time with a vocation to solitary eremitical life it is important to protect that primary dimension of the c 603 vocation. Even where physical lavras are established, it is important that the hermit be able to support herself, maintain her own limited ministry and ways of relating to parish and other faith communities, preserve her own bank accounts, insurance coverage, and so forth. She should be able to leave the lavra whenever serious discernment affirms this is God's will. Some dioceses establish lavras and refuse to allow c 603 hermits to be admitted to profession unless they are part of the lavra. This is contrary to the letter and spirit of the canon, however. Physical lavras are supportive of but not essential to the vocation. Virtual lavras may be more essential.

What is your own interest in such a project? Are you a c 603 hermit? Are you interested in joining a lavra? Becoming a hermit? Meanwhile, Happy Easter!!

Why Doesn't the Church Support Hermits if they Support other Religious?

[[Hi Sister Laurel, I wondered why it is the church doesn't support hermits. They support other religious so why not hermits? Does the church want hermits to form lauras? (They support lauras, don't they? Do you agree with the church not supporting hermits?]]

Thanks for writing! Before I answer your questions though, I should correct one misunderstanding, namely, generally speaking, the church as such does NOT support religious. Religious live within their congregation's sphere of care and support. While individual religious work to earn money, that money goes to the congregation's treasury in order to sustain the congregation and its apostolate and ministries. One of the reasons religious communities today are strapped for money is the increasing median age and the declining number of Sisters and Brothers able to work. While religious tend not to retire in precisely the same way non-religious do, their earning capacity declines with increasing age. That means more elderly Sisters and Brothers are supported by fewer salaries and increased social security (which religious had to buy into because until the mid 70's, they did not pay into social security, and often were not able to do so because they earned so little). Again, I am speaking generally here only. Some (perhaps all) congregations depend on benefactors to a greater or lesser degree, so it is important to understand the church does not finance religious institutes; institutes themselves, generally speaking, are self-supporting.

Hermits (and here I mean solitary consecrated hermits living eremitical life in the name of the church under canon 603) do not belong to religious congregations so they are responsible for their own upkeep. This can include disability and social security payments, but the point is the hermit herself is responsible for her own upkeep -- the church does not generally assume financial or material responsibility for hermits. This also means that the hermit must secure her own living situation (hermitage); dioceses do not generally provide land or space for hermits consecrated under c 603. (Sometimes dioceses have provided these things, here or there, but the situation becomes fraught for the hermit in several different ways --- mainly in terms of insecurity should the diocese decide it needs to use the property in some other way or for some other purpose, but also because different bishops feel differently about eremitical life as such and may choose not to continue the arrangement.) The larger, but still related, problem in such a situation is the precedent it sets both within the diocese and for other dioceses who cannot provide in this way for a canon 603 hermit (or for multiple c 603 hermits within a single diocese). When other dioceses cannot act similarly they may simply decide they cannot profess diocesan hermits at all. It also sets precedents for other hermits or would-be hermits who don't realize that canon 603 assumes the hermit is and will remain self-sufficient and will live the eremitical life in the context in which she herself can best provide. (N.B., a new bishop may thus know canon 603 and ask a hermit to leave a diocese-supplied property precisely because he does know and understand canon 603.)

I think there is some pressure to form solitary hermits into lauras. In part this can come from the situation just outlined, where a diocese gives/provides land or retreat house space to a single c 603 hermit, and is not able to care for others in the same way unless they all come together in a laura. (Unfortunately, a laura is often misunderstood as though the colony is allowed to become a juridical community or institute. This is not the case under c 603.) I have already spoken of one group I know that began as a laura of canon 603 hermits and morphed into a community while still using c 603 as the basis of professions. In that diocese, it turns out that those desiring to become c 603 hermits were required to do so within this specific context and not as solitary hermits who are formed and may choose to live outside such a group. I know of three or four other groups that have called themselves lauras through the years -- though I am unsure they are all still viable. Neither do I know if there are other diocesan hermits living in these same dioceses and apart from such groups, though in the case mentioned above the laura is the only way to become a c 603 hermit in the diocese. For this reason alone I would have to say, yes, there is some misguided tendency to desire hermits to come together in lauras and then to funnel candidates for c603 in this direction. 

