Vocazione sacerdotale e incardinazione nei movimenti ecclesiale. Una questione aperta by Ciro Mezzogori (review)

On May 30, 1998, Pope John Paul II, in addressing the ecclesiastical movements, pointed out that they are the providential answer of the Holy Spirit to the secularized culture which proposes to us ways of life without God. (see Mezzogori, Ciro. Vocazione sacerdotale e incardinazione nei movimenti ecclesiale. Una questione aperta. 20) Being new fruit of the Holy Spirit, the ecclesiastical movements are a new reality within the Church, and as such they give rise to important questions such as: is there any possibility, in the future, to incardinate clerics in ecclesiastical movements knowing that ius vigenti allows clerics to be incardinated only in dioceses, religious institutes, societies of apostolic life and personal prelatures? If yes, the second important question is: Shall we look by analogy somewhere in the 1983 Code to find out how the ecclesiastical movements work and how incardination should take place or whether a new law is needed to serve these purposes? These seem to be the main questions that Mezzogori tries to answer in five chapters of this book.

The first chapter contains a summary presentation of the ecclesiastical movements from a theological, ecclesiological and canonical point of view. Then, chapter two presents the actual situation of the clerics in ecclesiastical movements according to the present law of the Church; namely, they are related to the diocese of incardination because of the incardination and yet they work and live the charism of the ecclesiastical movement. Also, interestingly enough the author points out here the problem that arises from the right of the cleric to associate with the fact that he belongs to a diocese through incardination, which hinders a cleric's possibility to devote himself entirely for the work and the charism of the ecclesiastical movement. Another problem appears when a vocation to priesthood is born within the ecclesiastical movement and still this cleric has to be incardinated in a diocese because an ecclesiastical movement cannot do this.

Chapter three makes a concise presentation of the history of the law of the Church on incardination up to the actual ius vigenti on incardination as found in the 1983 Code and in the Eastern Code of Canon Law. The fundamental elements of incardination are also presented in this chapter.

Argumentation pro and con incardination in ecclesiastical movements are found in chapter four of the book. The author succeeds in presenting a good number of authors on both sides of the issue. The last chapter presents the opinion of Mezzogori on the issue of incardination of clerics in ecclesiastical movements. He agrees with those who are in favor of such incardination and offers his reasons for doing this.

The author uses in his book documents of the Second Vatican Council and of the Holy See, but also a vast array of specialized literature on the issues of ecclesiastical movements and incardination providing an excellent tool for those who want to go deeper in their analysis of the possibility of incardination of clerics in ecclesiastical movements.