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Pope grants congregation power to more easily laicize some priests
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has granted the Congregation for Clergy new powers to dismiss from the priesthood and release from the obligation of celibacy priests who are living with women, who have abandoned their ministry for more than five years or who have engaged in seriously scandalous behavior.
The new powers do not apply to cases involving the sexual abuse of minors by a priest; those cases continue to be subject to special rules and procedures overseen by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The new faculties were announced by Cardinal Claudio Hummes, prefect of the clergy congregation, in an April 18 letter to the world's bishops. Catholic News Service obtained a copy of the letter in early June.
Cardinal Hummes told CNS June 3 that the new, quicker administrative procedure for dismissing priests was prompted by "many situations where canon law did not seem adequate for meeting new problems."
As an example, the cardinal said the 1983 Code of Canon Law made no provision for a bishop to initiate a process to laicize a priest who had abandoned his ministry.
Usually when a priest leaves the ministry of his own accord, he informs his bishop and sooner or later will request a formal dispensation from the obligation of celibacy, the cardinal said.
But others "leave, they marry (in a civil ceremony), they have children. In these cases, the bishops did not have a way to proceed because it was up to the person who left," he said.
"But if the one who left is not interested (in regularizing his situation), the good of the church and the good of the priest who left is that he be dispensed so that he would be in a correct situation, especially if he has children," the cardinal said.
Cardinal Hummes said a priest's "children have the right to have a father who is in a correct situation in the eyes of God and with his own conscience. So helping these people is one of the reasons there are new procedures. In these cases, the initiative begins with the bishop."
The cardinal said he did not have statistics on how many priests have abandoned their ministry without seeking laicization, but it was a problem bishops have raised with the congregation.
Cardinal Hummes' letter to the world's bishops said that while the church teaches that properly performed sacraments are valid whether or not the priest officiating is living in a situation of holiness, the discipline of the Latin-rite Catholic Church is to insist that priests strive for moral perfection and to imitate Christ, who was chaste.
"The church, being the spouse of Jesus Christ, wishes to be loved in the total and exclusive manner with which Jesus Christ loved her as her head and spouse. Priestly celibacy is, therefore, the gift of oneself in and with Christ to his church, and expresses the service of the priest to the church in and with the Lord," the cardinal wrote.
"The vast majority of priests live out their priestly identity daily with serenity and exercise faithfully their proper ministry," he wrote, but when situations of scandal arise a bishop must be able to act quickly and firmly.
The cardinal's letter dealt separately with the situation of priests who simply abandoned their ministry for "a period of more than five consecutive years." It also addressed the more serious cases of those priests who have attempted or contracted a civil marriage, are having a consensual sexual relationship with a woman or have violated another church or moral law in a way that caused serious scandal.
"Situations of grave lack of discipline on the part of some clergy have occurred in which the attempts to resolve the problems by the pastoral and canonical means foreseen in the Code of Canon Law are shown to be insufficient or unsuitable to repair scandal, to restore justice or to reform the offender," the letter said.
In every case, however, Cardinal Hummes' letter insisted that the local bishop carry out a careful investigation of the facts and, when the evidence confirms wrongdoing, "he should proceed formally to correct or admonish the accused."
"Yet when this does not suffice to repair the scandal, restore justice and bring about the rehabilitation of the person, the bishop should proceed with the imposition of penalties," the letter said, outlining the obligatory steps to be taken.
At every stage of the process, the cardinal told CNS: "The right of a priest to defend himself is sacred, including in these cases. The right to defend oneself is internationally recognized and always preserved."
Prior to Pope Benedict's approval of the new norms Jan. 30, bishops seeking to dismiss a priest for abandoning the ministry or attempting marriage had to initiate a formal juridical trial against the person.
In the interview, Cardinal Hummes said that although the procedures have been streamlined, "each case will be reviewed individually, including with the aim of ensuring that the rights of the person interested were protected."
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Why this power must reside with the Holy See is beyond my comprehension. The power to make and unmake priests by right belongs to the diocesan bishop, and requiring the bishop to appeal to the Holy See in this matter undermines his authority and ability to discipline his clergy. I do not believe this was a requirement until quite recently, and as to why it was adopted, I have no idea. However, it does violate the principle of subsidiarity (not that the Holy See ever paid much attention to that when it comes to its own prerogatives), which is, of course, a salient element of Catholic social teaching.
