The Congregation for Catholic Education issued a press release regarding instruction on “Studies in Canon Law in the light of the reform of cases regarding the nullity of marriage".
In the light of the Motu Proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Jesus and Mitis et Misericors, on the reform of canonical procedures for the causes of declaration of nullity of marriage, the Congregation for Catholic Education will now require new instruction for the various figures called upon to work in the ecclesiastical Tribunals, or who are involved in marriage and family counseling which requires adequate preparation in Canon Law.
In keeping with the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis gaudium), those working in Tribunals are required to obtain a Licentiate in Canon Law (JCL). However, the new instruction requires that institutions of Canon Law also offer a Diploma in Marriage and Procedural Law for those who have obtained from the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura a dispensation from the JCL requirement.
For other workers in the ecclesiastical Tribunal, for whom the Law does not require a JCL, the new instruction requires a minimum preparation for Consultants in Marriage and Family pastoral consultants.
In addition, the new legislation emphasizes the necessary requirements that ensure the quality of existing institutions or those that will be erected or approved in the future.
Among the innovations contained within the new instuction is the possibility of establishing “Departments of Canon Law” in the Faculties of Theology, the possibility of establishing Chairs in Canon Law in the Faculties of Law of Catholic Universities, and the promotion of studies in Canon Law in the first cycle in a Faculty of Theology where the aforementioned discipline must be taught by a permanent teacher. In this regard the Instruction is intended to support and deepen the juridical culture of the Church.
Academic institutions will be required to comply with the new legislation from the beginning of the academic year 2019 to 2020.
I would add that it would be of remarkable benefit to the Church and the faithful if anyone working in any level of ecclesiastical administration be required to have completed a cycle of study in Ecclesiology, the theology of the nature and structure of the Church itself.
How sad the Congregation for Catholic Education missed this golden opportunity to change the rigorist culture that exists among those who exercise authority at almost any level of administrative authority.
Fulfilling legal requirements without understanding the very nature and structure of the Church which requires them creates bureaucratic automatons who lack both the rationale and spirit of charity and service which should be the hallmark of the exercise of their duties -- the very essense of pharisaism.
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