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Associations of the Faithful Becoming Religious Institutes or Societies of Apostolic Life: Responsibilities of Diocesan Bishops (Canon 579)
- The Jurist: Studies in Church Law and Ministry
- The Catholic University of America Press
- Volume 73, Number 2, 2013
- pp. 439-462
- 10.1353/jur.2013.0034
- Article
- Additional Information
All baptized persons possess a natural and constitutive right to associate in their efforts to promote the mission of the Church (PO 8, AA 8, c. 298 §1). Some of these associations eventually become religious institutes or societies of apostolic life. Canon 302 addresses clerical associations, anomalies among associations. The members exercise sacred ministry, a function belonging within the hierarchial structure of the Church. Likewise, clerical associations differ significantly from canon 278 assuring clerics the right to associate. Because the moderators of clerical associations cannot issue dimissorial letters (c. 1019), nor the associations incardinate members (c. 266), these associations place weighty responsibility on diocesan bishops. The article reviews the process for an association to become a religious institute or society of apostolic life, while raising significant issues around canon 302.