Source: http://www.torredosclerigos.pt/en/brotherhood-clerics/brotherhood-statutes/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 22:23:40+00:00

Document:
1. According to Canon Law, the Brotherhood of the Clerics, which resulted from the merging of three Brotherhoods - "Three were the Brotherhoods in which the Secular Clergy paid their reverent adorations. The first of Our Lady in the Sacred Temple of the Holy House of Mercy erected in the year 1642 when the Statutes were created. The second of the Glorious St. Peter ad vincula, erected in the Church of Our Lady of Grace beyond the walls of this City in the year of 1655, in which their Statutes were reformed. The third of the Blessed St. Philip Neri, erected in the Church of St. Anthony of the Porta de Carros, in the year 1666" - according to the statutes of 1815, with headquarters in their own church and building since 1757, in this city and diocese of Porto, is a canonical public, collegial and perpetual legal entity of the Catholic Church, subject in Canon Law to rights and obligations consistent with its nature (canon 113, § 2), constituted by a universality of persons or clerical association of priests (canon 302), to perform, in the name of the Catholic Church, the office indicated in these Statutes, in the order of the public ecclesial good (canon 116, §1), canonically erected by decree of the Bishop of Porto and under his superior direction (canons 301, §1, 305, §1, 312, §1, no. 3 and 315), which is governed by these Statutes, by the General Norms of Associations of Faith and by Canon Law.
2. According to Concordat Law, the Brotherhood is a canonical legal entity to which the Portuguese State recognises civil legal personality, which is governed by Canon Law and by the Portuguese Law, applied by the respective authorities, and has the same civil capacity as the Portuguese Law assigns to public legal entities, since they are of the same nature (Article 11, no. 1 of the 2004 Concordat).
3. According to the Portuguese Law, the Brotherhood is a religious association.
The seat of the Brotherhood is at the Church of the Clerics, Rua de S. Filipe Nery. 4050-546 Porto.
i) Collaborate institutionally with other spiritual or assistance associations to Clerics, in particular with the Priestly Fraternity of Porto, and with their unions, federations or confederations, namely through the provision of facilities and cooperation in training and assistance activities.
2. The diocesan Bishop of Porto may assign to the Brotherhood other purposes that are really useful and in keeping with the mission of the Church (canon 114, 1 and 3).
3. The Brotherhood is a non-profit charity, with solely religious purposes.
In all matters concerning the administration of temporal assets, their alienation, wills, foundations, budgets, accounts, books and archives, the provisions relating to Christian Associations apply, and, alternatively, with the necessary adaptations, the rules and principles of the Accounting Standardisation System.
c) Council for Economic Affairs.
2. The term of office of these managing bodies is three years. They shall remain in office until their replacement.
1. The General Assembly consists of the meeting by lawfully associated brothers.
2. In all matters relating to the sessions, convening of the General Assembly and its operation, the provisions of the General Standards of Christian Associations shall apply.
i) Dismiss or decide on the dismissal of the members of the Board of Directors and of the Council for Economic Affairs.
1. The diocesan Bishop of Porto will always be the Honorary President of the Brotherhood, without assuming any responsibilities in this condition.
2. The Board of Directors is elected by the General Assembly and consists of a chairman (or judge), a vice-chairman, a secretary, a treasurer and a director.
3. When serious reasons require so, the Bishop of Porto may appoint a commissioner who, on his behalf, temporarily directs the Brotherhood (canon 318, §1), assuming all the powers of the managing bodies.
4. With regard to the operation, provision, election, confirmation and dismissal, the provisions of the General Standards of Christian Associations apply.
l) Accepting inheritance, bequests and donations, as per the General Standards.
1. The Council for Economic Affairs is elected by the General Assembly and consists of a chairman and two advisers.
g) Assist the Board of Directors in the management of the Brotherhood, when requested.
For a fair cause, members of the managing bodies can be dismissed by the Bishop of Porto, after a preliminary hearing.
1. One month prior to the date appointed for the election, the Board of Directors shall have the electoral register stamped at the lobby of the Brotherhood headquarters in alphabetical order.
2. Elections for the managing bodies shall be held at the headquarters of the Brotherhood every three years, by secret ballot, to the plurality of votes of the Brothers who may participate in the electoral process.
3. The call notice for the General Assembly in cases of election shall be sent within thirty days before it is held.
4. Proposals of lists for election of the management bodies shall be submitted to the Chairman of the General Assembly no later than 15 days before the date appointed for the election.
