THE CHURCH AND

I N S T I T U T E S OF
C O N S E C R A T E D LIFE
By C L A R E N C E GALLAGHER

HE AIM O F this article is to provide an outline of the theology

T of the consecrated life that we find reflected in the new

Code of Canon Law and to draw some comparisons with
the 1917 Code. I shall begin by taking a brief look at the
history of the Church's legislation on religious life and the theology
of religious life that used to be common, and which was eventually
incorporated into the 1917 Code of Canon Law. This will be
followed by a consideration of insights into the consecrated life that
were expressed in the decrees of the Second Vatican Council and
developed in post-conciliar legislation. The final part of the article
will be an attempt to show in some detail how this approach has
affected the 1983 Code of Canon Law.

The development of religious life

We can pass over the first stages of religious life in the early
christian communities, those virgins, widows and ascetics who lived
a life consecrated by the evangelical counsels while remaining in the
world and in their own homes, though there was early legislation
concerning such people. Pachomius in Egypt appears to have been
the first to set down in writing a monastic rule and his ideas were
taken up and developed by St Basil. There had in fact been a great
variety of approaches to what we now call religious life before the
sixth century but then, in a comparatively short time, the benedic-
tine ideal became the standard for a life consecrated by vow. This
entailed public profession of vows, living together according to a
rule, and stability in one place. The achievement of the monks was
such, and their way of life so appealing to the age, that by the eighth
century no other form of religious life was thought of. Indeed, the
prestige of the monks was so great that the two distinct notions of
consecrated life according to the counsels and the monastic form of
this life became confused, and for centuries monasticism was
considered the ideal form of christian living towards which all were
encouraged to strive.
After the decline of Cluny, the twelfth century witnessed a great
development of religious life, and new forms emerged which were
 INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE

outside the traditional monastic pattern. There were the military

orders like the Templars, founded for the defence of the Holy
Sepulchre, who drew their rule from benedictine and cistercian
models. There were the Humiliati of Lombardy who had members
belonging to different classes: married members living with their
families, laymen who lived a common life under rule, and the tradi-
tional monks and nuns consecrated by vow and living i n the
monastic tradition.
The profusion of religious orders led to a certain amount of con-
fusion in the Church of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. So
much so that the fourth Lateran Council in 1215 attempted to
restore order by issuing the following decree:

In order that too great a variety of religious orders should not cause
confusion in the Church of God we firmly prohibit anyone in the
future from instituting a new form of religious life; if anyone wishes
to take up the religious life he must follow one of the orders that are
already approved. Similarly if anyone wishes to tbund a new order he
must take over one of the already approved rules and constitutions.

This decree was renewed by the second Council of Lyons in 1274.

Such legislation did not altogether prevent the development of
different forms of religious life, though it presented a considerable
obstacle to the free inspiration of the Spirit. It did not, in fact, stop
growth because very shortly after the fourth Lateran Council the
Franciscans were approved and so were the Dominicans, though the
Dominicans had to adopt and adapt the rule of St Augustine. These
mendicant friars made a clear break with traditional monasticism, in
the sense that their priories were not enclosures of local stability but
bases for apostolic preaching in the world. Moreover, the friars
favoured mobility under a central command over the monastic
tradition of stability and local autonomy. The monastic ideals still
exercised a strong influence, however, because the friars retained a
distinctive habit and office in choir, and there was a tendency for
friaries to stabilize into coventuat life which affected their ideal as
pioneers.
In the fifteenth century a new form of religious life appeared in the
'Brethren of Common Life'. These included clerics and laymen, and
revived the old idea of married families living a life of apostolic
simplicity which the Humiliati had proposed centuries earlier. They
came under attack because they did not take public vows in the same
way as approved religious orders, but they flourished and were a
great influence for good and for reform in the Church. At the same
time the monks and the friars were pilloried by the humanists for not
living up to their ideals of religious life. All this led to new expres-
sions of religious life and a variety of new foundations. Notable
 INSTITUTES OF C O N S E C R A T E D LIFE 5

a m o n g these were the clerks regular, and of these the Society of Jesus
e m b o d i e d the most radical d e p a r t u r e from traditional monastic
lines. T h e Jesuits, as they came to be called, were priests living
together u n d e r the full vows of religion a n d engaged in preaching,
teaching and all kind of pastoral activity.
T h e i r aim was to be freed as far as possible from the restrictions
of religious life as traditionally conceived, so as to be able to
concentrate more effectively on pastoral r e n e w a l . . T h e y were not
dedicated to the solitary or contemplative life; they were not given t o
the rigorous practice of p e n a n c e in c o m m o n , or to the solemn
celebration of the liturgy in choir; and they had no distinctive habit.
For all these reasons the Jesuits came u n d e r attack as not
c o n f o r m i n g to the r e q u i r e m e n t s of religious life, but in the face of
these attacks they flourished and obtained papal approval for their
way of life.

