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Can a priest leave a religious order?
- Thread starter Nelka
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1ke
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Yes.If a priest was a Franciscan, could he leave and just be a regular priest or even change to a Dominican for example
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PetraG
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It does take permission—no bishop or superior is going to accept somebody who made vows and later just decides to go AWOL—but religious orders do not hold members hostage.
Priests have to be granted faculties in order to publicly minister. Those aren’t likely to be granted to a priest who hasn’t settled matters with his last community or bishop.
Priests have to be granted faculties in order to publicly minister. Those aren’t likely to be granted to a priest who hasn’t settled matters with his last community or bishop.
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Norseman82
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Someone I went to HS with switched from LC (Legionnaires of Christ) to archdiocesan.
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InThePew
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Leaving an order to become secularised (i.e. a diocesan priest) isn’t all that difficult; leaving one order to join another is much more difficult.
Normally, a religious priest who discerns for the gravest of reasons that his future may lie outside of the order will undertake a period of absence from the order allowing him to continue to function as a priest but separate from the order. The technical term is “exclaustration” (i.e. outside of the cloister) even though most orders aren’t cloistered! This will typically involve an agreement between himn/his order/the local diocesan bishop covering things like wearing of his habit (or not as the case may be), housing, health care and remuneration. It will also be for a fixed period, after which time he will decide whether to apply to be incardinated (or accepted) into the diocese - requiring what’s called an indult of departure: in other words, formal permission releasing him from his vows and membership in the order. At the risk of stating the obvious, he also needs a diocesan bishop who’s willing to take him on - something which should of course be worked out well in advance!
When it comes to leaving one order for another, the approval of both orders is required and the priest basically starts again - trial period, novitiate, temporary vows, final vows.
Normally, a religious priest who discerns for the gravest of reasons that his future may lie outside of the order will undertake a period of absence from the order allowing him to continue to function as a priest but separate from the order. The technical term is “exclaustration” (i.e. outside of the cloister) even though most orders aren’t cloistered! This will typically involve an agreement between himn/his order/the local diocesan bishop covering things like wearing of his habit (or not as the case may be), housing, health care and remuneration. It will also be for a fixed period, after which time he will decide whether to apply to be incardinated (or accepted) into the diocese - requiring what’s called an indult of departure: in other words, formal permission releasing him from his vows and membership in the order. At the risk of stating the obvious, he also needs a diocesan bishop who’s willing to take him on - something which should of course be worked out well in advance!
When it comes to leaving one order for another, the approval of both orders is required and the priest basically starts again - trial period, novitiate, temporary vows, final vows.
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TomH1
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Yes, both can be done. Plus, both take time. To leave an order and become a secular (diocesan) priest he would need permission from his superior and from the bishop in whose diocese he wanted to serve. After several years in the diocese he may be granted the necessary permission. The bishop of the diocese would grant him incardination but that would not be effective until his religious superior granted him a decree of excardination.
It is a little more complicated because presumably you are thinking he will also leave his religious order. That would require him to be released from the solemn vows that he made. I believe to be released from solemn vows would require the permission of the Holy See.
The other scenario you suggest would involve changing religious orders. This can be done and canon law makes provision for it. There are also more than likely to be more particular laws of the religious institutes involved. Permission would be required from the relevant superiors. He would first have to serve, as a minimum, the canonical noviciate in the order he wished to join. As I understand it his being definitively received, by solemn vows, into the new order would release him from his other. He would also need to be excardinated as a priest in his old order and incardinated in his new one.
So, it is not as straightforward as it would be for a secular priest to change his incardination from one diocese to another. As a regular priest his solemn vows as a religious have to be taken in to account. And, to join a new order he would have to spend some time in formation like others joining the order.
It is a little more complicated because presumably you are thinking he will also leave his religious order. That would require him to be released from the solemn vows that he made. I believe to be released from solemn vows would require the permission of the Holy See.
The other scenario you suggest would involve changing religious orders. This can be done and canon law makes provision for it. There are also more than likely to be more particular laws of the religious institutes involved. Permission would be required from the relevant superiors. He would first have to serve, as a minimum, the canonical noviciate in the order he wished to join. As I understand it his being definitively received, by solemn vows, into the new order would release him from his other. He would also need to be excardinated as a priest in his old order and incardinated in his new one.
So, it is not as straightforward as it would be for a secular priest to change his incardination from one diocese to another. As a regular priest his solemn vows as a religious have to be taken in to account. And, to join a new order he would have to spend some time in formation like others joining the order.
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