of Competence of Collegial Organs of Executive Power
8. Liturgical competences of collegial organs in a particular Church
Although liturgical competences are not closely linked with the theme of the presented dissertation, they should be taken into account for the ec-clesiastical legislator obliged some of the auxiliary collegial organs to per-form liturgical functions.130
130 Liturgical functions are not private acts but acts of the Church itself who is a “sacrament of unity”, namely a chosen people, gathered and organised under bishops. Liturgical actions therefore pertain to the whole body of the Church, manifest and affect it; they touch her indi-vidual members in different ways, however, according to the diversity of orders, functions, and actual participation. Inasmuch as liturgical actions by their nature entail common celebration, they are to be celebrated in the presence and with active participation of the Christian faithful where possible (can. 837).
8.1 The notion and purpose of liturgy
Liturgy is to be interpreted as the exercise of the priestly function of Jesus Christ; in it, the sanctification of people is revealed through visible signs and realised in a manner proper to each person. In the sacred litur-gy, this kind of cult is made real if it is celebrated by individuals who are designated to do so, employing acts which are endorsed by ecclesiastical authority (see can. 834).
Liturgical competences involve solemn celebration of liturgy in a cathe-dral or collegiate church.131 They are reserved for chapters of canons (cann.
503–510) and the diocesan synod (AS 174).
8.2 Liturgical competences of the cathedral chapter
The Code provides that the function of the chapter of canons is to per-form “more solemn liturgical functions in a cathedral or collegial church”
(can. 503). The scope of its main tasks is not restricted to participation in a Mass celebrated by the diocesan bishop, but encompasses the admini- stration of other holy sacraments and teaching about them in cathedral and collegiate churches.132 The liturgical functions of canons are detailed in the statute of a chapter and the particular law, e.g. the Chapter of the Lublin Archcathedral Church is to celebrate a solemn liturgy in this church on the following days: The Nativity of the Lord, Easter Sunday, Corpus Christi, Good Friday, Holy Saturday (Matins), and on patronage festivals celebra- ted at the cathedral.133
On the funeral of a diocesan bishop, the Congregation for Bishops re-minds that a liturgy of the hours for the dead is to be held at the coffin or in the cathedral church (can. 276, §2) or keep some other kind of vigil,
131 The Congregation for Bishops reminds that “of all the churches in the diocese, the most important is the cathedral church, which is a sign of the unity of the particular Church. It is here that diocesan life finds its fullest expression and it is here that the most sublime and sacred act of the Bishop’s munus sanctificandi is accomplished, which, like the very liturgy at which he presides, involves both the sanctification of the people and the worship and glorification of God. The cathedral is also a sign of the teaching authority and the sacred power of the diocesan pastor. The Bishop will encourage the chapter of canons to ensure that liturgical functions in the cathedral are carried out with dignity, with respect for the rubrics and with a true spirit of devotion in a manner befitting the Mother Church of the diocese” (AS 155).
132 J. Krukowski, [Commentary on can. 503], Komentarz do Kodeksu, vol. II/1, 396.
133 Cf. Kalendarz Liturgiczny i skrócony informator Archidiecezji Lubelskiej na rok 2006, 20.
and proposes that “It would be fitting for the cathedral chapter to attend to these celebrations” (AS 245).
9. Conclusions
Our analysis of the prescripts of the canon law concerning the tasks of collegial organs in a particular Church permits the conclusion that they are granted the following competences: consultation, creative, governance, representative, liturgical, mediation, and coordination competences.
1. Consultation competences enable a collegial body to express ack- nowledgement or opinion before an organ of authority places a specific le-gal act that follows from its legislative and executive power. Although all collegial bodies possess these competences, the execution of an act requires a specific kind of consultation with a specific collegial body. CIC/83 distin-guishes facultative and obligatory consultation. The former kind of consul-tation can be initiated by the bishop himself or recommended by law, either with a single-person organ or a collegial body. The latter involves asking for opinion and obtaining consent. Asking advice may involve consulting a single-person organ, one collegial body, or two collegial organs. The obli-gation to obtain consent, depending on the intended legal act, may involve an expression of consent by: 1) one collegial body; 2) two collegial organs;
3) two collegial organs and the Apostolic See; 4) two collegial organs, the Apostolic See, and the juridic person affected by the act.
2. Creative competences of collegial organs give collegial organs a pos-sibility to establish other bodies which have functions envisaged by law.
The following have such competences: 1) finance council authorised to ap-point a diocesan finance officer (can. 423); 2) the presbyteral council, which is obliged to elect a group of pastor-consultors (can. 1742); 3) the college of consultors, which is competent to appoint a diocesan administrator (can.
421); 4) the cathedral chapter and diocesan pastoral council, which are com-petent to choose a representative for a synod (can. 463 §1, 3°).
3. Governance competences are reserved solely for the college of con-sultors, only under extraordinary circumstances as long as they persist or until a temporary diocesan administrator is appointed under sede impedi-ta or a diocesan administrator under sede vacante. It should be postulated that the legislator determine who assumes governance in mission Churches when the see of a vicariate and an apostolic prefecture is vacated, and the
offices of pro-vicar and pro-prefect are vacated, too – wheter it is the council of the mission or, customarily, the presbyter of this Church who is senior in ordination. By analogy to the college of consultors, it must be postulated that these competences go to the council of the mission.