Religious congregations of women

U n f o r t u n a t e l y , the same c a n n o t be said c o n c e r n i n g the w o m e n
who tried to set u p new forms of religious life in the C h u r c h of the
sixteenth century. T o g e t h e r with the clerks regular there were
similar associations of w o m e n who w a n t e d a less formal but still
religious way Of life; and before the Council of T r e n t there were
n u m e r o u s societies of 'religious' w o m e n who were dedicated to
working for the p o o r and the sick. Some of these took simple vows
and they were not b o u n d by enclosure.
T h e obligation of strict enclosure for w o m e n religious developed
only gradually and it varied in different parts of the C h u r c h .
R e p e a t e d prohibitions can be found in conciliar legislation against
m e n entering convents and w o m e n leaving them. In 1298, Boniface
V I I I , in the constitution Periculoso, h a d imposed the cloister on all
w o m e n religious. H e did so in order to safeguard chastity, to avoid
scandal and to ensure an a t m o s p h e r e conducive to contemplation.
By the time of the Council of T r e n t , however, this legislation seems
to have fallen into disuse. T r e n t revived it and e x t e n d e d it to include
nuns without exception: to leave the convent the n u n n e e d e d
permission both from her superior and from the bishop.
This tridentine legislation was reinforced a few years later by Pope
Pius V who in 1566 issued a new decree Circapastoralis. Recalling the
legislation of Boniface V I I I and the Council of T r e n t , Pius V declared
that all professed nuns in solemn vows without exception were
b o u n d b y the laws on strict enclosure. Cloister was r e g a r d e d as
an essential for the life of religious w o m e n . M o r e o v e r , it was also
stipulated that all professed sisters had to take solemn vows. Simple
vows for religious w o m e n were rejected as unacceptable.
C o m m u n i t i e s which did not take solemn vows were forbidden to
 6 INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE

receive novices, and any future profession of their members was

declared invalid. This was equivalent to the supression of communi-
ties in simple vows. Nor was this thought to be sufficient. In 1570
Pius V promulgated another decree, Decori, which laid down that the
only excuses which would permit a nun to leave the monastery were
an epidemic, leprosy or an extensive fire! Moreover, the law decreed
excommunication for any nun who presumed to leave the cloister
without permission, and this penalty was reserved to the Holy See.
These laws remained in force for centuries and were reinforced by
later legislation. Strict cloister was regarded as an integral and
essential part of religious life for women; some canonists even
argued that this was of natural and divine law. For this reason many
found the idea of religious life for women without strict enclosure
simply incomprehensible.
By this legislation Pope Pius V rejected as unacceptable any
proposals about any possible state other than being a layman in the
world, and being an enclosed regular with solemn vows. In this he
was in harmony with a general canonical tradition which tended to
identify religious life with the strictly monastic life, and which
therefore required the following as essential: separation from the
world, symbolized by enclosure; common life; solemn vows; office in
choir and a distinctive habit. This explains the strong opposition
against those who proposed relinquishing office in choir and permit-
ting simple vows. There were not a few who would have welcomed
the strict imposition of the decree of the fourth Lateran Council
against religious orders.
The legislation we have been considering had a devastating effect
on the development of the religious life for women. It obstructed this
deve!opment for centuries. It had been introduced to safeguard
religious life against abuses which had caused real scandal in the
middle ages. The life of Teresa of Avila and the correspondence of
Charles Borromeo provide ample evidence of the need for reform.
This should be borne in mind in any evaluation of the legislation of
Pius V. However, there can be no doubt that canon law arrested
at their beginnings new experiments in religious life. It was
particularly devastating for apostolic communities of women. The
Ursulines provide a good example of what happened. Angela Merici
had started a community of apostolic women who developed an
active apostolate in the instruction of girls in their homes. They wore
no distinctive habit, lived at home with their own families according
to a rule confirmed by Pope Paul III and Under obedience to
superiors. They rejected the monastic version of the consecrated life
in order to meet contemporary needs, and they spread rapidly
throughout northern Italy and France. Within less than a century,
however, under the pressure of the canonical legislation we have just
 INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE 7

