The raison d’etre

‘It is not good for man to be alone’ even if he or she is a hermit. Everyone needs other people from time to time. Hermits need an environment where they can push the hermit life to its limits. At the same time there are practical needs, income to be earned, sickness, old age and death. The hermit life is a bit of a pressure cooker - it needs a deep sanity and occasional contact with people who have battled through the same experiences and can help in discernment

Outline Project

The project has three parts:-

A. The existing Skete, limited to women who wish to follow the path of a monastic hermit

B. Developing an Association for mutual support of men and women who are already hermits, or testing their vocation as such. These ‘Associates’ may want to be part of a group of hermits, as envisaged, in the ‘Highland Hermitage Project,’ or be living elsewhere.

C. Developing a facility for hermitage retreat for priests, religious and lay persons who need a period of reflection and quiet, from a week to a full sabbatical.

1. A.The Monastic Skete for women
   

i) Testing your vocation to the hermit life ( women only)

From 2012, women who wish to test their vocation, as a hermit, can come for retreats of one or six months, and three years. These retreats must be taken in order, as a gradually more intensive introduction to solitude. Women undertaking these retreats may be professed religious or nuns having the requisite canonical permissions, or lay women.

*The one month and six month retreat are open to any women in the process of discerning a hermit vocation.

*The three year retreat is reserved for women who wish to profess for the Benedictine Skete.

ii) The one month retreat for women

Visitors share the major Offices daily - Matins, Lauds and Vespers (with communion service if no Mass). Visitors share a cooking rota and cleaning chores. On Saturday, any jobs which involve talking or group work/teaching are done, including a period of study of the Rule of St. Benedict and it’s application to the hermit life. There is a communal meal and walk on Sunday. There will be a basic maintenance charge, payable at the beginning of your stay. If retreatants have already suitable work for the hermit life they will continue their usual work. If you don’t have suitable work, your maintenance charge can be reduced, if you spend three hours a day working for the skete ( this is largely maintenance chores in winter and gardening in summer).

iii) The six month retreat for women

Prolonged solitude tends to uncover personal weaknesses. Indeed a large part of the reason for undertaking such a retreat is to enable you to see if you have the capacity to cope with prolonged solitude. Often, any incipient problems tend to start to show up around the three-month mark. The same conditions apply as for the one month stay, in regard to maintenance charge.

iv) The three year retreat for aspirants to the Skete

If you wish to continue to explore your vocation as a member of the Skete this retreat can be extended for a further three years, in which time you will be presented to the local Ordinary (bishop) as a candidate for hermit life under canon 603. To continue to this retreat, you will need to submit beforehand, a medical and psychological assessment, plus two references. We will work together towards the financing and provision of individual hermitages for women who wish to become hermits of the skete, as and when that becomes viable. 

v) The canonical formation year for aspirants to the Skete

Candidates for the monastic hermit life are required to make a canonical formation year before profession. How this is done will depend on the jurisdiction of the local Ordinary and the arrangements which can be made at this time.

vi) The Rule of St Benedict & the vows.

St. Benedict’s Rule in the west, like St. Basil’s in the east, emphasises community life. Nevertheless both Rules convey the essentials of monastic formation so can be applied in a wider context. Given the conditions of profession in 603, it is proposed that Skete Sisters make the Benedictine vows of stability and conversion of life, in addition to the evangelical vows.

vi) The life of a professed hermit at the Skete

This will be a continuation of the life you have been living for the last three years. We will continue to work to acquire facilities for greater solitude as and when they are needed. For professed monastic hermits of the Skete, all things will be held in common, according to the usual religious norms. In that context it is envisaged members will continue to have a personal bank account to administer whatever income producing work they have developed to cover their maintenance costs. Any surplus income will go into the fund for the charity objectives.

B. The Associate hermits proposal (Canonical hermits, hermit religious and priests)

This has two parts:-

i) Homeland for Hermits. This is a flotation of the idea of finding an area of land available for individual hermitages which would allow full development of the hermit life in context of informal mutual support - a kind of ‘homeland for hermits.’ The development of this depends on what interest there is among men and women in the hermit life and possibly also among Consecrated Virgins. This could extend to members of both the eastern and western churches if there was a call for it, but we are thinking of priests and religious, and individuals preparing for, or professed in hermit life, according to canonical norms.

ii) External Associates - ‘extended family’. Many hermits dotted around the world feel the lack of contact with people of a similar vocation. Although the call excludes any kind of strong communal life, nevertheless there is such a things as solidarity of vocation. You may wish the benefit of being part of a network, while remaining at your present place of residence. The Associates proposal is being floated again to see what interest there may be in solidarity and maybe the sharing of resources between hermits, raising money, or gifting of property via the charity, as hermits often fall into a poverty trap, which distorts their religious call. 

C. Hermit Retreats Area Proposal (General Public)

Hermit retreats are much sought after in these days of over- communication, whether by high flying executives or eco-minded basic living enthusiasts. There is often a desperate need among priests and active religious, as well as care workers for a few days of self-catering solitude to restore strength. The third part of the Highland Hermits proposal is an area where accommodation is available for short hermit retreats for the general public.  Hermit retreats will be available for the general public as soon as funds can be raised for self catering accommodation, either as eco-pods or barn conversion.

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