THE BISHOPS AND THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 430, 8 July 1881, Page 15

THE BISHOPS AND THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS

The questions which have been pending during the last four years between the Catholic Bishops and the regular orders in England, and which, after much local controversy, were finally referred to the Pope and by him to a special congregation of Cardinals, have been definitively settled by Leo XIII in a Bull signed on May 8 and published on Saturday. The following are the decisions it gives : Firstly, excepting in what regards the cure of souls aud the administration of the Sacraments, regulars serving missions out of their convents are, on account of the present condition of the Church of England, still exempted from the common law of the Church, which prescribes that unless they be at least six in number they are subject to the ordinary jurisdiction of the Bishop. Secondly, all regular clergy exercising missionary faculties are to attend diocesan conferences. Thirdly, they are to follow strictly the law of the Council of Trent as regards their attendance at synods. Fourthly, if they appeal from the Bishop's interpretation of the decree of a synod which is in conformity with common law they are bound to obey that decree pending the decision of the Holy See ; but if the decree is at variance with common law its execution is suspended by the fact of appeal. Fifthly, the Bishop has po>vei to divide the missions of regulars without using the formalities prescribed by the Council of Trent for parishes ; in the case of a canonically-constituted parish the Bißhop is to follow the Couucil of Trent. Sixthly, the regulars cannot undertake a canonically-constituted parish without a dispensation from the Holy See, nor have they any claim to be appointed to serve the new mission which has been created by the dismemberment of a previously existing one, the Bishop being free to appoint whom he pleases. Seventhly, the poor schools in the missions of regulars are, in all things, subject to the visitation of the Bishop, just as in the missions of seculars. Eighthly, the cemeteries in which none but regulars are interred are exempt, but other cemeteries and all pious establishments and foundations in the missions of regulars are subject to the visitation of the Bishop. Ninthly, regulars cannot open residences nor erect churches, convents colleges, or schools without the joint permission of the Bishop and of the Holy See. Tenthly, an establishment opened by regulars for one purpose cannot be diverted to another purpose without leave of the Ordinary and of the Holy See, unless the alteration regards merely internal and disciplinary arrangements. Lastly, the regulars have to give an account to the Bishop of moneys received for the missions they serve just as secular priests have to do, and the determination as to what moneys belong to the missions is to be settled according to the laws laid down by the Provincial Synod of Westminster. — Times.