5. The lists, once accepted, shall be immediately affixed at the Brotherhood headquarters and, at that moment, the electoral roll shall be delivered to the respective representative.
6. Complaints must be made within a maximum of three days after the deliberation of the Chairman of the General Assembly or its affixation, and it shall be decided within a maximum of forty-eight hours, communicating the respective decision, in writing, to the representative of each list.
7. The decision related to the complaints by the Chairman of the General Assembly rests hierarchically on the Bishop of Porto, with suspensive effect, regarding the exclusion or omission of voters or eligible voters or electoral lists.
8. Against any irregularities occurring in the electoral act, entitlement to challenge such irregularities will be ensured in the minutes by the representative of the list or by the delegates present, or the written presentation in that act. The irregularity will be deemed remedied in the absence of challenge.
9. Once the electoral act has ended, the Chairman of the election shall proclaim the elect members, and all that has occurred during the election shall be drawn up and signed by the Chairman and the Secretary.
10. Within eight days of the proclamation of the elect members, the Judge will send a certified copy of the minutes of the election and the request for confirmation of the elect members to the Bishop of Porto (Article 22, paragraphs 2, 4 and 5 of the General Standards).
11. Within the same period, a hierarchical appeal may be lodged against the Bishop of Porto against decisions on the complaint or challenge concerning any irregularity that occurred during the voting process and in the partial or general assessments related to the election.
12. The decree of confirmation shall be notified by the Judge to each elected member, duly authenticated with the white seal or stamp, of a diploma for the respective investiture.
13. The new management bodies shall take office whenever possible on the first business day of the three-year period for which they have been elected, which shall be conferred by the Chairman of the General Assembly or by his alternate.
14. The minutes of the investiture shall be drawn up in proper book.
15. The retiring members of the management bodies will remain in office until the investiture of the elected members.
16. The provisions of canons 146 to 156 and 164 to 179 of the Code of Canon Law apply to the election, and the General Assembly may approve an electoral regulation that simplifies the electoral process described in the previous paragraphs, in accordance with article 31 of the General Standards.
17. The debtors of the Brotherhood, the employees of the Brotherhood, those who are in dispute or have a conflict of interests with it, those who have previously been dismissed from positions of office, those who are civilly insolvent and those who no longer meet the conditions of Admission as a Brother may not be elected.
1. It is subject to the canonical erection of the ecclesiastical authority (canon 312 and article 19 of the General Standards).
2. Its statutes and its revision or amendment need the approval of the ecclesiastical authority, after approval by two-thirds of the votes of the Brothers present at the General Assembly (canon 314 and articles 4 and 28, paragraph 2, of the General Standards).
4. A hierarchical appeal to the ecclesiastical authority against the decisions made by the Board of Directors or by the General Assembly (canons 1732 to 1739) can be lodged, herein covering electoral collegial acts (canon 119, no. 1).
5. The ecclesiastical authority shall confirm the elected members (canons 179 and 317 and article 22, nº 5, of the General Standards).
6. The ecclesiastical authority may, with just cause, remove the officers of the Brotherhood after a preliminary hearing (canon 318, § 2).
7. The ecclesiastical authority may appoint a commissioner or a provisional management committee to direct the Brotherhood for serious reasons and in special circumstances (canon 318, §1, and article 23 of the General Standards).
8. The Brotherhood manages its ecclesiastical assets with autonomy, but it has to render an account of the administration every year to the ecclesiastical authority, after the General Assembly has approved them (canons 319 and 1257, §1, and articles 42, no. 4 and 50 of the General Standards).
9. The Brotherhood receives the canonical mission to pursue its ends in the name of the Catholic Church, practicing, in the form of a decree, acts covered by delegated ecclesiastical authority (canon 313 and 19 of the General Standards).
10. The Brotherhood can be suppressed by the ecclesiastical authority, officially or upon proposal of the General Assembly (canon 320 and article 46 of the General Norms).
11. Acts of extraordinary administration can only be validly performed after a licence is given by ecclesiastical authority (canons 1290 to 1298 and article 28, no. 2, and 47 of the General Standards).
12. Adhesion to unions, federations or confederations requires approval of the ecclesiastical authority (article 28, nº 2, of the General Standards).
13. The Bishop of Porto is entitled to call and chair all sessions of the managing bodies, either by him or by means of a delegate.
14. The Bishop of Porto may grant exemptions from the remaining canonical restrictions provided for in the laws of the Catholic Church for public christian associations, in accordance with Canon 87 of the Code of Canon Law.