been considering they had been turned into a religious order on fully
traditional and monastic lines: solemn vows, habit and strict
enclosure.
A similar tale can be told about Francis de Sales and his desire to
found a congregation of women who would visit the sick and help the
poor 'in the world'. There seems to have been a general reluctance
on the part of both clergy and laity alike to accept this idea of
consecrated women being engaged in such works of charity outside
their convent. As a consequence, the congregation was established
as a religious order with solemn vows and enclosure, and the
original inspiration of Francis and M a d a m e de Chantal was not
permitted to flourish on account of canon law. Mary Ward provides
a further example of how the law was an obstacle to development:
she had founded a religious congregation, after the fashion of the
Jesuits, which would have an active apostolate among women and
girls. The project was untraditional, it ran counter to the decrees of
Trent and Pope Pius V and so it was suppressed in 1630, though
M a r y Ward's original inspiration did survive in a modified form and
was later fully approved.
Vincent de Paul managed skilfully to get round the law and estab-
lish a confraternity which was not bound by enclosure and solemn
vows, and so was free to carry out its active apostolate among the
poor. But he warned his confraternity of dedicated women against
calling themselves 'religious'. There must be no religious termin-
ology for his Daughters of Charity; 'if some mischief-making person
should appear in your midst saying " w e should be religious; it
would be far nicer" - - oh[ my dear sisters, the company would be
in a fit state to receive extreme u n c t i o n . . . ' So he managed to found
a congregation of women without enclosure entirely devoted to the
care of the sick and the poor. This was in 1638, and it was done in
spite of the canonical legislation.

Conditae a Christo
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there was no real
legislative development concerning religious women, though
Benedict XIV, in 1749, issued an important document on the
subject, Quarnvis iusto. This recognized the English Ladies, founded
by M a r y Ward, and while stating clearly that they could not be
called true religious, this document provided some kind of official
approval for groups of active women in simple vows, and it set a
precedent for future legislation. It was the french revolution and the
popular rejection of religious in France that hurried on legislative
development. Religious were compelled to abandon their houses
and their property was sold. Religious habits were forbidden, and
only those engaged in hospitals or other charitable works were
 8 INSTITUTES OF C O N S E C R A T E D LIFE

exempted from the anti-religious state legislation. Ironically it was

this legislation that actually strengthened the position of women
religious without solemn vows or enclosure. M a n y such diocesan
congregations were founded in the nineteenth century and received
official approval without, however, being considered religious.
Then, on 8 December 1900, Pope Leo XIII promulgated the
Apostolic Constitution, Conditae a Christo, which has been described
as the M a g n a Carta for congregations of women religious. It
provided formal papal approval for women religious with simple
vows, and recognized them as true religious, and is an important
milestone in the development of church law. Leo X I I I acknowledged
that the circumstances of the times had called out new congrega-
tions, bound by simple vows, and dedicated to works of mercy.
These congregations were now formally recognized as religious and
they were permitted to be centralized under their own superior
general.
Conditae a Christo laid down the general principles for the approba-
tion of congregations of women religious. These principles were
specified in much greater detail in the General Norms published by
the Congregation for Bishops and Regulars in 1901. These norms
consisted of a series of detailed instructions on how a congregation
should draw up its constitutions if it wished to obtain formal
approval from the Holy See, and a model for such constitutions was
provided. This new legislation allowed for full approval of congrega-
tions in simple vows and dedicated to the active apostolate, but it
also contained many restrictions on the freedom of the individual
congregation to develop. The detailed prescriptions on how constitu-
tions should be drawn up, and on what they should and should not
contain favoured uniformity .and stifled individual inspiration. For
example, the constitutions were not to include non-juridical matter
and so quotations from holy scripture or the writings of the saints
including the foundress should be kept to the minimum. This same
approach was taken over by the new Code of Canon Law in 1917
which crystallized this stress on centralized control and standardiza-
tion that is characteristic of the 'classical' ecclesiology that was
current at that time. These General Norms were reissued in 1921
and constitutions had to be revised in accordance with them. There
was also a prohibition against translating these directives into other
languages; so the original latin text had always to be consulted.

