At Home Everywhere—A Reconsideration of the Territorium Proprium of the Patriarchal Churches

AT HOME EVERYWHERE—A RECONSIDERATION OF THE TERRITORIUM PROPRIUM OF THE PATRIARCHAL CHURCHES John D. Faris* State of the Question The title of this paper “At Home Everywhere” is drawn from the comments of a German scholar characterizing Eastern Catholics who are now found in all parts of the world and their need for appropriate ecclesial structures.1 The challenge before us is to ascertain whether this phenomenon is to be construed as a dispersion or expansion of these churches. Likewise, are the current canonical provisions for the governance of the Eastern Catholic churches—with faithful residing all over the world—beneficial or detrimental to the life and growth of these churches? To respond to these questions, a variety of issues must be addressed. We must first examine a very basic issue: Is Eastern Catholic Church an oxymoron or are the qualities of Eastern and Catholic compatible and perhaps complementary? We will then examine briefly the various kinds of churches sui iuris followed by an examination of patriarchal/synodal governance. The crucial issue will be an examination of the territorial and governmental bisection of the Eastern Catholic patriarchal churches (and, implicitly because of the general similarity in governance, the major archiepiscopal churches). A brief proposal for possible future canonical arrangements and consequential ramifications on Eastern Catholic church law will follow. The Jurist 69 (2009) 5–30 5 * Catholic Near East Welfare Association, New York 1 “ . . . the council demands in a very clear way, that all the individual Churches should not only be preserved in their native territories, but should also be protected and develop themselves in every part of the world. This means that the individual Churches, being a communion of Churches, are at home everywhere.” John Madey, Orientalium Ecclesiarum : More than Twenty Years After (Paderborn: Pontifical Oriental Institute of Religious Studies 1987) 38. 6 the jurist State of the Eastern Churches Referring to the preconciliar codification project (begun in 1929)2 and the postconciliar revision project (begun in 1972),3 Pope John Paul II described the occasion of the promulgation metaphorically as a boat that had reached a safe port after a voyage of sixty years.4 The pope might have added that the voyage was tumultuous not only for the Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium,5 but also for the EasternCatholicchurchesthemselves .Theseventh-centuryIslamicinvasions of the Middle East had already marked the beginning of a steady decline in the condition of these Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches. The pace of dissipation of all the Eastern churches has accelerated in modern times. During the twentieth century, the homelands of Eastern Christians witnessed the collapse of the Hapsburg, Ottoman (Osman), and Romanov imperial dynasties and the disintegration of the empires they ruled. Two world wars, the rise and eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and Communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe,6 the establishment of Israel and consequent Israeli-Arab conflicts, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and sectarian violence, famine, poverty and war in the Horn ofAfrica, and the rise of Hindu fanaticism have all contributed to a tumultuous unstable environment for almost all these churches. The millions of Eastern Christian faithful (and now, several generations of their descendants) who have emigrated from their homelands to other parts of their country, region or the world are commonly—and per2 AAS 21 (1929) 669. 3 Nuntia 1 (1975) 11. 4 John Paul II, apostolic constitution Sacri canones, AAS 82 (1990) 1033–1044. 5 Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium, auctoritate Ioannis Pauli PP. II promulgatus . AAS 82 (1990) 1045–1363. Translations found in this article are drawn from Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Canon Law Society of America, Washington, DC, 2001 (hereinafter referred to as Code of Canons). Unless indicated otherwise, all references to canons (c. or cc.) are from this code. 6 The Code of Canons was promulgated contemporaneously—and perhaps providentially —with the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Consequently, the new code served as an invaluable tool as these Eastern Catholic churches were emerging from the catacombs of Communist repression and were attempting to regularize their ecclesial life. Many of these churches lacked a hierarchy. In cases where an underground church survived, the hierarchy and clergy were for the most...