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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2025
The newly coined term ‘synodality’ has for some years been receiving widespread and close attention, and its potential is difficult to delimit. Synodality is a composite concept, with a range of applications, abstracted from the traditions of the Eastern and Western Churches expressed in varied synodal institutions and events. Synodality might be defined as the process by which Christians gather to dialogue, discern and at times decide. This article examines one of synodality’s levels – the parish – in the Roman Catholic Church.1
1 F Grazian, ‘Sinodalità, Diritto Canonico e Strutture Parrocchiali’ (2022) 35 Quaderni di Diritto Ecclesiale 421–445; R Billing, ‘Cultivating Synodality in the Particular Church’ (2023) 57 Studia Canonica 263–294.
2 Juan Calvo, in J Arrieta (ed), Code of Canon Law Annotated, 4th edn (Chambly, 2022) 430.
3 International Theological Commission, Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church (2018) numbers 83–84.
4 See canon 515§1, ‘Paroecia est certa communitas christifidelium…’. All references to canons are to the Code of Canon Law (1983) for the Latin Church, unless stated otherwise.
5 Vatican II, Apostolicam Actuositatem n 26, and also n 10: the laity ‘by offering of their own particular skills they make the care of souls and also the administration of the church’s goods more effective’; N Tanner (ed), Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils II (London, 1990) 997 and 988.
6 J Campbell, ‘The Use of the term ‘Pastoral’ in the 1983 Code of Canon Law with Reference to the 1917 Code’ (2018) 20 Ecc LJ 173–184.
7 This 2002 Instruction was cited by the Signatura in its 2003 sentence coram Cacciavillan concerning the removal of a parish priest. As the bishop cited the failure to establish a PPC as an illustration of the parish priest’s persistent negligence, the Signatura made observations regarding the importance of canon 536§1. Where there is the obligation to set up a PPC, the obligation is first of all that of the parish priest himself: W Daniel, Ministerium Iustitiae: Jurisprudence of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura (Montréal, 2011) 389–413.
8 See canon 211.
9 See canon 212.
10 A Giraudo, ‘I Processi Consultivi e Deliberativi nella Chiesa’ (2021) 34 Quaderni di Diritto Ecclesiale 161–180; cf. canon 127.
11 Code of Canon Law (1917) canons 1183–4. The Council of Trent spoke in its canon 9 of Session 22 (1562) of administrators both ecclesiastical and lay fabricae cuiusvis ecclesiae being bound to give an account of their administration annually to the diocesan bishop: N Tanner (ed), op cit 740.
12 According to canon 515§3 a lawfully established parish has juridical personality by virtue of the law itself.
13 Catholic Social Teaching has much of relevance to this dimension of Church life and mission; D O’Brien and T Shannon (eds), Catholic Social Thought: Encyclicals and Documents from Pope Leo XIII to Pope Francis, 3rd edn (New York, 2016). The 1971 Synod of Bishops’ Justice in the World reiterated the recommendations that lay people should exercise more important functions with regard to church property and should share in its administration (III).
14 It would take a separate study to present the relevant canonical penal law and of course there are applicable State laws, both civil and criminal; J Renken, ‘Organs of Synodality and the Revised Penal Law: Effective Means to Safeguard Church Property’ (2023) 57 Studia Canonica 551–594.
15 C Glendinning, ‘Structures of Accountability in the Parish and Diocese: Lessons Learned in North America and Possibilities for Reform’ (2022) 56 Studia Canonica 645–669.
16 E Yohannan, ‘Parish Pastoral Council and Parish Finance Council: Similarities and Differences from a Canonical Perspective’ (2021) 85 Vidyajyoti 461–471.