A Nun-hermit

[Sister_Laurel]

[quote name='jkaands' post='1498150' date='Apr 12 2008, 02:20 PM']This Thing about habits continues to surface.

Wearing a full-length habit while farming can be quite dangerous. It is common for monastics who farm or who work near machines to wear long pants, and not a full-length habit. This is certainly true of the Trappists--check out the Genesee website-- and other orders. Some may be able to wear a full-length habit if they work in fields only,(although this is very hot and impractical), but not if they are near a tractor or any sort of machinery.[/quote]

Your points are good and true. Practicality, health and hygiene must always be borne in mind. I continue to be a bit surprised at how big an issue the habit is, and how little it appears the substance of the vocation is to some, whether to religious life or eremitical consecration. I read somewhere else where someone wanted to have a habit made despite the fact he is not a consecrated monk or hermit, nor even in the process of becoming one. He contended he wanted to adopt this way of dressing partly to honor the habit. What is amazing about this is it actually dishonors the habit by using is as a costume for dressup, while ignoring what it actually symbolizes. The same is true of those who measure the depth and integrity of a religious life by whether or not the person wears a habit. Indeed there are stories about regarding young people who are enamored of the habit and choose religious life (and particular congregations) merely on that basis. As important as the habit can be, that is an appalling way to discern a vocation and congregation.

I have friends, women and men religious whom I consider truly holy, who choose not to wear a habit. Their consecration is real (indeed it is profound) and shows in all they say and do. And yet, they are treated as second-class or "pseudo" religious by some despite the fact they have given their lives completely to Christ in his Church through profession of the evangelical counsels. I choose to wear a habit for a number of reasons, and am privileged to wear the cowl for liturgical functions and other prayer, but as I noted, if it ever seemed to make me elitist or was seen to represent a judgment on those who do not wear one, I would rethink my choice very seriously.

Why is it this issue of the habit continues to surface? Why, for instance, was my own eremitical commitment and life seen as dubious because it was written that I often change into jeans eventhough the questioner had never met or spoken to me? I really don't understand that at all. (Questions are rhetorical.)

Sincerely,
Sister Laurel M O'Neal
Stillsong Hermitage
Diocese of Oakland

[EWIE]

[quote name='SRLAUREL' date='Apr 13 2008, 01:26 AM' post='1498400']

Why is it this issue of the habit continues to surface?

Sister Laurel, try asking this same question on the "Monastic Life" forum and see what answers you receive. There are quite a few on there who wear a habit and are not anywhere near being "consecrated" religious.

[Sister_Laurel]

[quote name='SRLAUREL' post='1498400' date='Apr 13 2008, 01:26 AM']Why is it this issue of the habit continues to surface?

Sister Laurel, try asking this same question on the "Monastic Life" forum and see what answers you receive. There are quite a few on there who wear a habit and are not anywhere near being "consecrated" religious.[/quote]


You are joking! (Well, actually, I am only [i]somewhat[/i] shocked by the information --- mainly that there are "quite a few people" doing this.) The habit is the sign of consecration (and by this I mean [u]public[/u] profession and consecration where the person has been extended and assumed rights and privileges in law (both civil and canon) [u]or is formally preparing to do so under the auspices of an Order, Congregation, or Diocese[/u]). [i]It is not a costume.[/i] Of course I know a couple of people who affect such dress, but ordinarily I consider them nutcases who have not come to terms with their own LAY VOCATION! The habit is a MEANINGFUL symbol, and should not be trivialized, or emptied of its meaning. Otherwise, it makes it hard for non-Catholics (or really, anyone who simply runs across the habited person on a train, etc.) to actually trust those who DO WEAR HABITS LAWFULLY. Why should religious choose to wear habits in public if lay people affect the wearing of them and make them of hypocritical and "untrustable" or dubious import??? Why should people turn to those in habits as though they are REALLY official agents of the Church, and living a particular kind of life IN HER NAME, if the habit is used by many to PRETEND to this status (standing and life)? Why should religious continue to esteem the habit if those who claim to do so affect them for their own pretense and fraud?

Thinking about this, I believe this practice indicates several different things: 1) the inability to come to terms with one's lay vocation or esteem it as highly as it deserves. That is especially repugnant on this Vocation Sunday, but also in a church which has, since Vatican II, stressed the dignity of [u]and serious need for[/u] this vocation in today's world; 2) a failure to understand the difference between personal and private consecration (the gift of oneself with private vows, for instance), and [i]the public consecration of a person by God through his Church[/i]. The first does not raise the person (sorry, but that's the verb ordinarily used) to the consecrated state and gives them no new rights or responsibilities in law; the second DOES THESE THINGS. One of the rights AND RESPONSIBILITIES is the use of the title Sister, Brother, or (in some cases) Father, etc, AND THE WEARING OF THE HABIT; 3) It indicates a failure to really esteem the Church's own theology of consecrated life.

