Table of Contents
Ecclesiastical Goods, Temporal Goods of Private Juridical Persons, and of Physical Persons
Dimensions of Fiscal Management
Fiscal Management as Pastoral Stewardship
Investment as Pastoral Stewardship
Introduction
Last week’s post argued that digitalisation enhances the operation of a pastoral model and improves pastoral fruitfulness by providing the infrastructure for some form of central coordination. This naturally leads to the stewardship of Church resources, because while pastoral fruitfulness remains the purpose of pastoral planning, sound fiscal management is indispensable to ensure available resources are directed to that purpose. Fiscal management involves planning, directing, and controlling an organisation’s financial resources. Today’s post examines fiscal management in the Church.
Ecclesiastical Goods, Temporal Goods of Private Juridical Persons, and of Physical Persons
To understand fiscal management in the Church, one can distinguish three categories of temporal goods – ecclesiastical goods, temporal goods of private juridical persons, and temporal goods of physical persons.
To understand the difference, it is important to distinguish between a public juridical person and a private juridical person. Public juridical persons are aggregates of persons or things established by the competent ecclesiastical authority to carry out their task for the public good in the name of the Church (Can. 116 §1). They include ecclesiastical provinces, dioceses, parishes, religious institutes, and other entities the competent ecclesiastical authority constitutes as public juridical persons.
A private juridical person is an association of persons or an aggregate of things that the competent authority has formally granted juridical personality to act in its own name for the public good of the Church (Can. 116 §1). Examples of private juridical persons are the various pious associations in the Church whose statutes have been approved.
Therefore, ecclesiastical goods are temporal goods that belong to the universal Church, the Apostolic See, or other public juridical persons in the Church (Can. 1257 §1). Ecclesiastical goods are governed by Book V of the Code of Canon Law and the proper statutes of public juridical persons (Can. 1257 §1). Temporal goods of private juridical persons are governed by their own statutes, except another provision is expressly made (Can. 1257 §2). Temporal goods of physical persons are the personal goods of individual members of Christ’s faithful (See Post 172: Ecclesiastical Goods – 14 October 2024).
Dimensions of Fiscal Management
The Catholic Church has an innate right to acquire, retain, administer, and alienate temporal goods independent of any civil authority to pursue its proper purposes, namely, “to order divine worship, to care for the decent support of the clergy and other ministers, and to exercise works of the sacred apostolate and of charity, especially toward the needy” (Can 1254; 634 §1 cf. Gaudium et Spes, 76).
From a fiscal management perspective, these canonical rights can be understood as four dimensions of fiscal management: acquisition, retention, administration, and alienation of ecclesiastical goods.
Acquisition means obtaining a temporal good as one’s own, or coming into possession of it by purchasing it or receiving it as a gift from a donor. Retention means continuously keeping the good in possession or use, or holding it secure or intact even against threatened seizure or forced loss.
Administration means managing or supervising the use of the temporal good, or being in charge of it. Canon 1284 §2 lists the duties of administrators of ecclesiastical goods. They include (1) Exercising vigilance so that goods entrusted to their care are not lost or damaged, and to the extent necessary, arranging insurance contracts; (2) Ensuring that ownership of ecclesiastical goods is safeguarded in ways which are valid in civil law; (3) Observing the provisions of canon and civil laws or those imposed by a founder, a donor, or legitimate authority, and being on guard that the Church does not suffer damage from the non-observance of civil laws; (4) Collecting the return of goods and the income accurately and promptly, protecting what is collected and using them according to wishes of the founder or legitimate norms;
(5) Paying loan or mortgage interests and taking care that the capital debt itself is repaid in due time; (6) With the consent of the ordinary, investing money left over after paid expenses for the purpose of the juridical person; (7) Keeping accurate records of income and expenditure; (8) Preparing an annual financial report; (9) Organising and preserving in a proper and suitable archive the documents and records on which the property rights of the Church or the institute are based, and depositing the authentic copies of them in the archive of the curia.
