The Constitution of the Church & Epikeia (Riley, 1948)
Feb 28, 2023 10:11:29 GMT -5
EricH and wenceslav like this
Post by Pacelli on Feb 28, 2023 10:11:29 GMT -5
The following "The Constitution of the Church," is taken from chapter 7, "Epikeia and Divine Positive Law," subsection 3, "Thesis: Epikeia Properly So Called May Not Be Applied to Precepts of the Divine Positive Law of the New Testament." from the dissertation, The History, Nature and Use of Epikeia in Moral Theology, Riley Lawrence, Joseph, the Catholic University of America Press, 1948, pp. 329-331.
The entire book is scanned on archive.org linked HERE
The subsection, "The Constitution of the Church" is linked in PDF format HERE
The relevancy of this text should be obvious to those paying attention to some of the more recent theories being presented in order to give solutions to the present crisis in the Church. Even though, those presenting these solutions do not explicitly say that they are advocating a change, even if it's a temporary change, to the Divine Constitution of the Church, or may be arguing that this crisis leads one to use epikeia to justify a novel change to the Constitution, this is precisely what they are advocating.
Our Lord while on earth established a Church, and he established a Constitution for that Church with Peter and his successors to be the universal rulers of the entire Church, and the successors of the other Apostles to rule over distinct geographical areas (dioceses). This structure of the Church is the only revealed structure given by God, and there is no other, and this structure composed of living successors of the Apostles cannot ever be interrupted at any point under any circumstances. Some modern theorists have presented novelties to Catholics which deviates from this Constitution as given by Our Lord such as:
1. The Church may exist with no successors of the Apostles at all alive in the world, and the apostolic succession is continued not by living men, but through vacant offices.
2. The definition of the successors of the Apostles may be updated due to the crisis and no longer is jurisdiction an essential element. The argument would logically lead to one saying, that no longer are the successors of the apostles today of the same essence of the successors of the Apostles as they existed from the beginning until now.
3. The Apostolic Succession may be continued by living men who claim to be the successors of the Apostles, therefore have a material element of the apostolic succession, but in fact, are not successors of the Apostles at all.
4. That men, episcopally consecrated, but with no claim to the apostolic succession, and by that fact, no claim to an office, may become apostolic successors, merely by making the claim, and among those who do this, that they may further claim to establish dioceses, and claim to rule over Catholics in these self-created dioceses.
5. That men, episcopally consecrated, but with no claim to the apostolic succession, could become apostolic successors, and rule over Catholics, who they have no canonical (legal) relationship with, merely because these Catholics request the sacraments from them due to a grave need under canons 2261 and 2284.
6. That men, episcopally consecrated, but with no claim to the apostolic succession, and who further deny that they are successors of the Apostles, may exercise jurisdiction over Catholics who request the sacraments from them under canons 2261 and 2284.
From all appearances these modern theories, which are all heretical, as they are directly at odds with the Divine Constitution of the Church, all have come about due to this crisis, and without directly saying it, appear to be relying on the idea of an unforeseen situation, not envisioned by the Church's founder and creator, Our Lord Jesus Christ, which must lead Catholics to use the principle of Epikeia to resolve.
The Catholic Faith does not allow such ideas, and they must be rejected by Catholics. Heretical propositions are never, under any circumstances, permissible for Catholics to entertain as possibilities. A Catholic perplexed by what he is witnessing in the Conciliar sect, cannot, as a way to make sense of what he is seeing, adopt the idea that this crisis forces one to believe that the Divine Constitution of the Church as it exited until the 1960's has failed, and therefore, at least during this time of crisis, it is necessary to believe that there must be exception(s) to the Constitution given by Our Lord, even though Our Lord gave this teaching of the Constitution of the Church in perpetuity until the end of time.
The entire book is scanned on archive.org linked HERE
The subsection, "The Constitution of the Church" is linked in PDF format HERE
The relevancy of this text should be obvious to those paying attention to some of the more recent theories being presented in order to give solutions to the present crisis in the Church. Even though, those presenting these solutions do not explicitly say that they are advocating a change, even if it's a temporary change, to the Divine Constitution of the Church, or may be arguing that this crisis leads one to use epikeia to justify a novel change to the Constitution, this is precisely what they are advocating.
Our Lord while on earth established a Church, and he established a Constitution for that Church with Peter and his successors to be the universal rulers of the entire Church, and the successors of the other Apostles to rule over distinct geographical areas (dioceses). This structure of the Church is the only revealed structure given by God, and there is no other, and this structure composed of living successors of the Apostles cannot ever be interrupted at any point under any circumstances. Some modern theorists have presented novelties to Catholics which deviates from this Constitution as given by Our Lord such as:
1. The Church may exist with no successors of the Apostles at all alive in the world, and the apostolic succession is continued not by living men, but through vacant offices.
2. The definition of the successors of the Apostles may be updated due to the crisis and no longer is jurisdiction an essential element. The argument would logically lead to one saying, that no longer are the successors of the apostles today of the same essence of the successors of the Apostles as they existed from the beginning until now.
3. The Apostolic Succession may be continued by living men who claim to be the successors of the Apostles, therefore have a material element of the apostolic succession, but in fact, are not successors of the Apostles at all.
4. That men, episcopally consecrated, but with no claim to the apostolic succession, and by that fact, no claim to an office, may become apostolic successors, merely by making the claim, and among those who do this, that they may further claim to establish dioceses, and claim to rule over Catholics in these self-created dioceses.
5. That men, episcopally consecrated, but with no claim to the apostolic succession, could become apostolic successors, and rule over Catholics, who they have no canonical (legal) relationship with, merely because these Catholics request the sacraments from them due to a grave need under canons 2261 and 2284.
6. That men, episcopally consecrated, but with no claim to the apostolic succession, and who further deny that they are successors of the Apostles, may exercise jurisdiction over Catholics who request the sacraments from them under canons 2261 and 2284.
From all appearances these modern theories, which are all heretical, as they are directly at odds with the Divine Constitution of the Church, all have come about due to this crisis, and without directly saying it, appear to be relying on the idea of an unforeseen situation, not envisioned by the Church's founder and creator, Our Lord Jesus Christ, which must lead Catholics to use the principle of Epikeia to resolve.
The Catholic Faith does not allow such ideas, and they must be rejected by Catholics. Heretical propositions are never, under any circumstances, permissible for Catholics to entertain as possibilities. A Catholic perplexed by what he is witnessing in the Conciliar sect, cannot, as a way to make sense of what he is seeing, adopt the idea that this crisis forces one to believe that the Divine Constitution of the Church as it exited until the 1960's has failed, and therefore, at least during this time of crisis, it is necessary to believe that there must be exception(s) to the Constitution given by Our Lord, even though Our Lord gave this teaching of the Constitution of the Church in perpetuity until the end of time.