Holding Possessions on Behalf of Someone in Religious Life

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QuizBowlNerd

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When someone enters religious life, is it permissable (or, for that matter, even usual) for them to ask friends or family to hold on to some things for them (clothes, a reasonable sum of money, etc.) so they have something to fall back on if they discern out?
 
Cloisters said:
The convent or monastery will give the entrant guidelines for not only clothes needed, but also for the material goods left behind.
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Could you offer an example of what such a guideline might look like?
 
In simple vows, yes, But once solemn vows are made it defeats the intention.
 
QuizBowlNerd: Could you offer an example
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Anyone who enters a congregation with a vow of poverty will need to make out a legal will designating at least one beneficiary - usually the person’s parents, if alive. This will ensure that things like intellectual property (e.g. he wrote a book) and material assets are protected, but also has the happy effect of providing the person a juridical claim to his property if he should leave.
 
I was told by someone who had been in religious life briefly that they kept their checking account so that they could pay their bills from within the convent.
 
Most (non cloistered) religious retain bank accounts as a way of paying of incidental expenses out of the personal allowance they receive as well of course as a place to put said allowance!

I’ve also known a number of religious (both before and after temporary profession) who gave others some possessions to look after during their discernment. Entry into religious life doesn’t require a person to divest themselves of ownership of absolutely everything from the outset. Orders quite rightly recognise that those entering can and do discern that their calling lies elsewhere and so having something to return to is perfectly understandable. If this didn’t happen, it would risk putting undue pressure on those entering to continue since they would have nothing to go back to.
 
I think you mean perpetual vows, rather than solemn ones, which are taken by only a few communities.
 
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