In a recent post, I wrote about the "Personal Ordinariate":"It is not the same as a Personal Prelature which canonically only concerns clerics"Fr Paul Hayward replied in the combox:
- that might be the impression from just looking at canon 294 of the Code of Canon Law, but in view of canon 296, plus the specific provisions of the Apostolic Constitution "Ut Sit" by which the only Personal Prelature to date, Opus Dei, was established, and the Statutes of the Prelature as given by Pope John Paul II, it is quite clear that the lay members are fully incorporated into the Prelature.Here are the texts of the canons mentioned:
Canonically, Personal Prelatures and Military Ordinariates seem to fall in the same genre: it remains to be seen whether Personal Ordinariates do also.
Can. 294 After the conferences of bishops involved have been heard, the Apostolic See can erect personal prelatures, which consist of presbyters and deacons of the secular clergy, to promote a suitable distribution of presbyters or to accomplish particular pastoral or missionary works for various regions or for different social groups.The St Josemaria website has the text of the Apostolic Constitution Ut Sit. Some relevant extracts:
Can. 296 Lay persons can dedicate themselves to the apostolic works of a personal prelature by agreements entered into with the prelature. The statutes, however, are to determine suitably the manner of this organic cooperation and the principal duties and rights connected to it.
Since Opus Dei has grown, with the help of divine grace, to the extent that it has spread and works in a large number of dioceses throughout the world, as an apostolic organism made up of priests and laity, both men and women, which is at the same time organic and undivided -- that is to say, as an institution endowed with a unity of spirit, of aims, of government and of formation - it has become necessary to give it a juridical configuration which is suited to its specific characteristics."It" being Opus Dei, the apostolic organism made up of priests and laity. Then Ut Sit establishes:
Opus Dei is erected as a personal Prelature, international in ambit, with the name of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, or, in abbreviated form, Opus Dei.Then later, there is specific mention of the laity of Opus Dei:
The jurisdiction of the personal Prelature extends to the clergy incardinated in it, and also only in what refers to the fulfillment of the specific obligations undertaken through the juridical bond, by means of a contract with the Prelature to the laity who dedicate themselves to the apostolic activities of the Prelature: both clergy and laity are under the authority of the Prelate in carrying out the pastoral task of the Prelature [...](For the sake of avoiding confusion, I should mention that there is reference to the Sacerdotal Society of the Holy Cross which is is erected as a clerical Association "intrinsically united to the Prelature." The Sacerdotal Society of the Holy Cross is a society for diocesan priests who wish to be associated with Opus Dei - it is distinct from the priests who are actually members of Opus Dei.)
Since the "Personal Ordinariate" is a new thing canonically, I suppose it remains to be seen just exactly how it will differ from a Personal Prelature or a Military Ordinariate. I'm sure this will be a topic of learned discussion among canonists. I hasten to add that I am not a canonist - just trying to get things right. Comments from m'learned canonical brethren will be welcome.
7 comments:
Its helpful to point out that the only way for laypeople to become part of a personal prelature is by contractual agreement that is most commonly temporary in nature (although it may be perpetual). The purpose for laypeople to incorporate themselves into a personal prelature is to assist in carrying out the special evangelical mission or enterprise of the prelate.
In contrast, a personal ordinariate would be similar to a diocese providing pastoral care to all those entrusted to it. Therefore it is the supreme authority of the Church which entrusts all those with a special attachment to the Anglican tradition to the Ordinary whose mission is to provide special pastoral care to these persons.
I, too, have received some clarifying comments from an Opus Dei priest in Nigeria.
Father, you seem to forget the particular form of personal ordinariate which is the personl Apostolic administration. One of these has been set up for those lefebvrians of Campos (Brasil) coming in full communion with the Holy See some years ago. I cannot see why the Holy See wouldn't use the same formula for the main body of the SSPX.
No offence to Paul Hayward, a great canonist, but Fr Ghirlanda SJ, Professor of Canon Law at the Gregorian in Rome would have a fit when people said that Personal Prelatures include lay faithful. If Opus really does so, then it must be interpreted as a special exception from the general canons, which clearly limit Prelatures to the clergy which constitute them.
Opus Dei (“Work of God,” in Latin) is a hierarchical institution of the Catholic Church, a personal prelature. Its purpose is to contribute to the evangelizing mission of the Church. Specifically, it educates people about the universal call to sanctity and the sanctifying value of ordinary work. Opus Dei was founded by Saint Josemaría Escrivá in 1928.
That's my understanding..Miles Jesu is an Ecclesial family of Consecrated life..not just a third order..
I'm sorry if this is going to be over-technical, but I hope you will allow me to offer one or two clarifications. Given that the Church's only experience of Personal Prelatures to date is the reality of Opus Dei, the vast majority of whose members are lay men and women (see for example the official figures in the Annuario Pontificio – the latest version which I have access to is for 2006, where membership was stated as 1,902 priests and 85,214 lay people, with specific references to canon 296 and the Ap. Const. Ut Sit), it is slightly surprising – not to say disconcerting for the 85,000+ lay people concerned – to hear their membership being called into question, or to be told that the only concrete example of a Personal Prelature is actually to be regarded as an “exception” and is not what a real Personal Prelature ought to be. The Code of Canon Law was promulgated on 25 January 1983; the formal execution (i.e. the legal “completion”) of the Ap. Const. Ut Sit which established the Prelature took place in an official ceremony on 19 March 1983, i.e. within two months of the Code and using the same terminology as the Code; the author of both was the same Supreme Legislator Pope John Paul II, who described the Code of Canon Law as “a great effort to translate [Vatican II's] ecclesiological teaching into canonical terms” (Ap. Const. Sacrae Disciplinae Leges, 25 January 1983), and later stated that “the membership of the lay faithful in their own particular Churches and in the Prelature, into which they are incorporated, enables the special mission of the Prelature to converge with the evangelizing efforts of each particular Church, as envisaged by the Second Vatican Council in desiring the figure of personal prelatures” (Address to the participants in the workshop on Novo Millennio Ineunte, 17 March 2001). So there has never been any mention by the Legislator of “exceptions”: rather, the reality of Opus Dei is in harmony with what was envisaged by Vatican II and what was provided for in the Code of Canon Law. As I pointed out earlier, misunderstandings can occur if canon 294 is read in isolation.
Many thanks, Fr Paul.
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