My sense from conversations I have had with bishops is a concern for adequate formation of those seeking profession under c 603. This concern seems to drive some of the pressure to form hermits into lauras. While it's an important issue for c 603 professions, and while I believe such groups can be a significant resource for diocesan hermits, I truly believe that adequate formation can and, in most ways, must be secured by the hermit outside such a group. This might not be done easily, perhaps, but it is possible and, in fact, I think it may be necessary for the solitary hermit learning to make discerning choices re: the use of resources. (Here I am thinking of the need to spend/use resources for the sake of priorities like ongoing education, spiritual growth, participation -- no matter how limited -- in the larger world, etc).

 As I have written before, I am torn on the issue of the church providing support for c 603 hermits. I agree completely that support should not be given initially, nor for some years after perpetual profession -- unless there is some significant emergency a diocese may decide to assist in. C 603 truly is meant for solitary hermits who are responsible for their own upkeep. Canon 603 cannot, and must not be used for folks seeking a sinecure, so unproven vocations might well slip into such a situation. One canonist opined that this ability to support oneself was a litmus test for c 603 hermits. While I didn't agree with that characterization when it was first made and still do not agree that this characteristic is the litmus test for this vocation, I do agree that it is an essential element in initially discerning such a vocation, and for living it as the authors of the canon envisioned. In my mind the requirement that one truly be a solitary hermit, and thus self-supporting, is part of the unique desert the diocesan hermit embraces. I can say more about this if it seems helpful.

Where I am torn, and here it is a matter of justice as well as protecting a vocation that is proven, is in two areas: 1) the need for ongoing formation, which I believe dioceses can and perhaps should assist with (here I am thinking of supplementing the hermit's resources to help pay for retreats, workshops, and maybe even to assist with funding for spiritual direction) in cases of demonstrated need, and 2) in the case of older hermits who have lived their perpetual profession for 15 to 20 years or more who may need access to a religious house where they can be physically secure and still live a significant degree of solitude in a supportive context.  In such a case I believe a diocese should, at the very least, help the hermit secure such a place. (Here bishops, vicars of religious, et al, might be able to intervene helpfully in the situation or simply have broader contacts than the hermit herself.) It is unclear to me at this point whether needs for additional care would be supported entirely by the hermit's own social security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc., or whether additional and financial resources would be required from the diocese. There is precedent for ongoing limited support for solitary hermit/anchorites whose vows/commitment was in the hands of the local bishop dating from the Middle Ages though what the authors of canon 603 had in mind is another question.

What I am completely clear about is that a hermit should be able to live on her own or, in well-established vocations, in a facility or religious house that allows her to truly remain the hermit she is until and unless she can do so no longer. That church (diocesan) sponsorship would likely be necessary in such a situation (I think the hermit should pay her own way) and I believe additional diocesan support could certainly help both the hermit and the house which is generous enough to allow (or consider allowing) her to live there. In such cases, it may be important for a hermit's diocese to be open to providing assistance, sometimes even financial in nature, to preserve and continue to nurture a long and well-lived vocation in a non-secular institution (where it is apt to be impossible to live). 

When I was first perpetually professed I received some correspondence from c 603 hermits who believed that church support indicated the church truly valued the eremitical vocation --- or, conversely, that failing to support the hermit indicated a failure to value the vocation. I thought the points were well-taken and I have not forgotten their cogency. At the same time, I recognize that, again, eremitical life is not meant to be a sinecure and that true eremitical vocations are rare. Likewise, I continue to believe hermits do not need to be supported by the church to believe that the same church values our vocations. What does have to be true however, is that there must be ongoing and meaningful communication and personal support from the chancery to the hermit, between the chancery and the hermit's delegate, and between the delegate and the hermit.

On the Need for Caregivers and Assisting other Hermits: C. 603 Lauras vs Communities

[[Dear Sister, I read what you wrote about hermits not caring for other hermits in an ongoing way and yes, it does sound selfish. Wouldn't hermits assist one another as needed in cases of illness? Isn't this the Christian thing to do? How could it interfere with one's vocation if one was called to live in a laura of hermits? Clearly I am not hearing what you are saying here.]]

