Promise Expiration

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Dear Father, we are in the process of receiving a transfer from another community, and the time of her First Promise is about to expire. How do we handle this situation?

A: Thank you for asking about this. Most of us, including myself, have not been aware until recently of the gravity of the wording of our First Promise, that it is made “for three years.” Technically, on the day of the third anniversary of this promise, that Promise expires, and the member of our order is no longer bound to the Promise. I say “technically” because “for three years” is normally interpreted to mean “until that time, three years from now, when I will be evaluated for the Definitive Promise.” So we remain a professed member of the order until we are either dismissed or the date is set for our Definitive Promise to be made. And we will not quibble about a few weeks that might extend our temporary promise beyond the 3 times 365 days that may lapse between one ceremony and the other.

But other circumstances outside the normal formation period need to be considered, and you have mentioned the most common, which is someone moving during his or her 3 year formation period between promises, and finding the expiration date approaching in the middle of the move or shortly thereafter. The new community needs time to evaluate the incoming member; so if you are moving at this critical time, you should make arrangements with your original community BEFORE YOU MOVE to extend your formation to allow proper evaluation from the new community who will need time to get to know you and see how you fit into their community before they can properly evaluate you to take the Definitive Promise. All extensions require you to repeat your First Promise (before an Assistant or authorized cleric) for the extended length of extension granted. If you do not do this, your original Promise expires, and you will be left in Carmelite limbo until some authority decides what to do with you.

Note to our local canonical councils: Read our provincial Statute I. 6) about how you can “authorize” a priest to accept a Promise if your Asssistant is unavailable.

So finally the answer to your question: Grant the transfer an extension, and have your Assistant accept her Promise for the length of the extension. Your community needs at least six months to get to know the new arrival. Fr. Aloysius has allowed us to extend a two year novitiate period for up to another year and the three year formation period for up to a year and a half. The extension, he said, should not however extend for more than half the normal period.

--Fr. John Michael OCD, prov. delg.