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September 24, 2012

Canon 604 and Associations of Consecrated Virgins -- PART 3



#1 The order of virgins is also to be added to these forms of consecrated life. Through their pledge to follow Christ more closely, virgins are consecrated to God, mystically espoused to Christ and dedicated to the service of the Church, when the diocesan Bishop consecrates them according to the approved liturgical rite.
#2 Virgins can be associated together to fulfill their pledge more faithfully, and to assist each other to serve the Church in a way that befits their state.



CANON 604 MENTIONS ‘WHEN THE DIOCESAN BISHOP CONSECRATES THEM ACCORDING TO THE APPROVED LITURGICAL RITE.’ 

THUS CONSECRATION ACCORDING TO  THE  APPROVED LITURGICAL RITE MAY GIVE THE FORCE OF LAW TO THE  CONTENT OF THE RITE IN THE ROMAN PONTIFICAL. I shall try to elaborate on this in the following post/s.



It  particularly mentions Diocesan bishop. This is significant to understand the specific diocesan vocation of  women consecrated according to the approved Rite as  mentioned only in Canon 604 in the entire Code of canon law 1983.


Before the Second Vatican Council, the Rite of Consecration to a life of virginity was restricted to  women who qualified for it and  lived in monasteries that had the tradition of using this rite along with their  ceremony of Profession of  monastic vows  or several years later.  With the passage of centuries, fewer monasteries opted for it, in order to avoid discrimination between virgins and non-virgins. Another reason is that the Vatican Congregation was strict regarding giving permission to  monastic orders  that were new, not stabilized economically,etc. This was to avoid  difficult  resolution to cases when  women had to leave the monastery  and it was considered  unsafe for permanently consecrated virgins to fend for themselves   in the world without  being allowed to enter  sacramental marriage after leaving monastic life.


However God’s ways are not our ways. He chooses whom He wills to choose, often the weak and powerless. The Holy Spirit inspired the Second Vatican Council  to allow this Rite /vocation for women living in the world. This does not mean anyone can be consecrated without  seeing the implications of this difficult form of  life with little concrete support in today’s  Church and world. Prudence and a practically balanced approach are required . Thus there is provision for Associations of Consecrated virgins to help dealing with the practicalities of implications of this difficult vocation  in context of today.


The Criteria for discernment are mentioned  in  the introduction to the rite in the Roman Pontifical  and may carry the force of  Law.


The monastic consecration to a life of virginity has a separate Rite in the Roman Pontifical and can be integrated with monastic profession of vows. An Abbot may preside over the consecration ceremony. Canon 604 does not refer to monastic consecrated virgins [since it has #2 referring to possibility of associations]. The Rite for monastics refers to a purely liturgical category of women whose primary vocation is monastic life  according to their  institutional charism.


But in case of women remaining in the world, it is not any bishop  from any diocese who can preside over the ceremony, but the diocesan bishop of the diocese where the woman seeking consecration resides[ideally in a stable /permanent manner]. I think canon 604 thus refers to a Socio-liturgical category of consecrated virgins with  a specific diocesan identity and charism as it was in  Early Christianity, when the Order of Virgins was a specific group of women, with  specific role in a specific church community. This is in spite of the fact that the Rite was reserved to the Pope and did encompass the Universal nature of the Church as Bride of Christ.


The Catholic notion of the Church looks to the communion which exists between the universal and the particular. There is a relationship of mutual interiority between the universal Church and the particular Churches ,and this identifies and makes concrete the Church’s catholicity. The presence of the whole in each of the parts gives each part an inner impulse towards universality, an impulse that in one sense is manifested in the missionary impulse of each of the Churches and in another sense, in the sincere recognition of the goodness of the parts, which includes acting in harmonious cooperation with them. The universal Church is a reality which precedes the particular Churches, which are born in and through the universal Church. This truth is faithfully reflected in Catholic teaching ,especially that of the Second Vatican Council. It leads to an understanding of the hierarchical dimension of ecclesial communion and allows the rich and legitimate diversity of the particular Churches constantly to develop within that unity in which particular gifts can become an authentic source of enrichment for the universality of the Church.[38, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia In Medio Oriente Of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI ]
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Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Certain Aspects of the Church Understood as Communion Communionis Notio, (28 May 1992), 9: AAS 85 (1993), 843-844, especially the statement in the first paragraph: “‘The universal Church cannot be conceived as the sum of the particular Churches or as a federation of particular Churches.’ It is not the result of the communion of the Churches but, in its essential mystery, it is a reality ontologically and temporally prior to every individual particular Church.”



I think it is appropriate to apply  the above ecclesiology to  OCV. As I mentioned in the previous post   Here  the Order of Virgins that is an image of the  One Church Bride of Christ, would logically not be of Diocesan right in the strict sense. It cannot be seen at par with  Religious Institutes of  Diocesan right. Its Universal nature needs to be respected, thus ensuring  canonical protection  to consecrated virgins who are usually  few in any diocese and vulnerable  to injustice. The Universal Order of Virgins as one Unity would precede the particular consecrated virgin/s  in each Diocese/country around the world. This is while allowing legitimate diversity of each consecrated virgin/s in a diocese/ country, while enriching the universal Order of Virgins.


ASSOCIATIONS OF CONSECRATED VIRGINS AT DIOCESAN OR NATIONAL LEVEL  CAN THUS BE POSSIBLE, SIGNIFYING THE CONTEXTUAL  IDENTITIES AND REALITIES OF EACH DIOCESE/ COUNTRY, WHILE BEING IN REAL COMMUNION AT THE UNIVERSAL LEVEL AS ONE ORDER OF VIRGINS.


More in the next post---------