Review article
The Lay Faithful in the Exercise of Power of Governance: Collaboration or Cooperation
Slavko Zec
; Theology of Rijeka, Dislocated Studies of Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Rijeka, Croatia
Milivoj Guszak
; Theology of Rijeka, Dislocated Studies of Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
In this unsolved issue of the Canon law, the basic juridical question could be expressed in this way: do the lay faithful possess the ecclesiastical power of governance, or they can only participate in it? The discussion is motivated by two paragraphs of the current Canon Law. The first one deals with the possibility of collaboration of the lay faithful in the exercise of the power of governance (can. 129, § 2). The other one refers to the possibility for lay faithful to be appointed for ecclesiastical judges (can. 1421, § 2), which is linked to exercise of the power of governance. Is the Cannon law incoherent, or a synthesis is possible? The authors following the inductive method firstly explain the power of governance in the Church, then the status of the lay faithful, and their general rights and duties in the Church. Then the authors analyze the cannons 129, § 2 and 1421, § 2, giving particular attention to the sources that influenced the formulation of these canons. Finally, they present the theories of the Roman and the Munich school, the sacramental and the non sacramental theory, regarding the sources and transmission of the sacred power (sacra potestas) in the Church. The possible solution and synthesis are found in the double source and the double tradition of the one and only Christ’s power in the Church, by the sacrament of Holy Orders, and the canonic mission (missio canonica) in the name of the Church.
Keywords
the power of governance; lay faithful; collaboration; participation; the sacred power (sacra potestas); the sacrament of Holy Orders; canonical mission (missio canonica)
Hrčak ID:
146921
URI
Publication date:
3.7.2015.
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