4. Representative competences are those which permit a representation of the whole portion of the People of God, or the presbyterium of a par-ticular Church only. Under sede plena, the diocesan presbyterium is rep-resented by the presbyteral council, and by the council of the mission in mission territories. All the faithful in a particular Church are represented by the diocesan pastoral council and diocesan synod. Under extraordinary circumstances, the activity of these organs ceases and their competences are passed on to the college of consultors. It must be postulated that in such extraordinary situations, when the same presbyterium and portion of the People of God remain, the same representation remain, too (the presbyteral council and pastoral council), for a diocesan administrator to be able to use their advice in a statutory manner.
5. Mediation competences involve negotiations which are intended to reconcile contending parties, especially in administrative cases. The legis-lator entrusted these functions to the mediation council (can. 1733, §2) and the group of pastor consultors (can. 1742). We put forward a de lege ferenda postulate that the legislator should make more precise the competences of the group of pastor consultors and the mediation council in the areas which beg the following questions. 1) Are a group of pastor consultors to be elec- ted from among the members of the presbyteral council, or from among all pastors working in the diocese? 2) If this group is to be composed of the members of the presbyteral council – does the term of their office in the group cease simultaneously when the office of the presbyteral council ceases? 3) Can the diocesan bishop, just like in the case of the presbyteral council, dissolve the group of pastor consultors even when the office has not expired yet? If so, on what terms? 4) If the procedure of transferring or removing a pastor is in progress and when the law requires that two pastors chosen from among the group of pastor consultors be consulted – is this choice made by the bishop or, collegially, the members of this body?
5) Are two pastors to be chosen for every emergency (ad casum), or is there to be a list, according to which two consecutive pastors give their opinions on a given case? 6) Does the function of the group of pastor consultors cease when the see is vacated? If so, are their functions taken over by the members of the college of consultors under sede vacante (can. 525, 1°), or in the sede plena situation until a presbyteral council is established (can. 501,
§2) and it elects a group of pastor consultors? 7) Can the diocesan bishop
entrust the competences of the pastor consultors to personal council ap-pointed by himself? 8) Can a group of pastor consultors, elected not by the presbyteral council but by the presbyterium of a particular Church, fulfil the requirements of can 1742?
Having put forward the postulates, the following optimal solutions should be proposed:
– the group of pastor consultors should be elected by the presbyteral council from among all pastors working in the diocese, or by the whole presbyterium of a particular Church;
– unless determined by the particular law, the office of the pastor con-sultors ceases as soon as a new group is established;
– the bishop can dissolve a group of pastor consultors after he has con-sulted the metropolitan, and if the case concerns the metropolitan – the most senior suffragan bishop;
– if transferral or removal proceedings are in progress and when the law orders two pastors selected from among the pastor consultors to be consulted, then the bishop consults two subsequent pastors indica-ted in a personal list;
– the list is drawn up collegially by the group of pastor consultors;
– a given list is valid until a new one is promulgated in the official bul-letin of the diocese;
– in the situation when the diocesan bishop, immediately after assu-ming his office, has not instituted a presbyteral council yet and there has been no group of pastor consultors as yet and there is a necessity to remove a pastor, the bishop obtains the opinion of two members of the college of consultors.
Regarding the mediation council, it must be postulated that the legisla-tor of particular law, who by virtue of canon 1733, §2 establishes this organ, issue a statute which will determine the way mediation should be carried out by the council, and decide whether this council is to be established per-manently or ad casum.
6. Only the Congregation for Bishops deals with the coordination com-petences of collegial organs, entrusting them to the episcopal council (can.
473, §4).
7. Liturgical competences involve a solemn celebration of liturgy. They are entrusted to cathedral and collegial chapters (cann. 503–510) and dio- cesan synod (AS 174).
The supreme ecclesiastical legislator lays down in the Code of Canon Law of 1983 that the principle of rule of law underlies governance in the Church. In accordance with this principle, the organs of ecclesiastical au-thority follow a prescribed procedure in the exercise of their competences.
Can. 391 explicitly states that the diocesan bishop should act “according to the norm of law” (§1). The proclamation of the rule of legitimacy means that the diocesan bishop and the collegial organs at the level of a particular Church may not act in an arbitrary manner when using their competences, but they are obliged to observe not only the prescripts of substantive law but also those of procedural law, created for both the universal and parti- cular Church. The above requirements relate to general procedure, as pro-mulgated by CIC/83 in Book I, Title IV, entitled Singular administrative acts as well as to the norms of special administrative procedure dealing with permissible conduct of various collegial organs at the diocesan level.
The second part of this dissertation presents the norms of the univer-sal law concerning the placement of administrative acts by the organs of executive power in particular Churches, and the norms of special proce-dure which are stipulated elsewhere in CIC/83 or established by diocesan bishops by virtue of their competences, as well as application methods of individual competences by collegial organs.
1 J.A. Renken, “Particular Churches and their Groupings,” New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, New York 2000, 527–529; J. Krukowski, [Commentary on can. 391], Komentarz do Kodeksu Prawa Kanonicznego. Księga II. Lud Boży, vol. II/1, Poznań 2005, 251.
2 J. Krukowski, “Procedura administracyjna w prawie kanonicznym,” Kompendium wiedzy administratywisty, ed. S. Wrzosek, Lublin 2008, 658.