Inflating the oath:
Coriden, James A
REPORT ON THE HOLY OFFICE INFLATING THE OATH THE RULE MAKER BREAKS THE RULES In March 1989, when they learned of the new formulation of the profession of faith and of a new oath of fidelity for...
...It is in the same category as the condemnation of usury, the toleration of slavery, the teaching on church and state...
...No occasion mentioned...
...Was it a greeting for the American archbishops who came to Rome for a historic dialogue with Pope John Paul II, beginning March 8? There was speculation about all three...
...2) imposed an oath of fidelity, until now required only of bishops, on many of those same groups of people...
...Why the publication on February 25...
...Subsequently, it was issued in the Acta, which was predated to January 9. It seems to have been a hurried and clumsy business...
...It is small wonder that the theological community reacted with "indignation" and "bewilderment" (see Robert McClory, National Catholic Reporter, March 17...
...The Congregation is entrusted with safeguarding and promoting the doctrine of the faith...
...Those two categories are commonly recognized...
...In this case it was five days...
...Congregations of the Roman Curia are administrative agencies...
...to many these formulas looked like truncheons which might be used to cudgel them into compliance...
...To swear falsely means to perjure oneself...
...they came as a surprise to bishops' conferences and even to the other offices of the Curia...
...The Holy Office imposed the obligation to swear such an oath on pastors, seminary professors, teachers of disciplines related to faith and morals, those to be ordained deacons, and others-at the time they assume office...
...The most remarkable thing about the oath of fidelity is that the Holy Office acted beyond its authority in attempting to impose it...
...It goes beyond the demands of justice, i.e., to fulfill the obligations of office...
...The document that contained them was unsigned...
...And that approval must be manifested in the document of issuance, otherwise the subjects cannot verify the authenticity of the legislation...
...In place of this, the new document proposed three paragraphs "to better distinguish the type of truth [being proposed] and the corresponding assent asked" (note of presentation...
...Taking an oath means calling upon God to witness the truth of what is sworn...
...The usual time between publication of such changes and the day they go into effect is three months...
...Was motivation related to Charles Curran's lawsuit against Catholic University, decided on February 28...
...The church is very sure about it...
...Not so...
...No one claimed responsibility or asserted authorization for it...
...To profess one's faith before the community as one assumes a church office is an ancient tradition...
...they can issue regulations about laws, but they cannot make new laws...
...No purpose for the action was stated...
...It is what we do when we testify in court under oath: "I swear to tell the truth...
...The official place for them to appear is the Acta Apostolicae Sedis...
...Nothing new or ominous in that...
...Pastors were even more suspicious...
...The text of the oath calls upon the officeholder to promise to preserve communion, to fulfill the duties of office in relation to the universal and particular church, to preserve and hand on the deposit of faith, to follow and foster the discipline of the church, and to go along with what the bishops teach and direct...
...The heart of the profession was and remains the Nicene Creed (the one we use at Mass...
...The legislation was in a papal constitution called Pastor bonus, issued in June of 1988...
...it would have raised serious objections, so they rushed into print just before the deadline...
...It didn't change the Curia very substantially, but one thing it did was establish a Council for the Interpretation of Legal Texts (formerly the Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of the Code), which was to assist the other offices and congregations of the Curia in getting their executory decrees and instructions in proper form and in synchronization with existing laws...
...The Holy Office acted ultra vires...
...Were they reacting to the Cologne declaration (see Commonweal, February 24, 1989) of January 27...
...This statement caused considerable confusion...
...No reasons were given for it...
...This was not the finest hour for the Holy Office...
...it has been permanently settled...
...It is in no sense provisional, it is final...
...It is an exercise of the virtue of religion...
...The theologians carefully scrutinized the new formulas for the profession of faith and the oath of fidelity...
...To enact laws or issue general decrees congregations require the approval of the Supreme Pontiff...
...That is the date that the latest reorganization of the Roman Curia went into effect...
