Last week’s post examined the right of Christ’s faithful to vindicate and defend their rights and not to be punished except according to the provisions of the law. Today’s post focuses on canon 222, which states:
“§1 Christ’s faithful have the obligation to provide for the needs of the Church, so that the Church has available to it those things which are necessary for divine worship, for apostolic and charitable work and for the worthy support of its ministers. §2 They are also obliged to promote social justice and, mindful of the Lord’s precept, to help the poor from their own resources”
This canon imposes an obligation on clerics, religious, and the laity to provide the Church with what they have. This provision could be time, talent, or treasure (financial support or other material gifts). With these three categories, no member of the Church can be unable to support the Church in one way or another.
While the emphasis is on the financial category, those who are unable to give money but can give their time or talent have equally fulfilled this ecclesial obligation to support the Church.
It also means that clerics are also obliged to give to the Church even though the remuneration of clerics is one of the objectives for which the Church needs support.
As stated in the past, an obligation always necessitates a right. Flowing from the obligation above, “the faithful have the right to donate temporal goods for the benefit of the Church” (Can. 1261 §1), and they are “to give their support to the Church in response to appeals and in accordance with the norms laid down by the Episcopal Conference” (Can. 1262).
One can extend this right to include giving time and talent, which can also be financially quantified.
In other words, if the faithful do not give their time and talent, the Church will have to procure them with an exchange of money.
Some parishes have to hire an organist for liturgy because the parishioner who offered the services free has died or relocated to another parish. Some parishioners offer free labour services during the construction of Church buildings. If they do not do this, the parish will still have to hire labourers and pay them money.
Second, the obligation to support the Church also necessitates the right to acquire the support on the part of the Church. Canon 1254 states: “§1 The catholic Church has the inherent right, independently of any secular power, to acquire, retain, administer and alienate temporal goods, in pursuit of its proper objectives. §2 These proper objectives are principally the regulation of divine worship, the provision of fitting support for the clergy and other ministers, and the carrying out of works of the sacred apostolate and of charity, especially for the needy.” All projects carried out by the Church, including investments, are geared towards achieving these three objectives.
Therefore, “the Church has the inherent right to require from the faithful whatever is necessary for its proper objectives” (Can. 1260), and “the diocesan Bishop is bound to remind the faithful of the obligation mentioned in can. 222 §1, and in an appropriate manner to urge it” (Can. 1261 §2).
Furthermore, canon 1263 states: “The diocesan Bishop, after consulting the finance committee and the council of priests (presbyteral council), has the right to levy on public juridical persons subject to his authority a tax for the needs of the diocese. This tax must be moderate and proportionate to their income. He may impose an extraordinary and moderate tax on other physical and juridical persons only in a grave necessity and under the same conditions, but without prejudice to particular laws and customs which may give him greater rights.”
As previously noted, canon 215 grants the faithful the right to communicate their views to the pastors. Canon 1263 is one of the areas where the Church established the obligation for consultation on the part of the diocesan bishop. The bishop’s right to levy is tied to consultation of the finance committee and the council of priests. While the bishop does not need the consent of the finance committee and college of consultors for the validity of the extraordinary acts of administration or alienation of ecclesiastical goods as in canons 1277 and 1292, respectively, canon 1263 requires he consults the finance committee and council of priests to validly impose any tax (levy) on parishes, schools and other diocesan institutions.
The spirituality of canon law manifests here, too, because, through the support of the Church, the faithful have an opportunity to give back to God in appreciation for his goodness. The Lord desires this as part of our journey towards holiness, which is why it is codified as an obligation. Right from the Old Testament, the Lord desires that people offer gifts for divine worship and support of ministers (Exodus 25:1-9; Exodus 35:1-10; 2 Chronicles 24:8-18). On the other hand, the Lord did not assign land to the Levites. Instead, he ordered that they should depend on sacrifices and offerings made to God and offerings people make to them (Numbers 18:18-19; Deut 18:1-8; 1 Cor 9:13).
In the New Testament, Jesus sent his disciples out and clearly instructed them to depend entirely on the support of the people they evangelised (Matt 10: 9-11; Luke 10:7-8). The gospel of Luke identifies women who provided for Jesus and the disciples out of their means (Luke 8:1-3). The family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus occasionally fed Jesus and the disciples (Luke 10:38-42; John 12:1-8).
Regarding the second paragraph of canon 222, the faithful are obliged to promote social justice and help the poor with their resources. Social justice concerns fairness in the arrangement of the ecclesial society. Since all Christ’s faithful enjoy fundamental equality of dignity and action rooted in baptism (Lumen Gentium, 32; Can. 208), all the faithful are obliged to promote equity and prevent depriving others of access to the spiritual and temporal goods of the Church.
The second paragraph also means that the faithful are to help one another, especially the poor, from their resources. This is the horizontal dimension of communio, corresponding with Jesus’ love of neighbour as loving God. In light of this, the Second Vatican Council teaches that “demands of justice be satisfied lest the giving of what is due in justice be represented as the offering of a charitable gift” (Apostolicam Actuositatem, 8).
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
