Last week’s post examined media framing, media bias and the Church. Recently, my ideas began sedimenting into what I call the spirituality of canon law. Questions that influenced my thoughts include the misconception that canon law is very legalistic even though the salvation of souls is the supreme law (cf. Can. 1752), issues around sycophancy in the ministry, the abuse of authority by the superior, how to manage a negligent or vicious superior, and making heaven at last. Today and in the coming weeks, the posts will explore and develop the concept of the spirituality of canon law. Today’s post explores the concepts of spirituality and canon law.
J. Aumann describes spirituality as “any religious or ethical value that is concretised as an attitude or spirit from which one’s actions flow.”
As Christians, “it means one’s entire life as understood, felt, imagined and decided upon in relationship to God, in Christ Jesus, empowered by the Spirit.” The object, origin and goal of Christian spirituality is God, who has called us to holiness.
Jesus says: “Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect” (Matt 5:48). Therefore, Christian spirituality has three distinguishing features.
First, it is interpersonal. This means that spirituality begins with our encounter with God through Christ in the Christian community. It is the conscious experience of God, who calls us in love so that we can share in His life. We encounter God in the scriptures, teachings of the Church and, of course, in the sacraments. The second feature is that Christian spirituality is historical. This means that we encounter God by relieving and assimilating the events of the life of Christ. The third is the transcendent quality. This means that spiritual life is Trinitarian life, essentially supernatural and beyond any creature’s abilities or demands.
There are several definitions of law. However, Thomas Aquinas’ definition is often considered classical.
St. Thomas Aquinas defines law as “an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community, and promulgated” (Lex est quaedam rationis ordinatio ad bonum commune, ab eo qui curam communitatis habet, promulgata). There are four elements in this definition.
The first is that law must be an ordinance of reason (rationis ordinatio). This means that reason orders how humans should act. The law is not irrational, arbitrary, morally unjust, or impossible to exercise. However, this approach to law is problematic since the ordinance of reason is insufficient for ecclesial law given for the Church because the Church also knows the truth through revelation. Therefore, one cannot, through reason alone, arrive at the foundation of what the Church is and the knowledge of God’s will for the Church. There is a need for a reason illumined by faith.
The second dimension is that the law is made for the common good (ad bonum commune). This means that the law is not enacted for the individual but has to lead the community towards happiness. This dimension is also problematic because it expresses an overly voluntarist idea of law and does not conform to the gospel or the life and history of the Church. It is an overly voluntarist idea because it reduces everything to the individual’s will on the common good, whereas God’s will on what is the common good is indispensable. The call to holiness, influencing law and spirituality in the Church, is an injunction from God for all. The Church has also historically operated towards this call to holiness.
Furthermore, the Church and its law do not exist for the common good but according to the positive will of Christ. Although the Church is a society, it is in its own kind (societas sui generis) because it has its proper ends (Immortale Dei, 10; Mystici Corporis Christi, 63). The purpose of the Church is strictly religious (Gaudium et Spes, 42), aimed at responding to the word of God (Dei Verbum, 8), accepting the grace of the sacraments (Mystici Corporis Christi, 18), and living in fellowship (Lumen Gentium, 13). Therefore, the Church cannot enact a law that does not align with God’s law and His Word. The Church must also enact laws that regulate divine worship and the sacraments, as well as laws based on justice and the fundamental law of love.
Consequently, since salvation is individual and not communal (Ezekiel 18, John 3:16, Phil 2:12), the law cannot disregard the good of the individual. The law binds the individual’s conscience since when creating a community of faith, it is the individual who must believe. The Church teaches that the sacred ministers serve all who enjoy a true Christian dignity so that they, “working toward a common goal freely and in an orderly way, may arrive at salvation” (Lumen Gentium, 18).
The third dimension is that law is made by one with the care of the community (ab eo qui curam communitatis habet). Such a person is the authority, that is, one with the power of governance in the Church: legislative, executive, and judiciary. This dimension also falls short because the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, and authority in the Church flows from Christ, the founder and Head of his Body (Col 1:15-18). Christ empowered the twelve apostles and willed that their successors, the college of bishops, continue to exercise this authority over the Church (Lumen Gentium, 18) “in service of the community” as “teachers for doctrine, priests for sacred worship, and ministers for governing” (Lumen Gentium, 20). Canon law includes divine laws, which were not given by one with the care of the community.
The final dimension is that the law is promulgated. Promulgation is the official declaration and public notification of law. This also falls short because divine natural law is not promulgated but exists as God willed in nature.
Canon law is the “body of laws and regulations made by or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organisation and its members”.
The word ‘adopted’ means that some elements of canon law are borrowed from civil law. Canon law can also be described as “the totality of laws that are drawn up (enacted directly), or proposed (as by a group), or approved (as is the case with customs) by the competent ecclesiastical authority which govern the matters of the constitution and organisation of the Church, government and the sacramental life of the Church, discipline in the Church and directs the action of the faithful to the attainment of their ultimate goal.”
Just like every other law in a society, canon law has purposes.
First, as law helps a society to achieve its goals, canon law helps the Church to carry out its mission in the world of promoting the salvation of souls. Second, canon law helps to achieve order in the Church by governing functions vital to stability. Third, canon law articulates the rights and duties of Christ’s faithful and provides means for their protection. Finally, canon law helps in the formation of the Christian community by spelling out the expectations of members, qualifications for officeholders, and the ideals of religious life.
Canon law can be explored in different ways: based on content, passive subject or recipient of the law, active subject or one with legislative authority, subject matter, form, scope, and historical development. Relevant to this discussion is the division of canon law based on content. Here, canon law is divided into two.
The first is laws that have God as the author. This is further subdivided into divine natural law and divine positive law. Divine natural laws are laws based on order in creation or the very nature of things, and they are known by human reason. They include the right to be free from coercion in life (cf. Can. 219), the right to a hearing in trials (cf. Can. 221), matrimonial consent, which no human power can supply (cf. Can. 1057 §1), and matrimonial impediment in the direct line (a parent marrying a child) (cf. Can. 1091 §§1,4; 1163 §2. Divine positive laws stem from revelation and are expressed in scripture or tradition. Instances include the rights and obligations accrued to the faithful by virtue of baptism (cf. Can. 204 1), the rights and obligations the Supreme Pontiff acquires by virtue of his office (cf. Can. 331), and the duty to seek the truth in the matters which concern God and his Church (cf. Can. 748 §1).
The second division of canon law is laws whose sole source is the legislative authority of the Church; that is, they derive from the expressed or tacit will of the Church. This is further subdivided into two. The first is ecclesiastical laws, which Canon 11 affirms that it binds only those baptised in the Catholic Church or received into it, have sufficient use of reason, and, unless the law provides otherwise, have completed their seventh year of age.
The second category is human laws or civil laws, which bind Catholics as citizens of the State, provided that these laws do not contradict divine or ecclesiastical law (cf. Can. 22). For instance, laws which regulate the legitimate guardian of a minor (cf. Can. 98 §2), adoption of children (cf. Can. 110), civil effects of marriage (cf. Can. 1059), and contract laws (cf. Can. 1290) have canonical effects.
Next week’s post will explore the connection between canon law and spirituality. As this is a new journey, observations will be helpful. Kindly reach me at chidiebere.obiodu@existentialtheology.com
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