...Either Betti was woefully mistaken or the Holy Office is trying to expand this theological category to include particular applications of the moral law, and thus to consider them "definitively proposed...
...The document was quite brief: a short "note of presentation" in Italian and the new profession and oath in Latin...
...They do not possess legislative authority...
...Using the language of both Vatican Councils (I and II) and the Code of Canon Law, the text clearly distinguished between those truths that have been divinely revealed and proposed by the magisterium as such-to which the assent of faith is required-and those that are proclaimed by the magisterium as nondefini-tive-to which a religious respect of intellect and will are due...
...It is to be accepted and firmly held...
...so help me God...
...The Holy Office document did two things: (1) provided an altered text for the profession of faith, which is required of a whole list of people as they assume office in the church (from cardinals and bishops to pastors and deacons, seminary professors and theology teachers...
...No one had asked for these changes, as far as we know, and no one was consulted about them...
...Why did the Holy Office act in such obvious haste...
...The action of the Holy Office (the former name for the Congregation is easier to use) was sudden and hasty...
...The newness in the profession formula occurs at the end of the creed...
...A look at the document and its timing reveals some strange procedures and a failed attempt at rule making...
...JAMES A. coriden Rev...
...It was a new obligation, a new law, not simply the application or interpretation of an existing law...
...To take an oath of fidelity in office insincerely adds perjury to duplicity, and perjury is a punishable offense in canon law just as it is in civil law...
...They viewed them as snares, and they examined them as warily as foxes sniff traps...
...Heretofore nondefined teachings can now be considered definitively proposed, and hence required to be embraced and held...
...a new text for that oath was provided...
...What kind of teachings does the Holy Office think are included in this middle category...
...It was an entirely new burden laid on all these groups of people...
...In traditional theological language something which is proposed definitively has been defined, either by a formal act (of, for example, an ecumenical council) or by the ordinary magisterium...
...The timing of the document was truly puzzling...
...The result is that the subject groups have no obligation to swear the oath of fidelity...
...With very rare exceptions, even those who consider the teaching correct, courageous, and prophetic do not claim that it is defined...
...The previous text added the following after the creed: I firmly embrace and accept all and everything which has been either defined by the church's solemn deliberations or affirmed and declared by its ordinary magisterium concerning the doctrine of faith and morals, according as they are proposed by it...
...With this hasty and ill-conceived action, in one fell swoop it spread pastoral apprehension and theological confusion, and, in disregard of canon law (which the oath itself forbade), it vainly attempted to impose an oath of fidelity on church officials...
...But in between those two, the document interposed a third category: "I firmly embrace and hold all and everything which is definitively proposed by the church regarding faith and morals...
...The Holy Office didn't want to deal with this "outside counsel...
...At the time the document appeared, the Holy Office consultor, Um-berto Betti, O.F.M., explaining the document on Vatican Radio, gave as an example of this category of truths the papal teaching on birth control as contained in the encyclical Humanae vitael Very few theologians would consider that teaching "definitively proposed...
...This document appeared in L'Osservatore Romano on February 25...
...An oath of fidelity upon assuming an office is a promissory oath calling upon God to witness my sincerity in promising to carry out the duties of my office faithfully...
...James A. Coriden, a canonist, is academic dean at Washington Theological Union and co-editor of The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary (Paulist...
...In this respect they resemble the administrative agencies of our government...
...No abuses cited...
...Most likely the Holy Office was trying to beat a March 1 deadline...
...An oath of fidelity is very different from a profession of faith...
...Perhaps a basic principle of the natural law, the taking of innocent life, for example, or the church's long-time practice of infant baptism...
...The Holy Office document bore no sign of papal approval...
...REPORT ON THE HOLY OFFICE INFLATING THE OATH THE RULE MAKER BREAKS THE RULES In March 1989, when they learned of the new formulation of the profession of faith and of a new oath of fidelity for those who assume offices in the church, many Catholics wondered, "What is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith up to now...
Vol. 116 • September 1989 • No. 15