The simple fact is, people have a right to expect certain things of someone in a habit, not least that the CHURCH has validated and mediated God's own call in what is an ECCLESIAL AND PUBLIC vocation, not a private and unverified commitment of some sort. There is that basic notion of TRUTH IN ADVERTISING, especially when the God one is representing is Truth Himself. A few other things that come with the habit (and consecrated standing) --- and are things people have a right to expect from one wearing it include: accountability to superiors (people who know me also know that I am accountable to superiors (Bishop and delegate), spiritual directors, pastors, a prioress, etc, in ways others are not; now that does not mean I will be without faults, but it does mean people [i][u]can reasonably assume my day to day life is consistent with the wearing of the habit and the vows/consecration it signifies[/u][/i]).

They have a right to expect proper spiritual formation, training, and theological education and competence, as well as emotional or psychological wellbeing and personal integrity (which, frankly, is not something one can predicate of people who can't come to terms with their REAL vocation but instead need to play dressup!). This is true so that should someone turn to someone in a habit in public, they will not be pouring their hearts out to someone who will damage, exploit, or lie to them in some way. Finally, people have a right to expect a kind of availablity which public consecration makes possible both formally and substantially through the commitment and graces that come with that consecration; it means that this person has truly given up EVERYTHING for Christ and will spend his/her life for all s/he meets, but especially those in his/her parish and diocese. (This will include the assurance that the wearing of the habit involves no ulterior motives, and that persons turning in need to the one wearing it may expect to be heard by one who is genuinely poor, chaste, obedient, prayerful, and puts the other's life first at this point in time.) It should go without saying that one wearing a habit represents not merely a way of being but a STATE of being IN CHRIST.

The bottom line, of course, is that the habit represents PUBLIC religious or eremitical consecration, and THAT comes with legal rights and responsibilities. (Again, I am including one who is preparing formally and officially for such an assumption of rights and responsibilities here.) The habit is not a romantic bit of sentimentalism. It MEANS something in a world that has been emptied of meaning in so many ways. ABOVE ALL IT WITNESSES TO AN ECCLESIALLY MEDIATED WAY OF LOVING IN CHRIST which is different than the lay vocation, and it signals a different kind of commitment and availablility. I guess what I am hearing of here is another way something which is truly sacred has been trivialized and emptied by those who pretend also to "honor" it. I guess there is no question I feel strongly about such profanation (and there is no gentler word for this).

Sincerely,
Sister Laurel M O'Neal
Stillsong Hermitage
Diocese of Oakland

Edited April 13, 2008 by SRLAUREL

[EWIE]

...." Finally, people have a right to expect a kind of I guess what I am hearing of here is another way something which is truly sacred has been trivialized and emptied by those who pretend also to "honor" it.

Aaaahhhh agreement 99%, but I don't think most people mean to trivialize it, as much as they want to "be somebody"....to call attention to themselves as someone of importance.
I now you are on a lot of forums and you are not naive -- not at our age. We've seen it all and you KNOW some of our friends on ML are not consecrated, certainly not in any denomination, currentlly in existence, let alone the RC one.

[puellapaschalis]

A while back I was on ML (at least, I believe it's the same one you're talking about) and that some folks there who aren't consecrated are wearing habits doesn't really surprise me.

Why might someone do this? I wonder if some might simply feel lonely and unanchored. They see the religious life (accurately or otherwise), including the habit, as giving one a really deep-rooted sense of belonging, they long for that themselves and wear a habit in an attempt to provide that.

Or maybe I'm just projecting my current paranoias on other people's behaviour!

[Sister_Laurel]

[quote name='EWIE' post='1498595' date='Apr 13 2008, 12:48 PM']...." Finally, people have a right to expect a kind of I guess what I am hearing of here is another way something which is truly sacred has been trivialized and emptied by those who pretend also to "honor" it.

Aaaahhhh agreement 99%, but I don't think most people mean to trivialize it, as much as they want to "be somebody"....to call attention to themselves as someone of importance.
I now you are on a lot of forums and you are not naive -- not at our age. We've seen it all and you KNOW some of our friends on ML are not consecrated, certainly not in any denomination, currentlly in existence, let alone the RC one.]][/quote]


I have not been active on this forum in the past, and don't personally know anyone on the ML who wears a habit without being allowed to in some official way. (That said, I do know of a couple of people who are in some sort of autocephalous church, possibly not really established, so perhaps I DO know some of those of whom you speak.) I don't think people WANT to trivialize the habit, but they are doing so nonetheless. How can religious be expected to appreciate and wear the habit allowing it to mean all it is supposed to mean when lay people who are clamoring for this wear the habit themselves and empty it of meaning? When religious say they eschew the habit because they do NOT want to be put on a pedastal or contribute to elitist mentalities in the church, these same lay people object that they have never heard of or experienced such a thing, and yet, as you say, "they want to call attention to themselves as someone of importance."