Thanks for your questions. I wondered when someone would write about this. You are the first! Remember that I described two distinct and sometimes-confused (with one another by dioceses) ways of living eremitical life: 1) as a solitary hermit who may, but need not join with other already-professed solitary hermits in a laura or colony, and 2) in a semi-eremitical community of such hermits under a single Rule where one is professed as part of the community. In the first situation, under c 603, each hermit must take care of her own finances, insurance, medical care, securing of spiritual direction, housing, formation, ministry, etc. Such hermits can come together (c 603 does not prohibit this) in a laura (colony) for mutual support in the solitary eremitical life. What must remain true, however, at all times, is that the individual hermit be able to live her own vocation according to her own Rule of Life, her own horarium, and so forth. S/he is not part of a juridical community per se and is not (and cannot be) required to be a caregiver in an ongoing way to another hermit in the laura.

This does not mean such a hermit will not assist other hermits in the laura at all!! But her vocation is a fulltime reality and she was professed to live that with fidelity. If she has a relationship with a parish community, has a ministry (spiritual direction, writing, retreat work, and so forth) she must be able to carry this out as she discerns she is called to do. If she can accommodate the needs of another hermit (especially if a more fulltime or ongoing caregiver is also secured by the one in need), then she should certainly do that and to whatever extent is reasonable, but she simply cannot be required to be a fulltime caregiver to a c 603 hermit who must provide or have provided for this as part of her own profession under canon 603. In a laura, there should not be a problem with a caregiver coming in to provide what is needed for a single member. If this is not possible then it may be necessary for the hermit in need to spend some time in a care facility until she can return to the laura and care for herself or receive in-hermitage care from someone coming in to do this.

Let me be clear. I am not speaking of someone who has the flu, needs assistance once or twice a week for something, or who breaks her arm and needs someone to come in to prepare or help her prepare a meal each day, get a shower, or do her laundry for her, for instance. Neither am I speaking of a hermit needing a ride to the doctor's occasionally, as we all do, which another hermit can easily provide with enough planning time, etc. Nor am I speaking of an emergency when all kinds of plans go out the window. I am not even speaking of a situation in which a  c 603 hermit discerns she can give a month or two to the ongoing care of another without a significant threat to either person's vocation. I can easily envision all of these being possible and necessary. I am speaking of ongoing long term significant caregiving which would disrupt not only the ill person's own horarium and perhaps her ministry, but that of others in the laura as well. For everyday illnesses and accidents, and also some temporary rehab situations, for instance, I definitely would expect c 603 hermits to be flexible and generous enough to assist one another with these! But this needs to be discerned by each member of the laura. For the rest, if a hermit needs a caregiver, she should secure one or several who can trade off (this could work well in terms of the local parish if members know the hermit's needs, for instance).

The situation in a semi-eremitical community of hermits under a single Rule, etc. differs significantly because the community itself is a central, not an incidental part of the hermits' vocation (in fact, it is significant here that I write hermits' vocation, not hermits' vocations). A hermit in such a community will have vows which include and are made in terms of the communal dimensions of her commitment. Religious poverty is geared to living poverty in community, as, in such a situation, is religious obedience. Meanwhile, chastity is a form of loving defined not merely in terms of loving others chastely generally, but of loving one's brothers or sisters who are similarly committed in this institute. There will be a common mission statement, a common charism, and a common spirituality in which each member will have been formed. The community is family -- it is a single juridical reality -- and is canonically constituted as such; it is not merely formed for mutual support by those already and otherwise committed to a c 603 vocation who are thus canonically obligated to continue living it should the laura fail, dissolve, or be suppressed.

In all of these cases discernment and true generosity is needed, but the two situations are vastly different from one another because the hermits' canonical (public and legal) commitments are different. This may point not only to the reasons true lauras fail so often, but also another reason some dioceses allow or even encourage lauras to morph into true juridical communities. It is sometimes seen as onerous for a bishop to be responsible for several hermits in his diocese (I know of one diocese, for instance, whose relatively new bishop refuses to meet with individual c 603 hermits  but instead requires they come together as a group if they require his input; this is not what canon 603 envisioned or requires). Others may refuse to profess c 603 hermits unless they belong to the laura and are formed in this context. But canon 603 was designed for solitary hermits and was meant to preserve, nurture, and govern a rare and meaningful vocation which a given diocese might, in fact, only see a single instance of over a period of decades. While each c 603 hermit might well enjoy and appreciate the opportunity to live with others similarly constituted -- or to come together in such a way for some time each year or month -- and while each c 603 hermit lives a strong ecclesial dimension in our vocations, we remain solitary hermits who must live as such every day of our lives unless and until we discern a different vocation.