The real solution is to return the power to laicize to the diocesan bishop, allowing the priest the right to appeal to Rome (one of the legitimate elements of Roman primacy) as a safeguard against high-handed episcopal tyranny (not that a Ruthenian would know anything about that).
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A retired Archbishop once told me that many priests who are no longer active and who have abandoned the ministry continue to be listed in official clergy directories under various euphemisms ("on leave", "on sabbatical", "on pastoral ministry abroad", "abroad for studies", etc.), thus giving the impression that there are more priests than there actually serving in Church.
I expect that, with this new measure, priest-numbers as reported by the Annuario Pontificio will gradually reflect the real numbers of priests "on the ground." (It is no secret that John Paul II refused the requests for laicization of hundreds if not thousands of priests)
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Why this power must reside with the Holy See is beyond my comprehension. The power to make and unmake priests by right belongs to the diocesan bishop, and requiring the bishop to appeal to the Holy See in this matter undermines his authority and ability to discipline his clergy. I do not believe this was a requirement until quite recently, and as to why it was adopted, I have no idea. Christ is in our midst!! StuartK: I'm told this was put into place by the 1917 Code and was a step to prevent the arbitrary treatment of priests by their bishop. BOB
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Given the history of bishops in the Church it helps maintain standards.
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"I'm told this was put into place by the 1917 Code and was a step to prevent the arbitrary treatment of priests by their bishop."
As Patriarch Maximos V remarked once, "They go from one extreme to the other". The proper solution is giving the power of laicization to the bishops who know the priests, and allowing the priests to appeal up the ladder--first to the Archbishop of the metropolitan province, then to the Holy See itself. The problem with Rome circumventing the bishops and accruing all power and authority unto itself is it infantilizes the episcopate, treats them like children or lackies, and makes them ill-equipped to make any hard pastoral or doctrinal decisions.
The problem becomes self-perpetuating, as the bishops, incapable of leading, defer making hard choices, leading to scandal or crisis, forcing Rome to intervene to save their bacon, which makes the bishops even more infantile. Nowhere did this become more evident than in the child abuse scandals.
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The experience of the Church is that bishops can't handle this at diocesan level. The variation across the board would be too great. Bishops contribute to the process as is proper. When 'Rome' intervenes it is to save the whole church's bacon. The priesthood is properly controlled by the body that guides the whole church. Diocese come and go. One bishops does the right thing, the other does not and so it goes on. You clearly have a very low opionion of Catholic bishops to categorise them as lackies and infantile.
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"The experience of the Church is that bishops can't handle this at diocesan level. The variation across the board would be too great. Bishops contribute to the process as is proper. "
And yet, I have had Latin bishops remark to me (yes, I hobnob with some) that this is one of their most serious beefs with Rome. If the situation is uneven, it should be uneven. That's part of the charism of the bishop--to bind and loose. Take that away from him, and he's just a franchise operator of some big multinational corporation,
Oh, wait. Never mind.
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"You clearly have a very low opionion of Catholic bishops to categorise them as lackies and infantile."
Their record speaks for itself. Try watching the annual meeting of the USCCB on EWTN some time (assuming the mind-numbing boredom and banality of it doesn't cause you to drive an ice pick into your eyball)--it is very much like going to a meeting of middle managers at a big corporation. It's only a matter of time until the powerpoint presentations start coming out.
And given your previous statement, "Given the history of bishops in the Church it [reserving the power to laicize to the Holy See] helps maintain standards", it would seem your opinion of them is not much better than mine.
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Stuart,
I believe that Pope Benedict has on occasion expressed his desire to decentralize some of what has been aggregated to Rome over the centuries. There were some initial steps with the Curia, I believe, but it is difficult to say whether that program will continue.
Rome cannot and should not exercise its ministry as the "Corporate Office." I agree with your point about allowing appeal to Rome. That is certainly in keeping with its ministry dating back to the Patristic era.
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