I can honestly understand religious who do not wish to deal with these "habit wars", much less with the hypocrisy of those who claim to honor the habit while emptying it of meaning.

Sincerely,
Sister Laurel M O'Neal
Stillsong Hermitage
Diocese of Oakland

[jkaands]

[quote name='EWIE' post='1498595' date='Apr 13 2008, 02:48 PM']...." Finally, people have a right to expect a kind of I guess what I am hearing of here is another way something which is truly sacred has been trivialized and emptied by those who pretend also to "honor" it.

Aaaahhhh agreement 99%, but I don't think most people mean to trivialize it, as much as they want to "be somebody"....to call attention to themselves as someone of importance.
I now you are on a lot of forums and you are not naive -- not at our age. We've seen it all and you KNOW some of our friends on ML are not consecrated, certainly not in any denomination, currentlly in existence, let alone the RC one.[/quote]

Irrespective of people's motives in illicitly wearing a habit, they are trivializing it.

[HisChild]

[quote name='SRLAUREL' post='1498039' date='Apr 12 2008, 11:38 AM']The hermit is self-supporting and must undertake whatever she can within the parameters of hermit life which allow that. Ther diocese supplies NOTHING except her canonical approval of the vocation and a context for living the life, not stipend, insurance, housing, transportation, etc --- and generally that is a good thing. Many Bishops do not allow the hermit to work outside the hermitage: they will not profess someone if that is necessary still, but they do ordinarily allow limited activities and sharing of gifts, talents, and education outside the hermitage.

Sincerely,
Sister Laurel M O'Neal
Stillsong Hermitage
Diocese of Oakland[/quote]

Sister Laurel,

I've read your article and seen your blog recently. After 'googling' you, I noticed you were on PM. I haven't been online in quite some time but thought to sign on and drop a line. I find your life admirable. I have a question for you. Simple curiosity, really. I pray you don't mind the inquiry.

Although I've met several hermits in my journey, I've never thought to ask this until now. Of course, you cannot be in debt or have other obligations, but I'm wondering... how does a hermit pay for her own bills: utilities, water, rent, groceries, health insurance, etc.? Must they have some monies stored away for these purposes? Logistically, I can't really see how this would be feasible since they have either very limited or no active apostolate or way of earning money, unless they've somehow had funds saved up for their support.



The peace of the Risen Christ,

Denise

[Sister_Laurel]

[quote name='HisChild' post='1498965' date='Apr 13 2008, 11:46 PM']Sister Laurel,

I've read your article and seen your blog recently. After 'googling' you, I noticed you were on PM. I haven't been online in quite some time but thought to sign on and drop a line. I find your life admirable. I have a question for you. Simple curiosity, really. I pray you don't mind the inquiry.

Although I've met several hermits in my journey, I've never thought to ask this until now. Of course, you cannot be in debt or have other obligations, but I'm wondering... how does a hermit pay for her own bills: utilities, water, rent, groceries, health insurance, etc.? Must they have some monies stored away for these purposes? Logistically, I can't really see how this would be feasible since they have either very limited or no active apostolate or way of earning money, unless they've somehow had funds saved up for their support. Denise[/quote]


Hermits support themselves in various ways. Some (because this is most often a vocation of those in the second half of their lives) have physical disabilities and therefore receive medical insurance and even disability payments through the state or country they live in. Most do some kind of work from the hermitage (it is simply part of the life to work in some way), writing, painting, weaving, pottery, crafts of other types, beekeeping, and then too, as I do, limited adult faith formation in parishes, spiritual direction, retreat work or lectures, etc. There are actually a lot of opportunities for working out of one's home these days and some of them are right for a hermit.

Some hermits have saved for their hermitages and are now living in them for a minimal amount, some rent at reduced rates, and occasionally one hears of a diocese supplying housing at a nominal (or no) cost --- though this is very rare, and also rather risky for the hermit to count on; also some live in subsidized housing due to their own very low incomes. I suppose that some hermits receive regular gifts from parishioners or stipends as well, but all in all, it is a difficult life in terms of supporting oneself. Clothing allowances are pretty minimal for those wearing habits, but food, utilities, transportation and the like are expensive no matter where one lives.

Sincerely,
Sister Laurel M O'Neal
Stillsong Hermitage
Diocese of Oakland