Hermit Sisters of Mary and Marymount Hermitage

[[Dear Sister, do you know the hermit Sisters at Marymount Hermitage in Mesa, ID? I was wondering if they were "the real deal"? If they are, are they c 603 hermits? You see, I have been thinking about eremitical life but I think I would like to live in a laura of hermits. Since I live a couple of hundred miles from them and since my grown children live in Boise, I thought maybe they would suit me. Can you recommend them? Will they accept a divorced woman?]]

I do know the Sisters of Marymount Hermitage, yes, but not well. I first wrote them around 1984 or 1985 after canon 603 was first published. At the time there were two Sisters there, Sisters Rebecca and Beverly; they were very responsive and helpful to me in those early years of canon 603's new life. Occasionally, I check their website to see how they are doing (they have good newsletters there) but, until I checked the website this morning, it had been a while since I had done that. Yes, they are (or were originally) c 603 hermits but I believe they were considering establishing themselves canonically as an institute of consecrated life. I'm not sure I have that exactly right, where they stand with that now, or how far they ever got with the process. I believe one of them (Sister Rebecca) is now living in a convent in OR where she can receive skilled nursing care. I don't know if they ever grew beyond just Sisters Rebecca and Beverly. I  do believe there might have been a third Sister as well. I do know that personally, I resonate with their spirituality; it is 1) Benedictine, 2) rooted in the Desert Ammas and Abbas, and 3) an authentic expression of the high desert in which the Hermitage is located. (Personally I love the high desert; it may be one of my favorite settings in the entire world.)

Still, I'm sorry. I can't say I know enough about them currently to recommend them or not. Yes, they are definitely "the real deal". They have been living this life since around the first anniversary of canon 603 and maybe a year or so before I first contacted them. That means they have lived as hermits for about 37 years or so and, like many of us, came at it from religious life. My sense is they have a good relationship with their new bishop (Bp Peter Christiansen, Bishop of Boise) who has been their local ordinary for about 5 years. They also clearly receive support of parishes in the area. (That is, members of parishes come to help with maintenance and have done so with building needs in the past, etc. 

However, I also have reservations. One thing in particular gives me pause when I consider whether to recommend them or not because you specifically said you were drawn to a lavra; however, as far as I know, only Sister Beverly now lives at Marymount. Because I don't know either her age or the state of her health (or yours for that matter!) I ask you bear in mind that you are considering associating yourself with a lavra which apparently consists of only one Sister; that is both a difficult and a precarious situation at best, especially if (as your remark about grown children suggests) you don't have a background in religious life or much experience with significant silence and solitude.

Your mention of adult children raises several issues on your side of the equation as well. The first issue is that of canonical freedom. Like anyone desiring to be professed and consecrated under c 603, you will need to be canonically free to be admitted to the community and, after suitable discernment and formation, profession and consecration. This would mean a.) if your spouse is deceased the marriage bond no longer exists and you are canonically free; b.) if your spouse is still living you will need to get a declaration of nullity to establish the fact of your own canonical freedom. The second issue is age. While eremitical life is ordinarily a second half of life vocation, communities still tend to have limits re how old one can be and still enter. This is something you will need to research with the Sisters and/or the diocese.  

A third issue is that of health and physical stamina. Marymount is very secluded and the weather is typically rugged for the high desert in a state that gets snow anyway. The physical plant is relatively large and requires good health to negotiate. I suggest you bear all this in mind and maybe arrange to make a retreat with them at the very least. The fourth issue is whether they have experience with forming solitary hermits or whether it is preferred they have already-professed c 603 hermits join them post-profession along with some experience living the vocation in other than a group setting. (This is especially important when a lavra appears to be coming to the end of its natural life as core members die, move to care facilities or convents, or are too remote to allow for regular caregivers to do what the other hermits either can't or are not really called to do.)

My best advice is that if you are really serious about testing a vocation with the Hermit Sisters of Mary or even just want to discuss it seriously, I would advise you to contact them and have several conversations with Sister Beverly and/or personnel of the Diocese of Boise.