Freedom of Enquiry and Expression in the Catholic Church by Jesu Pudumai Doss, S.D.B (review)

book reviews 499 clude at least succinctly, the reasons for this provision. The author provides a succinct summary of his findings in the Conclusiones. The author has written a fine dissertation and, given the necessary limits of such an exercise, demonstrates an ability for analysis both of a particular canon and its broader context within the ius canonicum. Robert J. Kaslyn, S.J. School of Canon Law The Catholic University of America Washington, DC FREEDOM OF ENQUIRY AND EXPRESSION IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH by Jesu Pudumai Doss, S.D.B. Bangalore: Kristu Jyoti Publications, 2007. This is Doss’s doctoral dissertation presented to the Faculty of Canon Law at the Salesian Pontifical University (Rome). It is a study of canon 218 of CIC and its parallel in CCEO, canon 21. Chapter one studies the sources for canon 218, beginning with Vatican II, and continuing with subsequent documents from the Holy See. It also examines the precedents for this canon in the schemata for the 1983 code. The chapter gives a detailed exegesis of the canon in chapter two. The author concludes that it is “a more cautious realization of the corresponding conciliar indications . . . ” (p. 102). Chapter three reviews the relationships between the magisterium and theologians, including “the various juridical processes recognized within the Church . . . ” (p. 157). Chapter four seeks to draw out new horizons regarding freedom of inquiry and expression in the Church as a result of this canon. Doss has read extensively on the relationship between theologians and the magisterium, as is evidenced in the exhaustive bibliography. Footnotes are very frequently lengthy, quotations from a wide range of authors . Often there are differences among the authors; but Doss rarely addresses them, leaving them unresolved. Critical reflection on divergent opinions is lacking. There are also inaccuracies and inconsistencies. He confuses the munus docendi and the munus propheticum of the entire People of God (e.g., pp. 241–243). In presenting the different levels and kinds of magisterium , he reduces the description of the bishops as authentic teachers in LG 25, to a category of the content of magisterial teaching (p. 92). In the main body of the text, the author misconstrues the nature of the hierarchy of truths (p. 246), while setting it forth correctly in a footnote (n. 81, p. 269). He broadens the list of sacred disciplines beyond the usual (p. 80). He uses the words imprimatur and nihil obstat in speaking of the permission or approval to publish (p. 171). In discussing the mandatum for theologians, no reference is made to the document on this topic published by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2001. This is not an easy book to read, especially because of the copious and lengthy footnotes. A revision would require substantial editing. However , it contains excellent indexes of names and subjects, so it can serve as a valuable reference for canonists and theologians seeking what various authors have written on a particular topic. John J. Strynkowski St. James Cathedral Diocese of Brooklyn Brooklyn, NewYork LA LIBERTÀ DEI FEDELI LAICI NELLE REALTÀ TEMPORALI (C. 227 C.I.C.) by Stephano Mazzotti. Roma: Editrice Pontificia Universit à Gregoriana, 2007. The present study is the seventy-eighth doctoral disseration in the series of publications begun in 1995 by the Pontifical Gregorian University . The author, a priest of the Terni-Narni-Amelia Diocese, presently serves in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See as secretary to the Nunciature in the Philippines. Mazzotti begins by describing the evolution of the historicaltheological relationship between the Church and the world from the beginning until its culmination in the Second Vatican Council. Only gradually did the identification of the laity with the world become apparent, since the assumption at the beginning of the council was that the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, was organized as a hierarchical structure. Clerics were sharply distinguished from the non-ordained, the laity. Only in the second session of the council does a more communitarian vision of 500 the jurist ...