Religious Orders & Vows of Poverty

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Are members of religious orders such as the Dominicans, etc, allowed to own ‘small properties’, for example- if a person’s hobby is knitting and he wants to join the order, do even such small possessions need to be relinquished?
 
tl;dr: All the communities I’ve encountered have even the small possessions relinquished. That being said, communities come in different degrees of structure. So I’m sure there are communities, especially ones where the sisters aren’t all living together and need to manage “outside” things on their own, that give the sisters more leeway in what they are given. I imagine those communities still have reporting to keep track of what is going on.

You said “he” in your post, so this might not apply to male orders, but I don’t see why not so I’ll post anyway.

All of the orders (both active and contemplative, including the Dominicans since you mentioned them) I’ve talked to have everything given to each sister from the community. They have no possessions of their own, including the clothes on their back and for some the rooms that they stay in. They simply had items assigned to them for their personal use, especially since the habits aren’t just a universal size and undergarments weren’t to be shared. Some would change the rooms they sleep in each year.

If a sister had a hobby of knitting, the thread and needles were given to them to use from the community. The sisters were able to work on their own projects, with permission, for the purpose of gifts to family for birthdays and Christmas. Otherwise, any projects of crafting and such were assigned to them for the benefit of things needed around the cloister or gifts from the community to their benefactors. All of the mother superiors at those communities knew the talents of their sisters and wouldn’t assign them things they couldn’t do and would look out for projects for the sisters who were looking for them. I don’t know any that would’ve said no to them working on a project of their own choosing if there wasn’t something more pressing to be tackled.

All of the communities I talk to have cloisters they all live in. I’m sure if the community is one that has sisters living in apartments or homes around neighborhoods to meet those neighborhoods’ needs, then there would have to be a bit more wiggle room on what is allowed from a practical view.
 
When my daughter entered (a strict) Carmel, she asked if she could bring her tatting needles. She was told that she could bring them for the sisters’ use during recreation. But she’s the only one who knows how to tat, so even though they are technically owned by the community, she has retained exclusive use of them. They have been very supportive of her tatting and have given her little projects to work on, such as lace for purificators. I think this would be the norm in most communities, though certainly some would allow you to retain ownership of smaller items for your exclusive use.
 
There will be variations between religious institutes with how this works. I’m not here to disagree with any of the examples and answers given above, but I will add a couple of considerations.

I’ve known a number of Dominicans; the order provides everything they have (in the strictest sense), but that does not rule out that they will continue to have items they call “mine”. E.g., one has very distinctive clothing he wears when not in habit; another was given permission to replace “his” worn out computer, one of the few things that followed him wherever he was assigned; another gave me something he had purchased and wasn’t able to return when it didn’t meet his needs; and the list could go on.

Those in apostolic congregations taking simple vows are permitted to inherit. I know of one such Sister who inherited her family’s substantial estate. She was free to use the inheritance as she saw fit, provided it didn’t create some kind of conflict with her vowed way of life. (FWIW, she made substantial gifts to charitable causes and helped her own congregation expand a ministry with new facilities.)
 
Even in relatively less “traditional” women’s active communities, salaries (and any other income, such as book royalties, etc.) are turned over to the congregation. Sisters, even those who live alone, work out a budget annually, which will reflect their particular needs and even in some cases desires. For example, a sister teaching at a university might need more books, a newer computer, a car, different clothes, etc., than a sister who is retired in the motherhouse. But this is worked out not only as a budget but as a manifestation of obedience. Such a sister, for instance, would not simply apply for and accept a job with a university or whatever without discerning with congregational leadership, etc. And if they told her she was more needed in one of the congregation’s sponsored ministries (even if it were a high school, for instance, where she might prefer and be qualified to teach at the college level), she would almost always be expected to accept that in obedience.

Many communities allow for certain “recreational” budgets. This might include knitting supplies, or perhaps sheet music for a musician, or maybe even a Netflix subscription. Others do not. As with all things, it will depend on the community. I know more than one, for instance, where many retired sisters have their own tablets or laptops (generally not fancy). This is technically “for their use,” but it would also likely mean that they did not have something else.
 
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“rosary91 said:
Are members of religious orders such as the Dominicans, etc, allowed to own ‘small properties’, for example- if a person’s hobby is knitting and he wants to join the order, do even such small possessions need to be relinquished?
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Theory and practice may be two different things, depending on the community.

Firstly, it’s unlikely they’d become property of the Order right away. With Capuchin’s, that’s technically not until final vows, which happens at the earliest, 5 years after joining.

Secondly, personal belongings like that usually remain “personal” belongings…within reason. Technically, yes, the Order owns the things, but no one else uses it. This is true of clothing, heirloom rosaries from relatives, painting supplies, hobby stuff, etc. It’s not too different than most children’s belongings…they belong to the child in a sense, but the parents have the ultimate control and final say over the items. Again, different communities may be vary, but that’s been my experience.
 
The approach to the vow of poverty varies between orders depending in particular on whether the order is contemplative or apostolic. The various branches of the Franciscans are especially variant - not for nothing has every reform or branching off of the order been related to the interpretation of the vow of poverty.

As a general rule, those I know in male religious orders are given small allowance for personal expenditure and do so sort of own small, personal items. Things like computers or tablets are more likely to be purchased by the order (or by the religious themselves but with the permission of and paid for by the order) but allocated to individual members for their use. Things like cars are owned by the community and used on a pooled basis (unless this would be impractical). Any royalties, income or inheritances have to be given over to the order.
 
Except that adult members of religious congregations aren’t children–and the property doesn’t belong and exist under the control of a single leader but of the community. Responsibility is communal.
 
As others have said, my experience of orders I’ve met is similar.

All possessions are relinquished.

At the same time, each individual typically has certain items that are in practice theirs. E.g. the toiletries in one’s cell; the habit a Sister sewed herself. And the community may assign specific items to a given Sister for her to use, especially if she has a special talent or ministry for which regular or continued access to certain objects is relevant. At the discretion of her superiors, under the premise of obedience and her willingness to go without the item, of course. One can’t just show up and say: “These are my knitting needles and they’re going to stay mine no matter what.”

She might use the casual language of “these are my knitting needles” but more technically what she’d mean is “these are the knitting needles I use”.

PS in my experience, it’s quite common for sisters to knit while chatting during recreation or otherwise during their personal time. I’ve not heard of a sister wanting access to knitting needles or wool and not having it.

Everything is a case by case basis, of course. But I’d suggest asking this question of a specific community, if you have one in mind. A local community can set their own expectations better than any generalization.
 
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Even different provinces of a congregation can have different rules. In one case I’m familiar with, the members from one province who worked far from their provincial headquarters could have a personal bank account in which they could accumulate a few thousand dollars, and could make large purchases. In theory those things belonged to the community. Once the bank account reached the limit they’d send the extra to their Province. One from another Province had to send his paycheque to his Province and their burser sent him a small stipend for personal expenses. If he wanted to buy anything big he submitted a request to his Provincial.
 
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