1. This Brotherhood shall have a double category of Brothers: effective and auxiliary.
Presbyters may be admitted as effective brothers in the legitimate use of their canonical faculties. Brothers raised to the Episcopate can remain in this capacity.
Deacons and laymen of both sexes, who are of age, may be admitted as auxiliary brothers, who attentive to their moral probity and devotion to the works of Catholic worship, should be ready to assist the Brotherhood, both in the development of worship and in the provision of material aid.
§ Sole paragraph. Only effective Brothers can vote e be elected for the managing bodies of this Brotherhood.
2. Among the Brothers, those who, at the discretion of the Board of Directors and under the approval of the General Assembly, will be considered as benefactors to become such for outstanding aid or services rendered to this Brotherhood.
3. The insignia of the Brothers is a medal, bearing on one side the image of Our Lady of the Assumption and, on the other, the pontifical arms bearing the inscription "Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Assumption, St. Peter ad vincula and St. Philip Neri, of the Poor Clerics of Porto, 1642-2012", attached to a white and yellow ribbon.
1. All Presbyters of the Diocese of Porto, in the exercise of their ministry, have the right to apply for admission as associates of the Brotherhood, provided they are not impeded by Canon Law or by these Statutes.
2. An Auxiliary Brother can only be admitted if introduced by an Effective Brother.
3. The person who has rejected the Catholic Faith, has abandoned ecclesiastical communion, or who has incurred excommunication or applied or declared suspension (canon 316, §1) cannot be validly admitted to the Brotherhood.
4. The decision that does not admit any Presbyter as an associate of the Brotherhood rests on a hierarchical appeal to the Bishop of Porto, to be lodged within 15 working days of the notification or knowledge of the decision, with grounds and for any just cause (canon 1737).
1. The Board of Directors, after admonition and preliminary hearing, will dismiss the Brothers who no longer fulfill the requirements of the previous article after being legitimately admitted.
2. The Brothers who are once again in conditions for admission will be readmitted.
3. The Brothers who, without a just cause, do not accept the offices for which they have been elected, will be dismissed.
4. A hierarchical appeal shall be submitted to the Bishop of Porto, based on any just cause, regarding the decisions for the dismissal of any Brother. It shall be lodged within 15 working days of the notification or knowledge of the decision regarding the dismissal (canon 316, §2 and 1737).
h) Receive the Insignia, the Statutes and the list of Brothers, as well as be informed of any illness and death.
f) Attend the funerals and annual suffrage for the deceased brothers.
1. With regard to the procedures and acts and the way of acting, the Brotherhood will take into consideration the Canon Law, the proper rules of Christian Associations, the provisions established in these Statutes and the guiding principles and decisions of the Bishop of Porto.
2. The management acts of the Brotherhood shall obey the principles of canonical legality and justice, hierarchical obedience and respect for competences, communion and collaboration, respect for the public good of the Church, protection of the rights and interests of the faithful members, equality and proportionality, impartiality, good faith, de-bureaucracy and efficiency, always acting in the name of the Catholic Church aimed at the salvation of souls.
There shall be a council for the culture, composed of Effective and Auxiliary Brothers, as well as citizens who have rendered relevant services to the Brotherhood or have cooperated in any way for the attainment of the purposes of the Brotherhood. The purpose of this Council, to be established and appointed by the Board of Directors, is to provide an opinion on the cooperation with the civil authorities regarding the assets of the Brotherhood that integrate the Portuguese cultural heritage and the program of cultural activities of the Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood is represented, in and out of court, by the President of the Board of Directors, who acts on behalf of the Brotherhood and not on his own behalf (canon 118).
All acts and contracts entered into on behalf of the Brotherhood with third parties in good faith or in bad faith shall be null and void, unless the licence required by Canon Law has been obtained in advance for the practice of that act or for the execution of such contract (article 11, no. 2, of the 2004 Concordat).
These Statutes, approved at the Extraordinary General Assembly, chaired by His Most Reverend Excellency, Bishop António Maria Bessa Taipa, Auxiliary Bishop of Porto, in his capacity as Chairman of the General Assembly, held on April 15th, 2013, at the Auditorium of the Episcopal Palace of Porto, will be in force on the first day of the month following their approval by his Most Reverend Excellency, Bishop Manuel José Macário do Nascimento Clemente, Bishop of Porto, and the previous ones, approved on March 23rd, 2007, will be superseded.

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