The Second Vatican Council

The aim of the first part of this article has been to illustrate the
influence that canonical legislation has had on the development of
religious life. It has not encouraged positive development. O n the
other hand, the law is often the mirror of current views and
 INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE

prejudices rather t h a n the cause of these; and the legislation we have

been considering to a large extent did reflect popular sentiment
about what religious w o m e n should be and how they should behave.
However, the law should do more t h a n mirror current prejudices,
and it should not present obstacles to genuine development. I would
like now to go on to consider how this whole approach to religious
life was revised at the Second Vatican Council.
M u c h attention is now being given to the inspiration of the Spirit
that lies at the origin of religious life in the Church. For years now
each religious congregation has been encouraged to develop
according to the charismatic inspiratiota of the founder or foundress.
T h e C h u r c h has always believed, of course, in the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, but the Vatican Council's emphasis on this marked a
considerable departure from the canonical legislation that has been
considered in this article, and which was incorporated in those
General Norms which controlled all forms of religious life until fairly
recently. These regulations stressed uniformity and conformity with
a model proposed by the H o l y See, and if approval of the H o l y See
was desired, then close adherence to these norms was necessary.
There was little room for manoeuvre. T h e decrees of the Seconcl
Vatican Council adopted a different approach and shifted the
emphasis to the guidance of the Spirit. In the conciliar decrees we
find a greater awareness of the working of the Spirit in the C h u r c h
and a more careful attention to the charismatic aspect of the
christian life. This change can be seen in the Constitution on the
Church, Lumen Gentium, chapter VI:

In docile response to the promptings of the Holy Spirit the hierarchy

accepts rules of religious life which are presented for its approval by
outstanding men and women, improves them further and then
officially authorizes them. It uses its supervisory and protective
authority to ensure that the religious institutes established all over
the world for building up the Body of Christ may develop and
flourish in accordance with the spirit of theirfounders (n 45).
This same attention to the inspiration of the H o l y Spirit is plainly
evident in the Decree on the Renewal of Religious Life Pe~fectae
caritatis:
It is for the good of the Church that institutes have their own proper
character and functions. Therefore the spirit and aims of each
founder should be faithfully accepted and retained, as indeed each
institute's sound traditions, for all of these constitute the patrimony
of an institute (n 2).

The new emphasis is clearest of all in Paul V I ' s promulgated norms

for implementing the Vatican decrees, Ecclesiae sanctae of 1966.
10 INSTITUTES OF C O N S E C R A T E D LIFE

These reiterated the Council's directives concerning the spirit and

aims of each founder and the patrimony of each religious institute.
Religious were instructed to revise their constitutions in the light of
the Council and to combine the spiritual and the juridical:
For the good of the Church, institutes must seek after a genuine
understanding of their original spirit, so that they will preserve it
faithfully when deciding on adaptations, will purify their religious
life from alien elements, and will free it from what is obsolete
(n 16).
The theology that lies behind this new approach or renewed
emphasis is a deeper realization of the guiding influence of the Spirit
of God in the Church, and a renewed attention to the charismatic
aspect of the christian community. Two points have to be kept in
mind here. First of all there is the charismatic aspect of religious life,
since each individual institute owes its origin to the inspiration of the
Spirit. Secondly, there is the manner in which the charismatic is
related to the institutional aspect, both within each religious order or
congregation and within the Church as a whole. This touches on the
relationship that should exist between the consecrated and commis-
sioned hierarchy and the charisms of the Spirit. This is a matter that
touches on the very nature of the Church; it is an ecclesiological
question. For some time there had been a tendency to concentrate
attention on the administrative or institutional aspect of the Church
and of church authority. The Council has altered this perspective.
By its clear affirmation of the sacramentality of the episcopate and of
the importance of episcopal collegiality it has made the function of
bishop appear more clearly as a sacramental charism. That is to say,
the bishop should not be considered merely as an institutional
administrator, but as a consecrated leader of the christian com-
munity. A deeper study of charismata has been initiated by the
Council and this has led to more attention being paid to the bishops'
task of spiritual discernment and their pastoral responsibility
towards the whole community , including religious institutes.
A charism is, after all, an inspiration from the Spirit of God which
urges the individual to perform a special role in the community.
There are numerous religious institutes in the Church because a
variety of Christians have responded to the free gift of the Spirit in
particular ways. These persons have been drawn towards a definite
way of life which puts special emphasis on a particular aspect of the
following of Christ, and they have attracted others to join them and
~b~a~ thei~ ~b~a~ism and thei~ "~i~i~n. I n this sense then, e~ery
religious congregation is a charismatic institution. It has grown up
from a special charismatic gift that was granted to the founder or
foundress for the good of the Church. This explains the Council's
 INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE ll

