NEWSLETTER NO. 139 SEPTEMBER 2004
- Clerical
Sexual Abuse of Minors: Recent Developments
- Fortieth
Anniversary of II Vatican Council’s Document on the Liturgy
{Spiritus
et Sponsa}
- Sacred Music
in the Church Today
- Redemptionis Sacramentum
Instruction of
CDWDS
- Appeal
Against Two Affirmative Nullity Decisions
- Review of
Rotal Jurisprudence: 2001
- Pastoral
Directory for Bishops Apostolorum Successores
- Tribunal
Statistics for 2003 England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland
- Books
Available
- Review:
National Churches and the Roman Catholic Church
by Fr Robert Ombres, OP (Fr Clarence Gallagher, SJ)
- Retirement of
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson
I.
Procedure
and Praxis of the CDF Concerning Graviora Delicta (Mgr
Charles Scicluna)
II. Sexual
Abuse of Children and Young People by Catholic Priests and Religious
(Mgr
Charles Scicluna)
III. Comment
[Mgr Gordon Read]
IV.
Spiritus et Sponsa [Apostolic Letter]
V. Sacred
Music in the Church Today [Chirograph of Pope John Paul II] [Mgr
Gordon Read]
VI.
Instruction: Redemptionis Sacramentum
VII. Comment
[Mgr Gordon Read]
VIII. Refusal
of Third Instance after Two Affirmative Decisions
IX. Review of
Rotal Jurisprudence (2001)
X.
Apostolorum Successores Bishops’ Directory [Bp John Jukes]
XI.
Tribunal Statistics:
Britain and Ireland
2003
XII. Review:
Fr Robert Ombres, OP:
Article: National Churches and the Roman Catholic Church [Fr
Clarence Gallagher, SJ]
The motu proprio
of 2001 entitled Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela
addressed a rising problem which had over taken the Church within a
relatively short period of time. It is to be noticed that the
document was well in advance of the signal problems which beset the
Church in the USA. Unfortunately the terms of the motu proprio
already had to be invoked because of the apparent rising tide of
offences; although in fact this was not so much a current rise in
the incidence of offences as a whole raft of historical cases coming
to light. It is clearly not possible to say whether the incidence of
current cases has — with the amount of attention given to such
matters — themselves has been reduced in number; and that the
apparent rising number of cases relate to the fairly distant past.
It is to be hoped that current cases are diminishing year by year.
But this still leaves the Church (wherever it may be) in a situation
of addressing historical cases; and the removal of clerics who have
been found to be a danger to society in general and to children in
particular. In whatever way, such removal of these dangers takes
place, such removal is vital for the sake of the Church, its people
and for society.
The precise
background and application of the motu proprio (cf. CLSN No.
137 (March 2004) is now a major consideration. Following the Nolan
Report — which established a basis for care and prevention, but of
course had no canonical standing — the application of the Church’s
own legislation (i.e. prior to Nolan) is a matter of special
consideration. It is possible to speculate — though not very
fruitfully — as to whether the application of the terms of the
motu proprio and Cardinal Ratzinger’s letter (cf. CLSN
No.137 (March 2004) pp. 12-15) back in 2001 and 2002 would have
altered the picture. However, the application of the motu proprio
and its coincidence with the Nolan Report became vital. The
Bishops of England and Wales already had last year the benefit of
the advice direct from an important member of the Congregation of
the Doctrine of the Faith.
Monsignor Charles
Scicluna, a member formerly of the Signatura Apostolica is
now a Promotor of Justice of the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith. On 28 April this year he gave a special paper in England
for the National Child Protection Conference of the Catholic
Church, and equally for Canonists and especially those involved
in Tribunals in this country. Included in this number of CLSN is a
paper given by Monsignor Scicluna called The Procedure and Praxis
of the CDF Regarding Graviora Delicta (see Document No.1). He
also gave a talk (by Power Point) about sexual abuse of children and
young persons by Catholic Priests and Religious. This presentation
concerned the Description of the Problem from a Church
Perspective. (Document No.II).
