About Those New Vatican Norms

[Introductory note and summary:

I am well aware of how long what follows is. Yet given the widespread publicity and controversy that has followed the release of the new Norms from the Vatican, I thought it would be worthwhile to provide explanation in some detail. You will note that there are hyperlinks throughout the entry, to allow the reader to see the sources for what is quoted. For those who are interested in some aspects but not others, the entry is written in a question and response format.

For those without the interest (or fortitude) to work through what follows, my main points are:

• The Vatican Norms are like an Omnibus Crime bill that covers a number of topics regarding serious offenses in Church law
• The Norms strengthen existing law regarding the sexual abuse of minors, including doubling the statue of limitations from 10 to 20 years, adding child pornography and the sexual abuse of a mentally disabled person of any age
• Among the new Norms is the attempt to ordain a woman to the priesthood and a woman who attempts to be ordained are each listed as a serious crime. This is consistent with established Church practice and reflects Church teaching
• Although news reports have made much of both issues (sexual abuse and ordination of women) being in the Norms and suggest (state) that the Vatican is making them equivalent, that is not true. They are very different issues, with very different kinds of “wrongs.” They are both in the Norms, but for very different reasons.

For greater explanation, read on.                                                                     Fr. Tony Schuerger]

Recently, the Vatican released new Norms regarding the most serious offenses (called “delicts”) under church (Canon) law which are the responsibility of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. [The text of the new norms can be found at: http://www.vatican.va/ resources/resources _ norme_en.html]  These “Norms Concerning the Most Serious Crimes” (Normae de gravioribus delictis) are a revision and updating of the norms established by Pope John Paul II in 2001 “The Safeguarding of the Sanctity of the Sacraments” (Sacramentorum Santitatis tutela).

What are these norms about?

These new Norms are a legal document, detailing some of the serious offenses/crimes in church (Canon) law and clarifying the procedures for dealing with these offenses. It is something like  an “Omnibus Crime Bill” that Congress might pass: revising the Criminal Code, listing new crimes, changing the seriousness of some crimes, revising judicial procedures.

The published document has two major parts: the “Substantive Norms” of 7 Articles and “Procedural Norms” of 24 Articles. Each article in the “Substantive Norms” focuses on a specific topic about faith, sacraments or commandments and serious offenses related to that topic. The “Procedural Norms” is divided into two sections: Title 1, “The Constitution and Competence of the Tribunal” and Title 2, “The Procedure to be Followed in the Judicial Trial.” Canon Law is cited throughout, with the (official) Latin text of the Canons printed in the footnotes.

What “Serious Offenses” are mentioned in the Norms?

• Offenses against faith (heresy, apostasy and schism)
• Offenses related to the Eucharist (such as throwing away the Host or Precious Blood, using the Eucharist in a sacrilegious way or for sacrilegious purposes)
• Offenses related to the Sacrament of Penance (such as soliciting for sex in confession or breaking the secrecy (“seal”) of confession)
• Offenses related to attempting to ordain a woman to the priesthood or for a women attempting to be ordained
• Offenses related to the sexual abuse of a minor or obtaining, possessing or distributing pornographic images of minors

What changes are in the Norms about Sex Abuse?

The Norms make four major changes regarding offenses related to the sexual abuse of a minor. These are:

• Classifying the sexual abuse of a mentally disabled person of any age (i.e. including someone who is an adult in terms of physical age) as the sexual abuse of a minor
• Adding as a serious offense the “acquisition, possession or distribution by a cleric of pornographic images of minors under the age of fourteen”
• Increasing the “statute of limitations” for the Church to prosecute such crimes from 10 years to 20 years (specifying that the statute of limitations for a minor who is a victim begins when the person becomes 18 years old).
• In the procedures section, making some changes to allow serious cases to be resolved more quickly, including the possibility of proceeding by extrajudicial decree or by direct appeal to the Pope (for cases in which there is no possible question or dispute about whether the offense was committed and after the guilty party has had a chance to defend himself).

What about the Norm listing “the attempted sacred ordination of a woman” as a “more grave” offense?

This is one of the additions from the norms promulgated in 2001. It should be noted that what is new the listing of “the attempted ordination” of a woman as a more grave norm.

