Finance Councils and Finance Officers in The Latin and Eastern Codes: A Comparative Study

The Jurist 71 (2011) 295–315 295 * Faculty of Canon Law, St. Paul University, Ottawa 1 Pope John Paul II, apostolic constitution Sacri canones, October 18, 1990, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 82 (1990) 1037. English translation: CLSACode of Canons of the Eastern Churches: Latin-English Edition, New English Translation (Washington: CLSA, 2001) xxiii–xxiv. 2 Pope John Paul II, “Allocutio de novo Codice Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium,” October 25, 1990, AAS 83 (1991) 490. 3 Pope John Paul II, “Discorso,” International Symposium on Canon Law, April 23, 1993, in Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, Ius in vita et in missione Ecclesiae (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994) 1265. 4 This study employs the translations of the codes made by the Canon Law Society of America: Codex iuris canonici, auctoritate Ioannis Pauli II promulgatus (Vatican City, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1989). English translation: Code of Canon Law, Latin-English Edition, New English Translation (Washington: CLSA, 1999). Codex canonum Ecclesiarum orientalium auctoritate Ioannis Pauli II promulgatus (Vatican City, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1990). English translation: Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches: Latin-English Edition, New English Translation (Washington: CLSA, 2001). FINANCE COUNCILS AND FINANCE OFFICERS IN THE LATIN AND EASTERN CODES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY John A. Renken* Introduction When Pope John Paul II promulgated the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (hereafter Eastern code) on October 18, 1990, he said that “the Church, gathered by the one Spirit breathes, as it were, with the two lungs of the East and West, and burns with the love of Christ, having one heart, as it were, with two ventricles.”1 A few days later, on October 25, 1990, when addressing the synod of bishops, the Holy Father exhorted faculties of canon law to provide a “suitable comparative study of both codes which, together with the apostolic constitution Pastor bonus, comprise the one ‘corpus iuris canonici’of the Catholic Church.”2 Two and a half years thereafter, on April 23, 1993, the pope recalled his earlier remarks to the 1990 synod of bishops and explained that knowledge of the entire”corpus iuris canonici” should be promoted both in priestly formation programs and particularly in all faculties of canon law.3 Both the 1983 Code of Canon Law (hereafter Latin code) and the Eastern code4 contain legislation mandating finance councils and finance of- 296 the jurist ficers, which this article intends to compare. This study focuses principally upon finance councils and finance officers in dioceses and eparchies, though attention is also given to legislation on the patriarchal finance officer and parish finance councils.5 In making each comparison, this study will normally focus first on the legislation for the Latin Church, which was promulgated some seven years before the legislation for the twenty-two Eastern Churches. 1. Finance Councils in Dioceses/Eparchies CIC canons 492–493 and CCEO canon 263 require the establishment of a finance council in each diocese/eparchy. An obvious difference between the two codes is immediately evident: the discipline on the finance council is contained in two canons in the Latin law, and in only one canon in the Eastern law. 1.1. Mandatory Establishment. CIC canon 492 §1 requires in every diocese the establishment of a finance council, over which the diocesan bishop himself or his delegate presides. CCEO canon 263 §1 requires each eparchial bishop to establish a finance council whose president “is the eparchial bishop himself.” The Eastern code does not indicate that the bishop’s delegate can preside over the finance council. 1.2. Membership: Composition, Qualifications. CIC canon 492 §1 says the finance council “consists of at least three members of the Christian faithful truly expert in financial affairs and civil law” and “outstanding in integrity.” CCEO canon 263 §1 says that the finance council consists of the eparchial bishop and “some suitable persons who are expert, if possible, 5 This study will follow the terminology employed in each code. The Latin codespeaks of the “finance officer;” but the Eastern code speaks of the “eparchial finance officer ” and the “patriarchal finance officer.” The Latin code speaks of the “college of consultors ;” but the Eastern code speaks of the “college of eparchial consultors.” The Latin code speaks...