Editor’s Introduction

This first issue for 2015 shows once more the variety of contributions on canonically relevant subjects offered to our readership. Additional jurisprudence of the Apostolic Signatura and a nota explicativa of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts are valuable resources for canonists.

In a first contribution, Duncan G. Stroik, Professor of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame and a well-known practicing architect, explores church architecture since Vatican II. His contribution is the written text of the Eighth Annual Frederick R. McManus Memorial Lecture given at the School of Canon Law of The Catholic University of America on October 30, 2014. The author has a clear view on church architecture, as is demonstrated not only in his article, but also in the various churches he has designed as the lead-architect.

As we prepare for the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family, scheduled for October 2015, John Beal looks at canon 72 of the Council of Trullo (691). The canon threatened with invalidity marriages entered between the orthodox and heretics. Although the authorities of the Eastern Churches had never formally abrogated this canon, it had fallen into desuetude by the time of the disruption of communion between the Churches of the East and West in 1054. As canonists in the 1950’s, especially in the United States, were anxious to find ways to regularize marriages of Catholics with divorced Orthodox communicants, they used the Trullan canon to declare invalid marriages of Orthodox and Protestants. The argument for the continued validity of the Trullan impediment rested on the claim that since the schism the hierarchs of the Eastern Orthodox Churches have had no jurisdiction to change the law and, since the Roman Pontiff had not abrogated the canon of Trullo, it remained in force. While the approach might have been very useful in pastoral practice, it was at odds with the Vatican II recognition of the authority of Eastern hierarchs to govern their Churches. Catholic jurisprudence finally recognized that canon 72 of Trullo had been abrogated.

On August 27, 2014, Pope Francis established a Special Commission of study for the reform of the canonical process in marriage nullity cases. A few months later, in the Final Report of the 2014 Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, reference was made to possible changes in the procedure to deal with the alleged nullity of marriages. Roch Pagé offers some reflections on the proposed reform of the canonical matrimonial process. He is extremely well-placed to do so, because he combines the experience of a professor of procedural law with his current role as judicial vicar of the Canadian Appeal Tribunal. This unique combination of theory and practice—overseeing all the first instance tribunals of Canada—results in very interesting comments.

In her contribution, Nancy Bauer focuses on the state of consecrated life. Although canon 207 §2 of the Code of Canon Law asserts that the state of those who are consecrated to God by profession of the evangelical counsels “does not belong to the hierarchical structure of the Church, it nevertheless belongs to its life and holiness.” The canon seems to suggest at the same time that consecrated life does and does not fit into the ecclesial body. The latter part of the statement is repeated in canon 574 §1: “The state of those who profess the evangelical counsels in institutes of this type (i.e., institutes of consecrated life) belongs to the life and holiness of the Church.” The article explores two questions. What does it mean, canonically, that consecrated life is not part of the hierarchical structure of the Church? What does it mean, canonically, that consecrated life belongs to the life and holiness of the Church?

Since the sexual abuse crisis broke and the promulgation of the motu proprio Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela, canon lawyers have become increasingly cognizant of the penal process and have been involved as actors in such penal processes. But before a penal process can be organized, a preliminary investigation is conducted. Much has been written about the preliminary investigation, but questions remain. One of these questions is...