Canon 1024 states, “A baptized male alone receives sacred ordination validly” so the issue is not a change in the Church’s teaching or practice about ordaining a woman as a priest.

On 17 December 2007, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith issued the decree that “both the one who attempts to confer a sacred order on a woman, and the woman who attempts to receive a sacred order” are automatically (latae sententiae) excommunicated. (http://www. vatican. va/ roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/ rc_con_cfaith_doc_20071219_ attentata-ord-donna_en.html) Thus, the offense was already established; the Norms just published ratified or codified it in the law.

Why would the Vatican classify “the attempted ordination of a woman” in this way?

It is probably difficult to impossible for anyone who was not part of the decision-making process to answer precisely why the Vatican made this decision. However, in recent years, the Church has repeatedly addressed the issue of women’s ordination.

The deeper issue here is why the Church has taken such a strong stand on women’s ordination.

Many people, both in the news media and in the Catholic community, understand the Church’s position on the ordination of women primarily as a policy issue, something that the Church can choose to do or not do, which, for various reasons, the Church has chosen not to do. This raises issues of unfairness, discrimination, hypocrisy, power, prejudice.

However, the Church does not understand the question of women’s ordination as a policy issue at all. The Church understands this as a theological issue, something fundamental to the nature of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. In his Apostolic Letter of April, 1994, On Ordination to the Priesthood (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis), Pope John Paul II wrote:

“Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church’s judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force.

Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.”  (#4) (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_22051994_ordinatio-sacerdotalis_en.html)

The key phrase is “the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women.”  This means that the Church is teaching that it cannot ordain a woman to the priesthood, whether or not it may want to.

The point here is not to debate the merits of the arguments for or against ordaining women to the priesthood, but simply that for the Church this is a serious, theological issue about the nature of the Sacrament of Holy Orders itself and for this reason, the Church considers attempting to ordain a women as a priest a serious offense.

Does this mean that the Church is equating pedophilia and ordaining women?

This is what the news media has been reporting and what has set off the firestorm of negative reaction. (see the 23 July article in The Plain Dealer, Vatican Sets Off Controversy with Church Law Revisions that List Ordaining Women with Pedophilia, Other Offenses (http://www. cleveland. com/ religion/ index.ssf/2010/07/vatican_sets_off_controversy_w.html) as just one of many examples).

The answer seems to be, “yessssss ….  and NO!”

The “yessssss” is because both are certainly in the same document and both are both categorized as “more grave” offenses, reserved to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. But that is really where the similarity ends.

Speaking at the July 15 press briefing for the release of the Norms, Monsignor. Charles Scicluna, the Promoter of Justice for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, addressed this issue:

About the concern in the media that sexual abuse against minors was being equated with the attempted ordination of women in the eyes of canon law, Msgr. Scicluna said in English, “They are not on the same level.” Serious sins are divided into those against Christian morality and those committed during the administration of the sacraments, he explained.

Sexual abuses of minors and child pornography are the graver sins and represent “an egregious violation of moral law.” And while the attempted ordination is grave, it’s “on another level,” he said, explaining that it is a wound that goes against the Catholic faith and the sacrament of Holy Orders.

“So they are (both) grave but on different levels,” Msgr. Scicluna said, noting in Italian that their comparison is incidental as both “are found in the only document that attempts to put in order all of the competence on the delicts that are reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.”

Catholic News Agency [http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/msgr.-scicluna-new-norms-important-ongoing-action-needed/]

The distinction made by Msgr. Scicluna between “an egregious violation of moral law” and “a wound that goes against the Catholic faith and the sacrament of Holy Orders” is real and serious.  A person may truly believe that the priesthood should be open to women as well as men and, with sincere conscience, believe that ordaining a woman to the priesthood, although illegal and invalid according to the laws of the Catholic Church, is morally right before Almighty God. The Catholic Church would consider this to be a conscience that is in error (erroneous) but not sinful. Attempting to ordain a woman to the priesthood would be a serious violation of Church teaching and Church law and would break the union (communion) with the Church.  The sexual abuse of a minor is morally wrong, sinful, and criminal. That’s the difference – and it is huge.