Monsignor Gordon
Read, who was present at Monsignor Scicluna’s talks, has made some
comments on a variety of matters raised by the talks, including the
development of the Canonical Discipline on sex abuse cases;
canonical prescription; external violation of the sixth commandment;
the role of local legislation; the preliminary investigation of an
alleged offence and reference of the matter to the CDS;
administrative measures and dismissal ex officio; the Holy
See’s authorisation of administrative or the judicial process; the
application of these principles to religious; administrative leave;
and a variety of questions relating to the above points. (See
Document No.III)
The Holy Father
issued an Apostolic Letter, published in Italian on 4th December
2003, and in English on 2 January 2004. This is a general document
but time and again the Holy Father emphasises a need to instil a
taste for prayer and the importance of sacred silence in the
liturgy. A special question concerns whether the liturgy is seen as
a path of holiness, an inner force of apostolic dynamism and of the
Church’s missionary outreach. (See Document No. IV). (See also the
Apostolic Letter itself in Origins, 22 January 2004, vol.33, no.32,
pp. 541-546).
This document,
called a chirograph, was released in Italian in December 2003 and
subsequently in English (cf. Origins, 12 February 2004, vol.33,
no.35, pp.559-601). It was issued on the centenary of the motu
proprio of Pope St Pius X called Tra Ie Sollecitudini.
The document of the present holy Father stresses that whilst the
Church accepts many forms of artistic and cultural expression, the
reference point for music destined for Sacred Rites must be
holiness. Monsignor Gordon Read has written a Comment on the
chirograph. (See Document No. V).
On 17 April 2003,
the Holy Father signed the Encyclical Ecclesia De Eucharistia.
The Pope requested that the competent Officers of the Roman Curia
should prepare a more specific document with prescriptions of a
juridical nature to safeguard the value of the Eucharist. The
response to this was the Instruction issued by the Congregation for
the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments signed by
Cardinal Arinze, the Prefect on 23 April 2004. The document is
entitled Redemptionis Sacramentum (See Document No.VI).
There is an
introduction to the Instruction. Some questions are asked, for
example, why there should be liturgical norms at all? And do they
inhibit creativity? Is it not sufficient to teach people the beauty
and exalted nature of the liturgy? Cardinal Arinze replies that
liturgy is public worship performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus
Christ, both head and members. It is the action of the Church, not
of private individuals. The Cardinal also tackles the point that the
need for liturgical formation does not displace the need to correct
abuses, which themselves often reflect confusion over doctrine. (See
Document No. VII for Monsignor Gordon Read’s Comment on the
Instruction).
An interesting case
originating from the Melbourne Tribunal was included in CLSANZ
Newsletter No. 1, 2004. A First Instance Decision was given in the
affirmative on 14 December 1995 (on the grounds of the lack of due
discretion in both parties). Eventually, after a series of decrees,
the Second Instance Court of Appeal gave an affirmative decision on
the grounds of the lack of due discretion in the Respondent on 2
October 1996.
The Respondent then
filed a plaint of nullity against the Sentences of both Instances;
and this plaint was heard by the same Second Instance Court and was
given a negative decision on 18 March 1997; and the decision
indicated that the only remedy now would be an appeal to Third
Instance.
However, the
Respondent then referred the matter to the Signatura Apostolica.
The latter advised the Respondent on 7 June 1997 that it did not see
any reason to intervene and that it was the Roman Rota that should
be approached for permission to open an appeal against two
affirmative sentences. The case was referred to the Roman Rota which
eventually decreed that on 21 March 2003 that the request to appeal
to Third Instance was refused. The Decrees issued in the case are
reproduced in translation at Document No.VIII.
Brother Brian
Sweeney, FMS has translated portions of the Proceedings of the
Roman Rota for 2001 as
contained in Quaderni dello Studio Rotale, No.12
(2002). The author
of this Review (presumably a Rotal Official) examines Rotal
Decisions published between 1 October 2000 and 30 September 2001.
