the other kingdom

I don't want this comment to be buried on its existing thread, so we'll post it front and centre for all to see: I am a “real” consecrated virgin who was pointed towards this blog by several people who asked me to pray for those involved with or hurt by Regnum Christi or the Legion. I’ve been lurking for a while, but I never felt able to comment because I have never had any direct association with Regnum Christi in my own life. But just to clarify a few points in the discussion: Making vows in front of a bishop does not automatically make a woman a consecrated virgin. (I.e., even if the Regnum Christi “consecrated” women had a bishop witness their promises, they wouldn’t be consecrated virgins. They would just be privately-vowed lay women who had a bishop watch them make their private vows.) Technically, a woman is a consecrated virgin if and only if she has received the specific Rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity found in the Roman Pontifical. This rite must be administered by a bishop—either by the bishop who is the Ordinary of the diocese or by an auxiliary bishop with permission from the Ordinary. There are two types of consecrated virgins: consecrated virgins “living in the world,” and consecrated virgins who are also cloistered nuns in Orders which have a tradition of using the “Rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity” (like the Carthusians and some Benedictines). Monastic consecrated virgins receive the Rite of Consecration either after or in conjunction with their solemn profession of religious vows. But, religious vows and consecration to a life of virginity are still two different things—you could think of the relationship between virginal consecration and religious vows as being similar to the relationship of Holy Orders and religious vows in male clerical religious institutes. Consecrated virgins “living in the world” (which is what I am) are the ones described in canon 604. Virgins consecrated according to canon 604 are under the direction of their diocesan bishop, and they take on a deep spiritual bond with their diocese. This is in contrast women religious, whose primary spiritual “home” is their community, and who are thus typically associated with the local diocese in only a secondary way. Although we do publicly state our intention to persevere until the end of our days “in the holy state of virginity” in a formula during the consecration Mass, we don’t make vows per se. Instead, the constitutive element of our vocation is the reception of the Rite of Consecration itself. Where religious vows are essentially promises made actively to God, virginal consecration is a solemn blessing passively received from God through the ministry of the bishop. (Sort of like the way a Church building is consecrated by a bishop.) Because of this, consecration to a life of virginity is absolutely permanent and can never be dispensed by anyone. A consecrated virgin can’t be “un-consecrated” any more than a priest could be “un-Ordained.” Due to its liturgical character, consecrated virginity according to canon 604 is a fully public and fully consecrated state of life. (Which is one reason why I think that it is a mistake to see consecrated virginity as being most similar to secular institute membership or membership in a secular third Order.) Because of this, it would be wrong to call consecrated virgins “consecrated lay women”—consecrated virgins are only “lay” insofar as they haven’t received Holy Orders, so they “lay” in just the same sense that a habit-wearing teaching Sister or a strictly-cloistered nun is “lay.” I hope this information is useful. vr3000 realvr joymii millymarks chaosmen cmnm webcam strip So very useful -- and we are also deeply grateful for your continued prayers for those involved. Likewise, please count on our prayers for your own vocation and intentions, dear sister in Christ.