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THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA An Examination of the Foundation and Activation of the Cooperation of Laity and Pastors in the Munus Docendi in Catechesis according to Canon 776 A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Canon Law Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor in Canon Law By Zabrina R. Decker Washington, D.C. 2016 An Examination of the Foundation and Activation of the Cooperation of Laity and Pastors in the Munus Docendi in Catechesis according to Canon 776 Zabrina R. Decker, J.C.D. Director: Rev. Robert J. Kaslyn, S.J., J.C.D. Canon 776 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law establishes the obligation of the pastor to provide catechetical formation and responsibility of laity to cooperate in such formation.1 This study uniquely focuses on the foundation and activation of the cooperation of the lay Christian faithful with pastors in catechesis. Such cooperation derives from baptism (both the right to witness to the gospel message [c. 211] and the correlative obligation of suitable preparation to exercise that right [c. 229]). Chapter one establishes baptism as the canonical foundation for incorporation, personhood and catechetical responsibility in the Church. From this constitutive basis, chapter two presents the ecclesiology of the sanctifying, governing and teaching (catechetical) mission of the Church for both laity and pastors. Conciliar, ecclesial and canonical definitions of catechesis are the focus of chapter three. Chapter four explores the definition of the lay Christian faithful as derived from their ontological status in baptism. This definition provides the specific synthesis required for both unifying the preceeding chapters and setting the basis for the final chapter. Chapter five promotes 1. Canon 776: “Parochus, vi sui muneris, catecheticam efformationem adultorum, iuvenum et puerorum curare tenetur, quem in finem sociam sibi operam adhibeat clericorum paroeciae addictorum, sodalium institutorum vitae consecratae necnon societatum vitae apostolicae, habita ratione indolis uniuscuiusque instituti, necnon christifidelium laicorum, praesertim catechistarum; hi omnes, nisi legitime impediti, operam suam libenter praestare ne renuant. Munus parentum, in catechesi familiari, de quo in can. 774, §2, promoveat et foveat.” cooperation of laity with pastors through encouragement of a basic shared formation and responsibility in their canonical mission of catechesis. The method used is a conciliar-juridical comparative analysis employing the 1917 and 1983 Codes of Canon Law to illustrate the foundation for catechetical cooperation between laity and pastors while respecting both the common priesthood of all the faithful and the sacramental priesthood. Special focus is given to the instruction Ecclesiae de mysterio and the publication of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord. The study contributes to the catechetical canonical mandate found in canon 776 regarding both the ontological obligation of the pastor for the catechetical mission and the active cooperation of laity in catechesis through a focus on shared formation so as to create a common catechetical language. Significantly, the study provides and unifies the theological and canonical basis for participation in the Church’s salvific mission (c. 225), the necessity of proper formation (both obligation and right; c. 229), and particular application to the means by which the laity cooperate in catechetical formation. This dissertation by Zabrina R. Decker fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Canon Law, approved by Robert J. Kaslyn, S.J., J.C.D., as Director, and by John P. Beal, J.C.D., and Kurt Martens, J.C.D., as Readers. Robert J. Kaslyn, S.J., J.C.D., Director John P. Beal, J.C.D., Reader Kurt Martens, J.C.D., Reader ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER ONE Baptism: Salvation, Theology and Canon Law ................................................. 5 I. Baptism, Christ and the Church ............................................................................................ 6 II. Baptism: Water, Blood and Desire ....................................................................................... 7 III. Baptism as Gateway to the Sacraments.............................................................................. 13 IV. The Nature and Effects of Valid Baptism .......................................................................... 16 A. Rebirth as Children of God ............................................................................................ 19 B. Configuration to Christ by an Indelible Character ......................................................... 20 V. Canon 204 §1: Incorporation, Constitution, Vocation ...................................................... 22 VI. Canon 204 §2: The Church ............................................................................................... 26 VII. Canon 87 and the Historical Context of Canon 96 ........................................................... 29 VIII. Canon 96 ........................................................................................................................... 32 IX. The First Bond of Full Communion: The Profession of Faith .......................................... 35 X. The Second Bond of Full Communion: Sacraments ......................................................... 37 XI. The Third Bond of Full Communion: Ecclesiastical Governance .................................... 37 XII. Canon 208 ......................................................................................................................... 40 A. Equality in Canon 208 .................................................................................................... 42 B. Building the Body of Christ Through “Condition and Function” .................................. 43 C. Canon 209 ...................................................................................................................... 46 D. Canon 223....................................................................................................................... 52 CHAPTER TWO Condition, Function, Clerics, Laity and the Triple Munera of the Church .... 57 I. Condition and Function in the Church .............................................................................. 60 iii A. Common and Juridic Condition ..................................................................................... 62 B. Juridic Condition ............................................................................................................ 63 C. Function .......................................................................................................................... 64 II. Clerics and Lay Persons ..................................................................................................... 66 A. Canon 107 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law .................................................................. 66 B. Canon 207 §1 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law ............................................................. 70 C. Common and Ministerial Priesthood .............................................................................. 74 D. The Diaconate ................................................................................................................. 78 E. Priesthood and Mission .................................................................................................. 79 III. The Tria Munera Christi .................................................................................................... 82 A. The Munus Sanctificandi ................................................................................................ 89 B. The Munus Regendi ...................................................................................................... 100 C. The Munus Docendi ..................................................................................................... 121 CHAPTER THREE Ecclesial, Conciliar and Codal Foundations of the Teaching Function of the Church and of Catechesis............................................................................................................ 127 I. Historial Context of Catechesis ........................................................................................ 128 II. Catechesis in the Context of Book III of the 1983 Code – Teaching Munus ................... 137 III. Canon 747 of Book III, the Teaching Function of the Church ........................................ 139 IV. Canon 750: The Focus of Belief ..................................................................................... 144 V. Title One: The Ministry of the Divine Word .................................................................. 149 VI. Action and the Divine Word ............................................................................................ 152 VII. The Actors in the Ministry of the Divine Word ............................................................... 153 A. The Roman Pontiff and the College of Bishops ........................................................... 154 iv B. Bishops ......................................................................................................................... 155 C. Presbyters and Deacons ...............................................................................................