Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-08-08
THE CATHOLIC PLENARY COUNCIL.
An Authentic Resume, Taken from an
Annotated Copy Of its DEGREES.

! From the New York sun.
| The Sun of February Is contained letter
| from Baltimore giving the substance OF the
work done by the third Plenary Council OF the
Catholic Church. It now spreads before lis
readers an authentic resume of the leading oe-
! crecs, taken from an annotated copy or the
"Acta Conciiii Plenarii Baltamorensis ILL.,
Whe thor these DEGREES will be approved NJ
| Rome or not is still a matter of doubt, and II
| may be that the Council will have TO be recon-
yened To- reconsider the measures Its members
have seen fit to adopt.
When. in the autumn of 1Ss3, delegation Of
American preiates were called TO Rome, 1t was,
Though unknown to the outside world, an open
! secret to those who had taken an interest in
the history and development of the Catholic
Church in this country that the principal cause
or incentive OF this step was the continual COM
pii,int of the lower clergy against the arbitrary
rates of the Bishops. The demands of the clergy
were that rectors be made irremovable except
for cause clearly shown in an ecclesiastical
court, and that they be given "A voice In the
election of their superiors. When the congre-
CATION OF the Propaganda submitted this matter
To the delegates in Rome, and. on their appar-
ent reiuctane to accept IL, insisted on some
steps being taken, they inquired: why do you
press these Inatters:'
I'VE are forced to it, was the reply, "by the
clanOr OF the American clergy"
Some sort of compromise was effected. The
Bishops came back. The third Plenary Council
| was convened in due form and deliberated for
| five weeks. The schema of the DEGREES had been
prepared i'll the most Iaborious manner during
| the summer months of 1854 by Archbishop
Gibbons, his private secretary Or. d. ]. O'Con-
nell, now rector of the American College in
Rome, and q committee Of bishops. In this
connection IL may be we'll to mention that
Archbishop Gibbons, the Primate OF the United
States, the Apostolic Delegate and the Presi-
dent OF the Council, was and is in favor of the
extension OF more privileges to the clergy. The
schema was just rushed through in time for the
first assemblage of the Council. The outward
ceremonies OF that august convention are well
known to all. Suffice it to say here that the
n 70 q 81
sidered by tiiulds and csput. The primary
of the Catholic Faith.'' No difficulty presented
itself here, TOR all thought alike, and the sub
ject was quickly dismissed
The second titulus was where the trouble be-
gan. When 1t Is mentioned that 1t takes up
twenty-four large quarto pages OF the DEGREES.
the Importance given to 1t will be easily seen,
especially as three or four pages arc considered
sufficient to dismiss other subjects in. In
| fact, here one finds the very kernel of all the
PersOnis Ecclesiastics. and it is divided as fol-
lows: "De Episcopis,' 'De Consultoribus Dioe-
| cesanis," "De Examinatoribus Cleri Dioece-
sani," .De Decanis sen .Vicariis Foraneis.' .
! "De RectOribus Inamoribiibus." "De Con-
eursn,' de Cicero Didcesano,' "De Vita ct
HOneState ClericOrum," abe keguiuubus" and
| an appendix. The seventh head is sub-dividcd
into several sections, in which there are inter-
esting matters that do not concern the present
paper, but which may be discussed in another
| article.
as they are in the cautious ecclesiastical Ian
| guage of the Catholic Church. would be tedious
| and perhaps confusing to most readers After
| a careful study of them We present: the follow
| ing summary:
| Every Bishop is to create ecclesiastical
court in his diocese. This court is to consist of
| six or more OF the most experienced, wisest,
! and most prudent priests, the number above
| six being at the Bishops discretion, and the
Jurisdiction of this court is to be somewhat eX-
tensive. On all points will the Bishop be obliged
TO consult it, but also, If he acts in opposition
to its advice, the members will have the power
| to carry appeal to Rome, and that, too, with
| considerable prestige. This constitutes the in
| direct power of the new judges, extending over
the removable rectorS, the other priests, and
the body Of the laity. AS regards the IRE
movable rectOrs, except tor good cause, they
! have absolute and direct power. If q Bishop
desires To remove one Of these he must bring
the cause before this court, and he must give
good reasons. The courts yea or nay ends the
of One-tenth Of the rcctors in each diocese.
and they will hold practically from the
ecclesiastical court. although their designation
Will be made by the Bishops. In this regard
We see an attempt made to create n balance of
power-the fayOrite method oil modern rule.
