Brad,
These are the vows I wrote. As I have talked to my advisor about it I wouldn't give up my job or place at first if others join me. So it wouldn't cost you anything. You would be able to come broke. That would make us a congregation and I wouldn't make other do what I would do. I have had a lot of survival training. My main goal is to be a visible witness to the faith. Being in church is one, but we shouldn't lose modern sophistication either. I am starting a website for my parrish and would continue it after vows.

Hears the vows.

I take these vows because I desire to live a holy life of penance and prayer. Jesus says, �Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been built solidly on rock.� (Matt 7:24-25) Jesus is my hope, and to believe in Him is to obey Him and I pray through the grace of God to live my life in conformity with the house that is the Catholic Church and on the rock that is Jesus Christ.

Jesus says, �If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.� (Matt 19:21) To live without possessions is to live unattached to this world and its seductions, and to center our hopes in heaven. I take the vow of poverty and I pray that poverty through Gods grace will purify my intellect to think of God only.

Jesus says, �Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.� (Matt 5:8) To be chaste is to open oneself to love all equally without respect to personal differences, and to realize that God is in all, through all and embracing all by His love. I take the vow of chastity because and pray that chastity through Gods grace may purify my feelings to love God only.

Jesus says, �You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.� (Matt 16:18) Again He says, �Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.� (Luke 10:16) To be obedient is to surrender our willful natures and achieve a type of that freedom which was enjoyed in the Garden before the fall. I take the vow of obedience to the Catholic Church and pray that obedience through Gods grace may purify my will to obey God only.

Jesus says, �But I say unto you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.� (Matt 5:39) Non-violence is the key to all the power in the universe united under Christ�s banner of peace. The blood of the martyrs testifies to this truth. I take the added vow of non-violence and I pray that non-violence through Gods grace may bring me and the world the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My main occupation will be to quietly hold the watch day and night in the presence of the Most Holy Eucharist. I will obey my Bishop. I will have a special reverence to the priests in my parish. I will also serve my fellow parishioners always remembering I am a monk in hermitage. I will be self-sufficient and cause no financial burden to the parish I watch at. I will seek pastoral permission first, and watch in complete silence before the tabernacle. I will pray and worship in the Church as a member of the Church and recite the Divine Office at the required times in the normal way either alone or in a group. I will do this by the grace and for the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

That's a wonderful vow, Darin. I surely think you're on the right track. So I guess I would need to quit my job, sell everything I have (a couple garage sales could take care of that), become a Catholic, and move to Northern Michigan. Once there I would, I suppose, help you as sort of a Man Friday (though perhaps mostly on Sunday). I doubt I'll say "yes", but for the moment I�m not saying "no" and that is because today, while hiking, a very specific thought popped into my head as I was thinking about my current job and situation: "If an opportunity pops up, take it, no matter what it is."

But golly gee willakers, become a Catholic? I don't want to make that sound like "What? Become a Martian?" but it is a quite foreign concept to me. I have to be honest and tell you that I�m not ready to take a vow of obedience to the Catholic Church. But what I will do is keep an open mind for now, pray for the success of your endeavor and, if hell indeed doesn't freeze over and I don't jettison my life and come join you at the inception of your hermitage, I would definitely consider coming to visit you for a week or so if offered the chance.

Perhaps you could tell me, and everyone else, about the duties of any prospective novitiates at the hermitage and, I assume, in conjunction with your ministry. Or is your ministry totally separate?

Darin, I admire your courageous decision to lead a hermitage life. I know some people are called to live such kind of life. I'm sure you are one of them. Personally I believe solitude life either it is temporary or permanent is very crucial. All of our great saints has been there, the great apostle Paul have been in solitude in 12 years before his ministry. All that is necessary because integrating the body of Christ at physical level is demanding. Congratulation and thank you for your inspiration.

Brad,
Once again you leave me laughing. I don't need or want a man Friday. I would have a something like a voting council and not a dictatorship.

If God supports me and I get an Order going then the first order of business is to help the local priest fill up his church. I would hope that would help us discover our temper. After that a larger Detroit evangelical effort. Nowadays you can only start congregations, which mean you don't have to give up all your money. You can put it in a trust or something and if you have to leave the Order you aren't leaving broke.

I don't envision standing on a street corner preaching. I see blogging, mailings, visiting local fallen away Catholics at home and leaving info on their doorstep and writing books. I am sure some people will want to stand on the corner and preach and I'd encourage it. I would hope to discern what each person is best at and engage them in that.

Another effort I would look into after we got our feet wet in filling a church strikes fear in most. We have the largest Arab population here in the Detroit area. There are Mosques who broadcast their call to prayer five times a day. I would evangelize them. Politically incorrect but if Paul had been politically correct where would we be today.

So you can see it wouldn't be a hermitage at all unless I do it alone. Depending on the amount of people we would stay at my place or the empty convent on our Churches property. Actually we have a Bishop in residence there too.

Even if you didn't join me, I would hope you convert anyway. I hope I don't offend you but the Catholic Faith for all the faults of its people like me, it is the True Faith. You don't hear people say that very often do you, but its true. Do like Brenda Blue says and, "Think about it".
Darin