By Carrie Gress
QUEBEC CITY, SEPT. 10, 2008 (Zenit.org).- In response to the growing tide of new movements in the Church, Canon law does not dictate the form they will take, but arises in response to the Holy Spirit, says author Pete Vere.
Vere co-authored with Michael Trueman "Surprised by Canon Law: 150 Questions Laypeople Ask About Canon Law," and "Surprised by Canon Law, Volume 2: More Questions Catholics Ask About Canon Law," both published by Servant Books.
In Part 2 of this interview with ZENIT, Vere discusses the role canon law plays in understanding the canonization process and the growth of new movements in the Church.
Part 1 of this interview appeared Tuesday.
Q: Your book answers a number of questions about the canonization process. Could you give us a brief overview of this process, especially as we wait for people like Blessed Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II to finish these processes?
Vere: Allow me to begin with some good news: Every one of us is eligible to become a saint. In fact, this is the reason for which God created us -- to join him in heaven for all of eternity. Thus we should always ask ourselves whether our actions and words will bring us closer to God.
Having said that, only a handful of us will be canonized saints by the Church. The canonization process is rather rigorous, which insures its integrity. I myself was surprised to learn just how rigorous the process is, and am grateful to Michael -- who has experience with the process -- for tackling the canonization chapter.
Having said that, the process for canonization is not found in the Code of Canon Law, but in a document promulgated by Pope John Paul II called "Divinus Perfectionis Magister" (Divine Teacher and Model of Perfection).
It begins when a Catholic is believed by the faithful to have lived a life of exemplary holiness. From here, Michael summarizes the process as follows: "death of the individual; presentation of the cause -- the person is called a servant of God; declaration of venerability -- the person is called venerable; declaration of beatification -- the person is declared blessed; and canonization -- the person is declared a saint."
Of course, Michael goes into a lot more detail in the book, answering questions about each stage of the process. For example, canon 368 tasks the diocesan bishop with the responsibility of presenting a cause for canonization.
All of the candidate's writings must be carefully scrutinized before the Church declares the candidate venerable. Beatification and canonization must each be supported by a miracle. The final act of canonization constitutes an infallible statement that the individual is in heaven with Our Lord.
As the book explains in more detail, the process calls upon several experts -- theologians, pastors, laity, medical doctors, etc. -- depending upon the stage of the canonization process.
Q: A number of new religious orders and movements have arisen since the Second Vatican Council. What are some of the differences between institutes of consecrated life as envisioned by the Code of Canon Law, especially something like consecrated virgins who only recently have returned to the life of the Church?
Vere: As the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit is infinite. This means there are infinite possibilities of how he can inspire the Catholic faithful to serve the Church. The code presents a number of possibilities, of which we touch upon several in "Surprised by Canon Law, Volume II."
For instance, institutes of consecrated life fall into three broad categories: religious orders, societies of apostolic life and secular institutes. Most of us are familiar with religious orders like the Benedictines or the Franciscans, where Catholics live and pray in common, and all their material goods are held in common by the community.
Societies of apostolic life are similar, in that the members live together to fulfill a common purpose. However, like secular priests, the members of a society of apostolic life can own personal property. One of the fastest-growing societies of apostolic life in the Church right now is the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, which was founded in 1988 to help fulfill the pastoral needs of traditionally minded Catholics.
With secular institutes, the members live within society and may have secular occupations as well. Their function is to provide 'spiritual leaven' within the world.
An institute may be clerical, if its membership is predominately clergy, or lay, if the membership is mostly made up of religious brothers and sisters. Contemplative institutes spend more time in prayer, like the Carthusians, whereas active institutes, like St. Martha in the Gospels, or Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, focus on temporal works of charity.
The combinations are endless, and this is before one takes into account personal prelatures like Opus Dei, consecrated virgins, hermits, and many other possibilities recognized by the code. And of course we don't know what the Holy Spirit will inspire in the future.
Each of these possibilities fulfills a need within the Church. Throughout the Church's history, these forms have arisen in response to special challenges faced by the Church. For example, the early monasteries arose to bring order and community life to the countless hermits hiding in the desert. The Franciscans arose from the need for the Church to evangelize. The Jesuits from the need for the Church to respond to the division within Christendom caused by the Protestant Reformation. Many of today's new religious movements have arisen as a response to the secularist malaise and spiritual lukewarmness that has infected formerly Christian lands. They have answered Pope John Paul II's call for a new evangelization -- one that evangelizes from within.
The Code does not so much envision what type of form these movements will take -- as canon law, like the new movements, arises in response to the Holy Spirit. Rather, the Code attempts to provide some order and guidance for when these new movements arise, so that they may serve the Church and the good of souls to their full potential.
Q: Many Catholics don't know that Eastern Churches have their own Code of Canon Law. What sort of differences are there between the two codes?
Vere: Many of the individual canons are similar, or in some cases even the same, but there are some significant differences. For example, for a marriage to be valid under the Eastern code, the couple must receive the blessing of the priest. This excludes deacons from presiding over marriages except in an emergency. On the other hand, nothing in the Latin code stops the deacon from acting as a qualified witness.
Another key difference, which again concerns marriage, is that a godparent cannot marry a godchild in the East. So a fiancé could not sponsor a non-Catholic fiancée into the Church under the Eastern Code, whereas there is no such prohibition in the West. There are also a few structural differences -- the Latin Code is divided into seven books, whereas the Eastern Code is divided into 30 titles. And, of course, the terminology often differs between the two codes to account for the different spiritual patrimonies.
That being said, the most profound difference, in my opinion, is the treatment of our Eastern Catholic Churches. Notice I said "Churches" and not "Rites." To me this denotes a profound shift in ecclesiology, that is, the Church's theology of what it is to be a Church. This is important because how one understands the Church as an entity will affect how one interprets the Church's law.
The Latin Code, promulgated in 1983, still treated our Eastern Catholic brethren as members of rites. In other words, Eastern Catholics were seen as an extension of the Latin Catholic Church, but with slightly different liturgies and customs, and in some parts of the world, their own hierarchy.
By using the expression "Churches sui iuris" in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO), that is to say Churches of their own authority, the 1990 Eastern code recognized that Eastern Catholics belonged to their own Churches, each with its own distinctive spiritual patrimony, that exist in full communion with Rome and the Latin Church. Together, these Churches make up the universal Church.
And in the end, this is why Michael and I felt it important to include a chapter about the CCEO in "Surprised by Canon Law Volume II." Although our spiritual patrimonies may differ somewhat between Churches "sui iuris," we exist in full communion with each other, sharing the same mission, which is the salvation and sanctification of souls.
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On the Net:
"Surprised by Canon Law": http://catalog.americancatholic.org/product.aspx?prodid=T16608&pcat=303
"Surprised by Canon Law, Volume 2": http://catalog.americancatholic.org/product.aspx?prodid=t16749&pcat=303
