As the All Things New pastoral planning process moves forward, many parishioners have shared thoughtful questions and concerns. To help bring clarity and context, Father Crane offers insight into some of the most frequently asked questions.
Q: You and others in diocesan leadership have mentioned that “decrees” will come out this spring. What is a decree?
A decree is a generic name for the written form of an act by which an ecclesiastical authority exercises power of governance to either give a decision or provide for a situation. Look at Canons 31 and 48. Canon 31 talks about General Executory Decrees. Forty-eight talks about Singular, but to make the contrast clearer we might say, Particular Decrees. The difference is the former acts more like laws, going out to a whole vast jurisdiction, not directed at any particular person or community, while the latter are for a certain situation like giving dispensation to allow marriages that otherwise might require special dispensation or establishing a new chapel or appointing a priest as pastor of several parishes. That last example, an appointment letter, is an example of a decree providing for a situation.
Q: Brass tacks, Father Crane, what sort of decrees are expected in April?
Good question. These will be particular decrees that,
at their core, merge two or more parishes into larger parishes. However, there will be more provisions than just that. Prerequisites for the civil realization of the merger, directions regarding how to pursue any dispositions of property that might be considered, directions regarding how liquid assets and sacred objects are to be handled will also be included as precepts within those decrees. In the end, each decree will stretch to multiple pages. Please read them to the end.
Q: You said, “read them to the end.” Will the general public have access to these decrees?
Of course. This will be the roadmap for the next several months and years of each ACC in the Diocese of St. Cloud. Everyone has to know them or we risk damaging our union with the local Church and our bishop. And, as I said, the decrees will be detailed in their provisions. While mergers of parishes will be at the core of most, there will also be other elements. It is worth studying with some care because it is very challenging for the bishop and curia to understand perfectly all the details of a particular community of communities. Therefore, there might be provisions, even minor provisions, that could be improved by local feedback.
Q: Now that you’ve given people some idea of local details, can you offer a little more about what makes up a decree?
Sure. As such a flexible legal instrument, it is a bit of a challenge to name the “parts” of a decree, but there are three main elements to look for. First, there are motivations – see Canons 50 and 51 – i.e., the author of the decree should describe, at least in a summary fashion, why the particular decisions or provisions were made or why a certain thing was ordered to be done or omitted. Second, there is the actual action of the decree, usually prefaced by formal language like “…and so, therefore, I hereby do the following….” Third, any good decree always includes some stipulations about how one can take recourse against one or more of the decree’s provisions, meaning there is a process to ask the author to modify the decree or even take the whole thing back.
Read that carefully, too, as the timelines are often short. For example, taking recourse against a decree of a diocesan bishop requires filing a petition within 10 working days of being notified that the decree was issued.
Q: We are hearing that people think the “diocese” or “bishop” is making decisions “behind closed doors.” As part of the Committee of the Affirmation of Plans, what is your response to that?
I guess I would want to go on record defending Bishop Neary’s choices with regard to the All Things New process. Canon 515 §2 requires a diocesan bishop, before merging parishes, to consult the Presbyteral Council. That’s it. So, in theory, without violating the law, Bishop Neary certainly could have conducted the entire All Things New process “behind closed doors.” However, he chose to generate each element of the diocesan-wide plan from planning councils composed of parishioners in each ACC. Those plans were, in turn, vetted by the Committee for the Affirmation of Plans, composed of laity and clergy, diocesan and parochial leadership. Only then, after the plans have been worked from the most local level and reviewed by a mixed body representing a variety of viewpoints of the People of God in the Diocese of St. Cloud has the bishop then started the actual canonical step of presenting those plans to the Presbyteral Council. Even then, the bishop has directed the CAP to release their recommendations back to the ACCs, so nothing has occurred “behind closed doors” in a Presbyteral Council meeting. In fact, the bishop elected to be much more transparent than the law advises. Keeping with this pattern, after the Presbyteral Council has been consulted on all potential mergers, the bishop intends to communicate the diocesan-wide plan to everyone in the diocese. In short,
I really think the bishop has gone above and beyond in terms of transparency, in terms of consultation and in terms of building out something more reasonable from the minimum legal requirements in the Code.
Above photo: A Latin-English edition of the Code of Canon Law is pictured on a bookshelf. New canon law provisions approved by Pope Francis are expected to help the Catholic Church safeguard against abuse. (CNS photo/Nancy Phelan Wiechec)
With his customary clarity, Fr. Crane helps settle hearts and minds and spread joy in place of worry 🙂
What an excellent piece! I wish everyone in our diocese would take the time to read this.