Thursday, November 4, 2010

Authority of a Document

What is the significance and authority of the Directory for the Ministry and Life of the Permanent Deacons? The introduction includes this statement:
The Directory for the Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons, as in the case of the Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests, has, together with its hortative character, juridically binding force where its norms “recall disciplinary norms of the Code of Canon Law” or “determine with regard to the manner of applying universal laws of the Church, explicitate their doctrinal basis and inculcate or solicit their faithful observance”.(1) In these specific cases, it is to be regarded as a formal, general, executory Decree (cf. canon 32).
No doubt the Society of St. Piux X is unimpressed with this assertion.

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