Pope: A Bishop doesn't own his diocese, just like a priest doesn't own his parish

Rome Reports ^ | March 26, 2014

[NYer]

In his weekly general audience, Pope Francis talked about the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  He explained that priests are ordained to serve, therefore, a Bishop doesn't own his diocese, just like a priest doesn't own his parish. Rather, the Pope explained, it all belongs to the Lord. 

To not lose this call to service, the Pope asked all priests and Bishops to nurture their vocation through prayer and the Sacraments. 

SUMMARY OF CATECHESIS IN ENGLISH: 

Dear Brothers and Sisters: 

In our catechesis on the sacraments, we now turn to the sacrament of Holy Orders. 

Building on the vocation received in the sacraments of Christian initiation – Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist – the sacraments of Holy Orders and Matrimony correspond to two specific vocations and are two ways of following Christ and building up his Church.  

Holy Orders, in its three grades of bishop, priest and deacon, is the sacrament of pastoral ministry.  Jesus entrusted his Apostles with the care of his flock and in every age the ordained make present in the Christian community the one Shepherd who is Christ.  Following the Lord’s own example, they lead the community as its servants.  Theirs must be lives of passionate love for the Church for whose purification and holiness the Lord gave himself completely, and they must constantly renew the grace and joy of their ordination through prayer, penance, and daily celebration of the Eucharist.  Today, let us pray for all the Church’s ministers, especially those most in need of our prayers, and ask the Lord always to grant his Church holy, generous and merciful pastors after his own heart.

***

I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims present at today’s Audience, including those from the United Kingdom, England, Australia, Denmark, Malta, China, Japan and the United States.  Upon you and your families I invoke joy and peace in Christ our Lord. 

[NYer]

Ping!

[redgolum]

Uh oh.

Did anyone tell him the legal corporate structure? Statements like this can open the whole Catholic church to liability from the abuse crisis.

[FourtySeven]

Did anyone tell him the legal corporate structure? Statements like this can open the whole Catholic church to liability from the abuse crisis.

How does this statement (by the Pope) make the Church any more open to liability concerns than it already is?

It seems to me, if anything, it would make it less vulnerable, since if no priest or bishop "owns"'their parish or dioceses, then any civil suit could never recover any financial judgement, as the persons in question never "owned" anything in the legal sense.

[redgolum]

Because under the corporate structure in most states, each diocese, parish, school, etc is a separate entity. In some cases the Bishop is listed as the owner or responsible party for the corporation. It is done to limit liability, and to keep the diocese of say New York from being liable for things that happen in the Des Moines.

Legally, there is no single entity called the “Catholic Church” in the US. There is a patchwork quilt of corporations.

Some lawyer will see statements like this, and use it to say that the various legal corporations that make up the facade of the Catholic church is actually a multinational corporation headed by the Pope (There are many cases pushing that right now). In short, it means they could go after the art in the Vatican to pay for abuse settlements in say, Georgia.

There are similar situations in every church in the US that is part of a body larger than a single congregation. The corporate law is very messed up.

[Loyalist]

I doubt that Francis was speaking with corporate law concepts in mind, but rather to remind priests and bishops that they are not little popes who can rewrite and redefine doctrine and discipline to suit themselves.

But even if he were, an episcopal corporation functions much like any non-share capital or non-profit corporation: the bishop may be chairman of the board, but neither he nor any other individual is a shareholder per se.