Dissertation Abstract

dissertations and theses 625 DISSERTATION ABSTRACT The Obligation of Clerics to Acknowledge and Foster The Mission of Lay Persons in Selected Institutes of Collaboration Jeffrey M. Staab The Catholic University of America Canon Law Studies No. 566, 2008 The Second Vatican Council taught that all the baptized share responsibility for the mission of the Church. Clerics have a fundamental obligation to help lay persons carry out their distinctive part of the Church’s mission (cf. cc. 275 § 2; 394; 529 § 2). Lay persons have an obligation in communion to cooperate with these ministers of the Church. It is through the collaborative give-and-take of clerics and lay persons that the Church’s mission is accomplished. This conciliar teaching finds a certain expression in the 1983 Code of CanonLaw.Forexample,diocesanfinancecouncils(cc.492,493),diocesan pastoral councils (cc. 511–514), diocesan synods (cc. 460–468), parishfinancecouncils(c.537),parishpastoralcouncils(c.536),andprovisions for lay pastoral leadership in so-called “priestless” parishes (c. 517 § 2) witness to the reception of the conciliar teaching.Yet, unresolved theological-canonical issues related to these institutes of collaboration have occasioned the publication of official documents at various levels of church authority. The attainment of greater clarity concerning the roles that are proper to clerics and lay persons in these institutes of collaboration is a work in progress. In particular, this dissertation addresses the responsibility of clerics to acknowledge and foster the mission of lay persons in the aforementioned institutes of clergy-laity collaboration. Chapter one traces the historical development of key sources for the law, from the ante-preparatory phase that laid the groundwork for the Second Vatican Council (1959–1960), through the preparatory phase (1960–1962), and finally through the council itself to the promulgated documents (1962–1965). The chapter focuses on the dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium and the decrees Christus Dominus, Presbyterorum ordinis, Apostolicam actuositatem, and Ad gentes divinitus. Texts are examined according to the themes they present, and the development of thought is identified, as are points of continuity and discontinuity in this development. Chapter two examines selected post-conciliar, pre-1983 code implementing documents. The chapter also surveys the 1917 code revision process. The goal is to provide the context of the legislative history that will inform subsequent interpretive commentary on the canons referenced above. In addition, the text and context of each canon are examined in light of selected commentators. Chapter three looks to selected official church documents concerning the obligation of clerics to acknowledge and foster the mission of lay persons within the context of the selected institutes of collaboration.Among these official documents are papal apostolic exhortations, Holy See curial instructions and directories, the pastoral statements and committee documents of the United States episcopal conference. The chapter examines the selected documents chronologically, according to their date of promulgation. A general conclusion first offers a synthetic overview of the information provided in chapters one through three regarding the clerics’obligation to acknowledge and foster the mission of lay persons within the context of the selected institutes of collaboration. Secondly, the conclusion makes recommendations for the refinement of the law and proposes four basic principles to guide the application of the law concerning the cleric’s obligation to acknowledge and foster the mission of lay persons in the Church. 626 the jurist ...