Does Canon 1040 Apply To Women?

[Blue.Rose]

Can. 1040 refers to impediments to ordination for men which includes attempted suicide, assisting in an abortion or murder.

Do these same things apply to women wanting to be Sisters? Or are there similar impediments?

[Egeria]

It's not a case of men and women, but of the fundamental difference between priesthood and monastic (and presumably, although I'm not so clear on this, religious life more broadly) life. The purpose of monastic life is to lead a life of repentance and as such it cannot exclude even the greatest of sinners - assuming that the abbot judges that their desire for repentance is sincere. Some of the greatest monastic saints had been notorious sinners. Consider, for example, Saint Moses the Ethiopian:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_the_Black

[Sponsa-Christi]

Egeria is exactly right. Canon 1040 isn’t male-specific as much as it is Holy Orders-specific.

 

Canon 643 lists the universal impediments for entering the novitiate of a religious institute validly, which apply equally to both men’s and women’s communities. These include:

 

- being under age seventeen,

- being currently married,

- already being currently a member of some institute of consecrated life or society of apostolic life (although a professed member transferring from one institute to another is a different kind of situation),

- concealing your membership in another institute of consecrated life or society of apostolic life,

- entering the novitiate because of “force, grave fear, or malice,”

- entering the novitiate because the superior was made to admit you through “force, grave fear, or malice.”

 

Also, individual religious institutes can decided for themselves, in their proper law (i.e., their constitutions) whether they want to create any other invalidating impediments for their own institute. 

[Blue.Rose]

Thank you both for the answers!

[AccountDeleted]

A community might be an order that is designed to accept penitents, but there are also those who would question the psychological motivations behind a person committing attempted suicide, assisting in an abortion or murder. If the suicide attempt was caused by an underlying problem with depression, or abortion because the person was raped and was suffering from a form of PTSD etc, or the murder was because the person is dealing with unresolved anger issues (rather than self-defence for example), or any of a dozen other psychological factors, then these could be an impediment during a psychological evaluation, or just because of fear on the part of the community. So the motivation behind the problems could be a key factor in a community's decision whether or not to accept a person who had committed these acts.

[marigold]

Of course, and I think any good community would advise that candidate to seek help to heal from those traumas, and stay in contact with them as far as was good for both sides. But it sounds like there isn't a canonical impediment.

 

I read a good illustration of this recently. A young man and his wife were accustomed to receiving the blessing of the abbess at the monastery they liked to visit. But when the young man was ordained a priest, the abbess started asking the young man for his blessing. He was really embarrassed by this as he felt unworthy to give a blessing to a wise and experienced abbess - but she explained that the habit (monastic life) is a calling, but priesthood is an office. Even though she was older and more experienced, out of respect for the office, she now asked him for a blessing.

[SNJM]

I have questioned this myself in that I have seen potential candidates turned down for past sins (grave), though they confessed , received absolution and did penance. I was always under impression Confession and Reconciliation are binding (providing all the qualifications are met). So, in absolution, I would think these grave sins are completely expunged from one's soul - even the priest himself cannot refer to them - so what am I missing!? I am NOT talking about sins that are ongoing. I am also not talking about about whatever psychological counseling & treatment the candidate might need in order to function in a Church/communal setting I a healthy manner. Two very different points here. Rose

[Nunsuch]

Although this is less common today than before Vatican II (and the 1983 Code of Canon Law), individual communities can set their own criteria for admission that go beyond those of canon law. That's why some have older/younger cutoff ages for candidates, why some require college degrees and some not even a secondary diploma, etc.  A few require fluency in particular languages.  I think that is why some, for example, may or can requre candidates to have never been married, to be virgins, etc.  

 

The important thing is to be HONEST when discerning with a particular community. Even in cases where there are strict criteria, sometimes exceptions are made. But I think a lack of full disclosure is a huge mistake.  On the other hand, some issues may never come up. While some communities may aska a candidate if s/he is a virgin, others may not--and it may not in that case be necessary to reveal if one has a certain kind of experience, even outside of marriage (assuming that one has been to confession, etc.). But NEVER lie.

 

 

[Lady-Indis]

I've never even heard of Canon 1040! Thank you for the information!

God bless you all,

Lady-Indis