Religious Discipline Workshop Rectors of VIE Ho Chi

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Religious Discipline Workshop Rectors of VIE - Ho Chi Minh City 01. 10. 2019

Religious Discipline Workshop Rectors of VIE - Ho Chi Minh City 01. 10. 2019

Perpetual Profession & Sacred Orders don’t give immunization. The “old man” is still there.

Perpetual Profession & Sacred Orders don’t give immunization. The “old man” is still there.

Dispensation from celibacy CAUSES 1. Inability of the candidate 2. Irreversibility of the situation

Dispensation from celibacy CAUSES 1. Inability of the candidate 2. Irreversibility of the situation • Before the first profession • During the initial formation • After priestly ordination

1. Before the first Profession • Expectations of the parents • Pressure of the

1. Before the first Profession • Expectations of the parents • Pressure of the environment • Idealization of religious/priestly vocation • Self promotion/social promotion desire • …. .

2. During the initial Formation • Light observance of discipline and vows • The

2. During the initial Formation • Light observance of discipline and vows • The power of the “way of life” of the Province • Silence or “jumping” from confessors and guides • Priestly ordination as a goal/challenge • Fear to call the events / habits with their names • Silence/ absence/ lack of attention by the Rectors • …. .

After priestly ordination • Lack of priestly spirituality (conformation to Christ) • Absence of

After priestly ordination • Lack of priestly spirituality (conformation to Christ) • Absence of a spirituale guide • Lack of family spirit / religious discipline • Lack of personal prayer • Weakness in “living and working together” • Dispersive and disordered pastoral work • …. .

Confrere is: • Citizen: civil law (crime) • Baptized: canon law - (delictum) •

Confrere is: • Citizen: civil law (crime) • Baptized: canon law - (delictum) • Religious: obligations of religious life + Constitutions and Regulations (violation of) • (if) Cleric: special obligations of clerics (delictum proprium - delicta graviora)

The obligations of religious life • I pledge myself to devote all my strength

The obligations of religious life • I pledge myself to devote all my strength to those to whom you will send me; • to live in the Salesian Society in communion of spirit and action with my brothers; • I make the vow for ever to live obedient, poor and chaste according to the way of the Gospel set out in the Salesian Constitutions.

Can. 694 § 1 A member must be held as ipso facto dismissed from

Can. 694 § 1 A member must be held as ipso facto dismissed from an Institute who: 1. has defected notoriously from the Catholic faith; 2. Has contracted marriage or attempted it, even only civilly.

Can. 695 § 1 A member must be dismissed for the delicts mentioned in

Can. 695 § 1 A member must be dismissed for the delicts mentioned in cann. 1397, 1398 and 1395, unless in the delicts mentioned in can. 1395 § 2, the superiore decides that dismissal is not completely necessary and the correction of the member, restitution of justice, and reparation of scandal can be resolved sufficiently in another way.

Can. 1397 A person who commits homicide, or who kidnaps, detains, mutilates or gravely

Can. 1397 A person who commits homicide, or who kidnaps, detains, mutilates or gravely wounds a person by force or fraud is to be punished with the privations and the prohibitions mentioned in can. 1336 according to the gravity of the delict. Homicide against the persons mentioned in can. 1370, however is to be punished by the penalties established there.

Can. 1398 A person who procures a completed abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication.

Can. 1398 A person who procures a completed abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication.

Can. 1395 § 1 A cleric who lives in concubinage, other than the case

Can. 1395 § 1 A cleric who lives in concubinage, other than the case mentioned in can. 1394, and a cleric who persists with scandal in another external sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue is to be punished by a suspension. If he persists in the delict after a warning, other penalties can gradually be added, including dismissal from the clerical state.

Can. 1395 § 2 A cleric who in another way has committed an offense

Can. 1395 § 2 A cleric who in another way has committed an offense against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue, if the delict was committed by force or threats or publicly or with a minor below the age of sixteen years (eighteen years). is to be punishd with just penalties, not excluding dismissal from the clerical state if the case so warrants.