Canon 1284 §3 strongly recommends that administrators prepare an annual budget of income and expenditure. It adds that the particular law determines whether this is obligatory and, more precisely, how it is to be presented. Budgeting creates strategic leverage, especially for rural and poorer parishes and dioceses. This is because financial planning and reporting can make poorer pastoral areas more legible and accountable to potential supporters.
Alienation means permanently transferring ownership of a temporal good, or the right to ownership, to another through sale or donation. However, alienation goes beyond the mere transfer of ownership. Leasing a good is the temporary transfer of the right to use ecclesiastical goods without transferring ownership. A diocese or parish can temporarily entrust a property to another party for use in return for money or other compensation (cf. Can. 1297).
Another category involves entrusting administration to another entity. Here, a diocese can entrust a parish, school, or hospital to a religious institute for administration. This does not necessarily constitute a transfer of ownership, even if the contract is in perpetuity. ‘In perpetuity’ here is examined in contrast to a ‘specific predetermined time (sive in perpetuum sive ad certum praefinitum tempus) (cf. Can 520), and does not mean that the diocese has alienated the institution or that the religious institute has acquired it. The diocese still retains ownership and can, for grave pastoral reasons, terminate the contract given in perpetuity. For a detailed analysis, see Post 173: Acquisition, Retention, Administration and Alienation of Ecclesiastical Goods – 21 October 2024.
Fiscal Management as Pastoral Stewardship
In preaching about salvation and accountability on the last day, Christ also taught about the proper management of the economic resources entrusted to one, using the parable of the talents (Matt 25:14-30). Stewardship here means that the one to whom an economic resource is entrusted must use it, care for it, and be able to account for what was entrusted (See Post 252: Christ-centred economics: The Principle of Stewardship – 27 April 2026).
Fiscal management is part of stewardship of pastoral capital. In the context of fiscal management, stewardship of financial capital means that one to whom financial resources are entrusted must utilise them, care for them, and account for what was entrusted.
A pastoral plan establishes priorities by examining available resources; identifying expenditures that are essential or can be cut without diminishing pastoral fruitfulness; noting which resources are underutilised; identifying where subsidiarity-integrated centralisation can reduce costs; determining where resources can be redirected from stronger to weaker pastoral areas; and assessing where investments will increase future capacity. These concerns help prepare a budget that supports pastoral discernment.
Hence, fiscal management is not merely an administrative or financial concern, but an intrinsic part of pastoral ministry; an instrument that must remain subordinate to pastoral vision in order to promote the holistic salvation of the human person.
Investment as Pastoral Stewardship
As part of administering goods, the Church has a responsibility to safeguard her temporal goods from loss and unnecessary depreciation (cf. Can. 1284 §2, 1°). Hence, part of fiscal management is determining how to preserve and invest resources not immediately needed. Here, one can distinguish between funds required for immediate and recurrent pastoral activities, funds reserved for emergencies, capital required for future projects, and resources that can be invested for longer-term sustainability. Of course, investment decisions must be consistent with the purposes and moral obligations of ecclesiastical institutions.
While financial sustainability is a goal here, it is not the end goal. The ultimate purpose is to create financial sustainability to help the Church sustain and improve her capacity to carry out her mission fruitfully over time. For instance, canon 1294 §2 maintains that the money received from alienating a Church good “is either to be invested carefully for the advantage of the Church or to be expended prudently according to the purposes of the alienation”.
Conclusion
Sound fiscal management ensures that financial resources are available, protected, and strategically directed towards promoting pastoral fruitfulness. Hence, while the Church in Nigeria remains relatively poor due to Nigeria’s financial status, sound fiscal management of available resources is important for pastoral stewardship, ensuring the Church continues to carry out her mission fruitfully and sustainably. In turn, pastors must also manage their personal goods responsibly. This is because when one lacks or mismanages one’s resources, the temptation to interfere in ecclesiastical goods grows stronger.
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
