NEWS FEATURE: Consecrated virgins _ innovative way to serve God in the secular world

c. 1998 Religion News Service NEWARK, N.J. _ Donna Cole strode into St. Catherine of Siena Church in Cedar Grove last May dressed in white. Standing before a bishop and a crowd of well-wishers, the 35-year-old research scientist promised to live chastely and dedicated herself to God. But Cole, an avid skier and science fiction […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

NEWARK, N.J. _ Donna Cole strode into St. Catherine of Siena Church in Cedar Grove last May dressed in white. Standing before a bishop and a crowd of well-wishers, the 35-year-old research scientist promised to live chastely and dedicated herself to God.

But Cole, an avid skier and science fiction fan, didn’t become a nun.


She did not give up her Little Falls apartment or her job at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School. She did not take vows of poverty or obedience, and she will not wear a habit.

Instead, Cole became a consecrated virgin _ one of a small but growing band of Catholic laywomen who have pledged lifelong chastity and service under the guidance of a bishop, but without joining a religious order.

“I’m not well suited for religious community life, and this gives me greater freedom to serve a broader spectrum of people,” said Cole, who wears a simple gold wedding band as a symbol of her commitment.

These women _ there are now about 80 in the nation and several hundred around the globe _ live in the secular world and maintain their own professions and homes. While devoting themselves to a life of prayer and helping others, they shovel their walkways, clean the house, do the laundry and pay the bills like anyone else.

“In religious life, you’re kind of separated in a certain sense, and I like to be in the pew with the rest of them. I like being in the middle of all that,” said Catherine Leahy, 51, a bookkeeper from North Plainfield, N.J., in explaining why she became a consecrated virgin instead of a nun.

At a time when the number of priests and nuns is on the decline _ the result of aging and the fact fewer young Catholics are taking up vocations _ the church is encouraging people who choose less traditional ways of pursuing a spiritual life.

Joseph Komanchak, a professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., said he believed consecrated virgins exist today because of “the church’s official recognition of the varieties and ways to which God can call people.”

But Komanchak cautioned that the church does not see virgins as potential replacements for nuns because they are not filling the traditional roles.


“If you join a religious community, you’re committing yourself to a common life and a basic mission and to the roles these orders traditionally undertake, where you devote yourself to hospital work or care of the sick and poor or to higher education. You have to kind of fit yourself into that mold,” he said.

Instead, consecrated virgins fit God into their own lives, homes and careers.

And while they follow one of the most ancient traditions of the Catholic church, they are so few and so scattered most people, including many Catholic clergymen, are surprised to learn they exist.

“There are many people who do not choose to enter religious life and become sisters. They want to be in the marketplace, and religious communities are not what they’re looking for,” said Sister Thomas Mary Salerno, chancellor and delegate for religious vocations at the Archdiocese of Newark. “For them, this is the next best thing.”

The tradition of laywomen becoming consecrated virgins fell into disuse about 1,000 years ago after religious orders became more formalized. In 1970, the Second Vatican Council allowed the tradition to be revived.

These women make a promise of lifelong virginity and are consecrated, or set apart as sacred persons, during a special rite administered by a bishop, said Raymond Burke, bishop of the Diocese of LaCrosse, Wis. Burke is serving as the national hierarchy’s liaison for consecrated virgins in the United States.

Consecrated virgins are accountable to their local bishop, are expected to accept church teachings and are responsible for praying for their diocese and clergy.


Though they are called on to live simply, they do not take formal vows of poverty or obedience. The women must be financially self-supportive because they receive no funding or health benefits from the church.

And while their ranks are growing, “it is growing discreetly. I don’t want to give the idea that women are banging down the doors,” Burke said.

Salerno said she believed the renewed interest in consecrated virgins reflects a general trend in America toward “more contemplative forms of prayer and life.”

“People are searching for God, and there are so many different ways this is taking form now,” she said. “Different strokes for different folks.”

Candidates must never have been married and must never have lived in “public or flagrant violation of chastity,” according to the Rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity. Burke said it is left to a candidate’s diocesan bishop to discern whether her past constitutes a violation.

In addition, the women must submit to a one- to two-year period of discernment, under the guidance of a spiritual director, to gauge their suitability to this way of life.


Cole recalled that in her days as a candidate she had to submit a written autobiography, letters of recommendation and a proposed plan for her life as a consecrated virgin for scrutiny by church authorities.

“They asked all kinds of embarrassing questions,” she recalled with good humor. “They’ll say things like, `You’re not doing this because you can’t get dates, right?”’

Cole said during her discernment process she posed this question to herself: “What does it mean to live your life where you commit to many people and one church as opposed to being committed to one person?”

And she had an answer: “My spiritual development is in a place where I’m very much in love with God. And that committed relationship is deeper and more committed and more complex than any way I had imagined it.”

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