Guidelines for Receiving Pastoral Ministers in the United States

Canon Law Considerations | B-1

Canon Law Considerations

The law of the universal Church, as found in the

Code of Canon Law

(

CIC

)

and the

Code of Canons

of the Eastern Churches

(CCEO), provides

explicit

procedures and helpful principles that are applicable

to international clergy, seminarians, and members of

institutes of consecrated life and societies of apos-

tolic life in the United States. For those training for

the ordained ministry, for example, the canons state

that they are to “have solicitude not only for the par-

ticular church in whose service they are to be incar-

dinated but also for the universal Church” (CIC

257 §1; cf. CCEO c. 352 §3). Although the codes

urge care for all the Churches, they cannot antic-

ipate the special circumstances and needs of each

particular Church. Diocesan or eparchial bishops

and major superiors, therefore,

are well advised to

establish policies and procedures that apply the uni-

versal canonical norms to the pastoral circumstances

of the particular Church or to the ministries and

apostolic works of the institute or society. The fol-

lowing steps should be considered when a particular

Church in the United States is considering receiving

international pastoral ministers.

Determination of an

Ecclesial Need

A first step is to determine the genuine ecclesial need

that is to be met by an international pastoral minis-

ter. Although clerics, seminarians, and members of

institutes or societies might present themselves for

diocesan or eparchial service in the United States,

the determination of need is always made by the

diocesan or eparchial bishop. Likewise, the cleric,

seminarian, or other member of an institute or soci-

ety must have the permission of his or her competent

superior for such service.

In the case of clerics, the universal law estab-

lishes further criteria that must be considered by the

sending diocesan or eparchial bishop or major supe-

rior prior to releasing a priest or deacon to exercise

ministry in the United States. First, the diocesan or

eparchial bishop or major superior should not release

the cleric if his presence is truly necessary for the

exercise of the mission of his own diocese, eparchy,

institute, or society.

Second, the same diocesan or

eparchial bishop or major superior should know that

the candidate is genuinely suitable, in good health,

and sufficiently prepared to exercise the sacred min-

istry in a particular Church in the United States.

Finally, there should be clear indication that there

is a “grave lack of clergy” in the receiving Church.

This lack may mean a lack of qualified clergy to

meet the particular pastoral needs of the receiving

Church. When these three criteria have been veri-

fied, a diocesan or eparchial bishop or major superior

is urged by the law of the universal Church not to

deny the suitable and qualified candidate’s request to

serve elsewhere as an international pastoral minister

(CIC

c. 271 §1; CCEO

c. 361).

What might constitute “particular pastoral

needs”? They could include such things as the need

for clergy or members of institutes or societies to

serve the pastoral needs of a growing ethnic group

or the faithful of an Eastern Catholic Church

sui

iuris

. Historically, for example, this happened in the

United States among German, Irish, Polish, and

Italian immigrants as well as Ukrainian, Ruthenian,

Maronite, and Melkite Catholics. Today, a similar

pastoral need is evident in parts of the United States

for Catholics coming from other parts of the world.

The canons that govern the movement of clergy

from one particular Church to another are rooted in

the desire to provide for the good of the Churches

(CIC

c. 271 §1

;

CCEO c. 361). Clerics cannot claim

a right to move to another particular Church for rea-

sons of family obligations, financial enrichment, or

other personal advantage; they belong to a specific

diocese, eparchy, institute, or society and have a seri-

ous obligation of obedience to their diocesan or epar-

chial bishop or major superior as well as an obligation

of service to that diocese, eparchy, institute, or society.

Other examples of a genuine ecclesial need

for international pastoral ministers may include

the following:

• An eparchial bishop of an Eastern Catholic

Church

sui iuris

in the United States has need

of a priest to provide pastoral care to a growing

1 CICCanon 271, §1 and CCEO canon 361; See also Congregation for

the Evangelization of Peoples, “Instruction on the Sending Abroad

and Sojourn of Diocesan Priests from Missionary Territories,” April

25, 2001, no. 4.