The Review is “simply an indication of the general directions of
Rotal jurisprudence”.
Apart from covering
the grounds of Canon 1095, nn 2 &3, there are also interesting
comments on the grounds of the exclusion of the bonum fidei
(Canon 1101 §2) and the exclusion of indissolubility (Canon 1102
§2). There is a very interesting comment on the exclusion of the
bonum coniugum. This is followed by a short review of the
grounds of an intention contra bonum prolis. (See Document
No. IX).
On 28 October 1965,
the II Vatican Council issued the decree Christus Dominus on
the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church. The decree called for
directories to be drawn up for use (specially) of Bishops; and on 22
February 1973, the directory on the pastoral ministry of Bishops was
issued called Ecclesiae Imago. The Tenth general assembly of
the Synod of Bishops (October 2001) studied the theme of The
Bishop as Minister of the Gospel and this was taken up in the
Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Gregis of 16 October 2003. It
was proposed at this Synod that Ecclesiae Imago was brought
up to date; and this new directory for Bishops was called
Apostolorum Successores of 22 February 2004.
There followed
translations into other languages; and the English version was
issued by the Congregation of Bishops with a letter dated 17 April
2004. Bishop John Jukes, who was clearly well versed in Ecclesiae
Imago, has examined the new document Apostolorum Successores.
He has written a comment on the new directory to be found at
Document No.X.
The June number of
CLSN saw a group of Tribunal For the Year 2003 Statistics for 2002
(as well as those for the whole of the world for 2001). Fr Peter
Kravos has prepared the statistics from the returns sent in from
individual Tribunals in January this year. It has been the
experience around the country (at least in England and Wales) that
the number of incoming cases has levelled off. The statistics show
in fact a slight decline in England and Wales and a slight increase
in Scotland; but quite a large increase in Ireland (principally the
Dublin Tribunal). It has long been a matter of wonder why the
Secretariat of State statistical questionnaire (page 6) includes a
question for non- consummation cases, but not cases in favour of the
faith. This question seems all the more relevant since the number of
non-consummation cases has remained very low, at least in the last
ten years, whereas the number of cases in favour of the faith has
risen (not surprisingly) to probably some twenty or thirty cases
each year. (See Document No.XI).
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Father Robert
Ombres, OP, wrote an article in Law and Justice No.49,
Trinity/Michaelmas 2002 on National Churches and the Roman
Catholic Church. In this article he considered two institutions
that in some measure make up the notion of a national Church
ecclesiologically acceptable for Roman Catholics; these are the
Bishops’ Conferences and the Eastern Catholic Churches. Father
Clarence Gallagher, SJ, has written a review of this article (see
Document No.XI).
It has been learned
from the L’Osservatore Romano that due to ill health, Bishop
Geoffrey Robinson has submitted his resignation (as Auxiliary Bishop
of Sydney) to the Holy Father and this has been accepted. As so many
people know, Bishop Robinson has been a pioneer and canonical
luminary of the Canon Law Society of Australia and New Zealand. He
was for many years the Officialis (as then described) of the
Metropolitan Tribunal of Sydney (actually a Regional Tribunal). He
was signally involved in the translation into English of the Code of
Canon Law, which took effect on the first Sunday of Advent in 1983.
He was involved in that project with Father Frank Harman, Monsignor
Gerard Sheehy and Monsignor Ralph Brown at Damascus House, Mill
Hill. He had been ordained in 1960 and was appointed the Auxiliary
Bishop of Sydney less than a year after the translation of the Code
was completed. He was consecrated on 8 March 1984. It is understood
that in spite of ill health, Bishop Robinson will turn his hand to
more writing in addition to the works he has already published. He
is wished all happiness and blessings in his retirement; as well as
the assurance of prayers for his health. It is to be hoped that he
will add evermore to the knowledge and true and wide understanding
of the law in the English speaking world. Ad multos annos.