Can. 696 A member can also be dismissed for other causes provided that they

Can. 696 A member can also be dismissed for other causes provided that they are grave, external, imputable, and juridically proven such as: habitual neglect of the obligations of consecrated life; repeated violations of the sacred bonds; stubborn disobedience to the legitimate prescripts of superiors in a grave matter;

Can. 696 grave scandal arising from the culpable behavior of the member; stubborn upholding

Can. 696 grave scandal arising from the culpable behavior of the member; stubborn upholding or diffusion of doctrines condemned by the magisterium of the Church; public adherence to ideologies infected by materialism or atheism; the illegitimate absence mentioned in can. 665 § 2, lasting six months; other causes of similar gravity which the proper law of the institute may determine.

Can. 665 § 1 Observing common life, religious are to live in their own

Can. 665 § 1 Observing common life, religious are to live in their own religious house and are not to be absent from it except with the permission of their superior. If it concerns a lengthy absence from the house, however, the major superior, with the consent of the council and for a just cause, can permit a member to live outside a house of the institute, but not for more than a year, except for the purpose of caring for ill health, of studies, or of exercising an apostolate in the name of the institute.

Can. 665 § 2 A member who is absent from a religious house illegitimately

Can. 665 § 2 A member who is absent from a religious house illegitimately with the intention of withdrawing from the power of the superiors is to be sought out solicitously by them and is to be helped to return to and persevere in his or her vocation.

Truth will set you free (John 8, 32)

Truth will set you free (John 8, 32)

What can a Rector do to promote religious discipline? • Preventive system as a

What can a Rector do to promote religious discipline? • Preventive system as a spirituality (talking with the Rector, day of community, retreat, etc. )

What can a Rector do? • Taking care of himself (“attende tibi”) = leading

What can a Rector do? • Taking care of himself (“attende tibi”) = leading confreres by his way of life; • Taking care of the community as a whole (prayerful, fraternal, apostolic) and as individuals; • Omnia videre, multa dissimulare, pauca corrigere; • Charitas in veritate / Veritas in charitate; • Disturbing the conscience and watching over the borders; • Involving the local council and the Provincial. • …. .

Tools • Personal Project of Life (Rector) • Good night • Personal friendly talk

Tools • Personal Project of Life (Rector) • Good night • Personal friendly talk • Assembly of the confreres / Local Council • Community Project of Life (cfr. Const. 3) • Shared responsability in obedience (Const. 66) • …. .

Prevention of abuse of minors • Art. 6 § 1 The more grave delicts

Prevention of abuse of minors • Art. 6 § 1 The more grave delicts against morals which are reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are: • 1° the delict against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue committed by a cleric with a minor below the age of eighteen years; in this number, a person who habitually has the imperfect use of reason is to be considered equivalent to a minor. • 2° the acquisition, possession, or distribution by a cleric of pornographic images of minors under the age of fourteen, for purposes of sexual gratification, by whatever means or using whatever technology (Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela)

Vulnerable person • “Vulnerable person” means: any person in a state of infirmity, physical

Vulnerable person • “Vulnerable person” means: any person in a state of infirmity, physical or mental deficiency, or deprivation of personal liberty which, in fact, even occasionally, limits their ability to understand or to want or otherwise resist the offence” (Vos estis lux mundi, art. 1 § 2, b).

Code of conduct • Guarantee places reserved only for confreres; • Avoid ambiguous places,

Code of conduct • Guarantee places reserved only for confreres; • Avoid ambiguous places, times, persons; • Avoid being alone with minors or women (office, room, car, …): who will trust you? • Transparent glasses in offices, confessionals, classrooms, …);

Code of conduct • A special warning about exchanging pictures, sms, Whats. App conversation,

Code of conduct • A special warning about exchanging pictures, sms, Whats. App conversation, Messenger, video calls, phone calls, emails with minors, ladies, girls; • A special warning about surfing in chat lines, videochat, pornographic websites; • A special attention in gestures (touching, kissing, caressing, hugging, …), words (sweet words, loving words, …); • Avoid a “focused” friendship with somebody (when you miss him or her); • …. .