Obligations and Exemptions Regarding Canon Law 833
Canon Law 833
Canon law 833 obliges diocesan and seminary officials, pastors, deacons and members of religious orders to take an oath of fidelity. Catholic theology professors in American universities, however, are not required to take it.
Canon law belongs to the judicial sciences, coming after theology which studies and explains truths to be believed. Canon law consists of collections of laws that differ in form and content.
Persons Obliged to Take the Oath of Fidelity
Under canon law 833, individuals obligated to take the oath of fidelity are required, on assuming an office that will be exercised in the name of the Church, to profess the faith and promise fidelity to official church teachings. This includes teachers of Catholic theology and certain superiors in clerical religious institutes and societies of apostolic life.
It is also a requirement that they publish writings which touch upon faith or morals with the permission of the ordinary, who is to communicate his opinion on the work to the author. The censor is to determine if the work presents no danger to correct faith or good morals, and whether it could be useful in spreading the Christian religion.
This oath, known as the profession of faith and oath of fidelity, is one of a number of new obligations placed on those who will teach Catholic theology in the future. The oath of fidelity is a fundamental part of the Church’s ecclesiological doctrine, and it will help ensure that Catholic colleges maintain their independence as independent institutions under Church law.
Persons Not Obliged to Take the Oath of Fidelity
Canon law is a set of rules for the operation of the Church. It governs everything from the way diocesan synods and eparchial assemblies are run to how bishops are elected. Canon law also includes a series of rules for the Catholic members of religious institutes.
The new oath of fidelity, established by canon 833, requires that those bound to take it profess the faith and uphold truths proposed in a definitive manner by the Magisterium of the Church. A canonist on Vatican Radio interpreted the oath as covering the teachings of Humanae Vitae and the 1968 papal encyclical rejecting contraception, and said that those who fail to comply with the oath could lose their rights to teach Catholic theology.
Clerics and members of religious institutes can publish writings dealing with questions of religion or morals only with the permission of their ordinary. The permission must be in writing, and the ordinary must communicate its terms to the cleric or member before publication takes place.
Persons Not Required to Take the Oath of Fidelity
In the course of this century canon law has been more than usually emphasized; it is taught in the universities and seminaries as a separate study; but, alas, too frequently civil and canonical laws are not clearly distinguished. The result is that the study of the law of religion tends to be merged into the study of moral theology, or even with biblical theology.
Canon law is a judicial science, differing from the science of Roman and civil law in that it deals with the laws of another society. It belongs, however, to the sacred sciences, and, like theology, teaches in accordance with revelation the truths to be believed; it also formulates the practical rules toward which theology tends.
At the end of February 1989 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a new formula for the profession of faith and introduced an oath of fidelity to Church teachings required for some persons on assuming certain, but not all, ecclesiastical offices. This oath is not, strictly speaking, a “promise of fidelity,” as some have interpreted it.
Persons Required to Take the Oath of Fidelity
The oath of fidelity is an extraordinarily broad promise to preserve ecclesial communion and to maintain Church teaching. The teachings to which this oath and companion profession of faith require assent include not only matters solemnly proclaimed by the Church as truths (like the transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ at Mass), but also numerous less-solemn papal declarations.
Canon law is a judicial science and, therefore, belongs to the category of the sciences which study laws of another society. It is distinct from Roman or civil law, however, in that it is based upon revelation and is concerned with the laws of God.
General decrees formulated by a competent legislator provide common prescripts for a community capable of receiving laws. In such a case, customs which conflict with these laws or go beyond them cannot obtain the force of law unless the competent legislator has approved them or they are centenary or immemorial.