Furthermore, these irremovable pastors to-
gether with the members of the ecclesiasti-
cal court, have the privilege of designating
three names for their Bishop, in case of u va
cancy, subject to objection on the part of the
bishops in that province. In order to make
the working OF this clearer let us suppose prov
ince ruled over by an Archbishop and con-
tanning six Bishops. One OF these Bishops dies.
The six members of his ecclesiastical court
and the twenty irremovable rectors assemble,
select three names and submit them to the
Archbishop and the other five Bishops. The
Archbishop and Bishops may send the names
on without objection; in that case the Pope Will
have to select out of three. The Archbishop
and Bishops may mark out one name; in that
case the Pope has to select Out OF two. The
Archbishop and Bishops may mark out two;
and in thar ease the Pope would most probably
name the third. But suppose the Archbishop
and Bishops should object to all three names?
Then the Pope would have two alternatives,
ipSpifp or
send the whole matter back for another election.
Oh course, it should be added that conflict like
the last extreme case would seldom, If ever,
occur.
The whole scheme, as outlined above, appears
to be a just and equitable one. 1t is "A parallel
TO the balancing oil powers in the republic OF
the United states. But, it should be noticed,
that its suggestion was not an attempt to con-
ciliate American favor. On the contrary, it is
merely u preliminary introduction of a part of
the Catholic church s regular canon law into
tne United states. Touse proper com parisOn,
IL would be best to say that the founders of tine
republic based their ideas on The anOns of the
Catholic church; for this reciprocal influence OF
powers is distinctly recognized in the Council
OF Trent, and has been in working operation in
all countries where, rs in this tree and glorious
land, the Catholic religion has not been perse-
cuted by the civil power.
1t was, therefore, astonishing to learn that a
majority of the bishops opposed this measure
1t passed, in the various formal DEGREES in
which what is substantially one measure was
necessarily divided, through the large and
learned body OF assistant theologians VINO COM
IoNcu, as III Mclt. lNc iOWcI IouSt vi tue t'5Uhcf
Bat not only did il fail to receive IL majority
vote in the house of bishops, but it met with a
determined opposition, especially on the part
of the western episcopate. These gentlemen OF
the hierarchy urged, and with great force, that
this measure would be simply ruinous To the
Interests of the church in their dioceSeS. They
suffered from dcarth OF priests, and when
they obtained good one it was absolutely
necessary To have him 1T their command
such a priest would, perhaps, be the best one
in II certain diocese; energetic, popular, of
financial ability, he would readily build up a
parish, with a handsome church III it: there
would toe need OF just sucii 1t man to build up
another parish in another place. some priest not
so energetic taking his vacancy; in this case
nothing could be urged before an ecclesiastical
court, because it was empowered to consider
had the Western Bishops been able to build up
vast and hourishing dioceses. One energetic
priest. moved from point to point, bad accom-
piisheu more tnan "a dozen more lethargic ones
ana taxing human nature as 1t is, they could
count ON very few such meD. On the other
hand suppose priest had been guilty of some
grave derciic;ioa from duty. would il not be
ate scandal, i'll an almost exclusively Protest
ant community, by Il trial which certain to
get into the newspapers? THIS was the argu-
lnent oil the Western Bishops and they pre-
vailed upon sufficient number OF others to
vote down the DEGREES bearing upon this COM
plicated subject.
The Council came to standstiil They all
knew what was Tie principal object Of fits gath
erin@, and were anxious to test the matter
The non-preiatical members were in a furry of
excitement, Knowing they had not exceeded
their rights in voting almost unanimously as
they did. but fearful OF the consequences of
their snperiors' action. \ clbiesrani, giving