stress on the importance of deep reflection on the inspiration of each

founder or foundress.
There will be a particular insight into the gospel message associ-
ated with every institute of consecrated life. From this insight there
emerges a particular way of life that is peculiar to this group of
Christians and this in turn often leads to a written rule or constitu-
tions. What is this written rule meant to achieve? The rule should
provide a firm support for the charism of the institute that has been
established under the guidance of the Spirit. It should be a basic
document which crystallizes and preserves the original charism. It
will only do this, of course, if the founders are left free to follow the
guidance of the Spirit in drawing up their rule, which should
embody the charism in words that clearly express the gifts and
insights of this community. It should also embody too the necessary
organizational elements for this particular community. Both these
aspects belong to the charismatic inspiration of the Spirit, as can be
seen for example, in the Rule of St Benedict or the Carta caritatis of the
Cistercians. Such rules or constitutions are the fruit of experience
and prayer, and their authenticity is discerned in the fruit they bear
when they are observed. It is for this reason that such rules cannot
simply be imposed from outside. They have to grow from within,
from the charismatic inspiration that is given to the founder and his
or her first companions.
All this has been supported by the Second Vatican Council and
has been put into effect in post-conciliar legislation, which has
directed a complete revision of religious constitutions in the light of
the theology we have been considering. This has led to the renewal
of institutes in accordance with the charismatic inspiration of the
founders. Attention has been focused upon the particular patrimony
of each institute and it has been realized that one cannot separate the
juridical from the spiritual - - quite a change from a fairly recent
canonical tradition!
Recognition by the hierarchy, however, is still important so that
charismatic developments in the Church may be protected and
promoted. But the task of the bishops is not to impose rules and con-
stitutions from outside, but to recognize and to approve rules that
can be seen to have arisen from within under the guidance of the
Spirit. The bishops should be alert to ensure that the juridical
requirements help and do not hinder the authentic inspiration of the
Spirit. Moreover, all this has to be considered in the context of a
renewed emphasis on the place of the local Church. Since the Church
is now seen more clearly as a communio of local Churches rather than
one great super-diocese, religious life too must take its place within
the local Church and under the leadership of the diocesan bishop, a
point that comes out clearly in the revised Code of Canon Law.
12 INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE

The 1983 Code of Canon Law

The Code of Canon Law has been revised in the light of this
theology and it is time now to take a closer look at the results of the
revision. 1 The desire to be faithful to the Council can be seen in the
guiding principles that were laid down for the drafting of this part of
the revised law. The juridical norms were to foster the growth of the
vocation to the consecrated life. They were also to help each institute
to maintain the spirit of its founder and encourage fidelity to the
spiritual heritage of each institute. The norms should clearly express
the essentials of the consecrated life, but they should also ensure a
flexibility that would permit adaptation. The law must also ensure
greater participation of the members in the life and government of
the institute. Additional principles which were accepted by the sub-
commission included the following: the diversity of institutes should
be recognized in law; there should be provision for the principle of
subsidiarity, respect for the dignity of the h u m a n person, and no
discrimination between institutes of men and women. The effect of
these guiding principles is clearly visible in the revised legislation.
A striking innovation of the 1983 Code is to be seen in the ecclesio-
logical context within which it has set out the new law on consecrated
life. The theological teaching of the Council is clearly reflected in the
revised juridical structures. Here, as elsewhere in the new Code,
there has been an effort to combine doctrine and practical directives,
life and discipline, theology and law. This can be seen in the place
assigned to the consecrated life within the structure of book II. At
the last minute this was removed from the section dealing with
associations in the Church and given its own place in part III of book
II. This more accurately reflects conciliar theology which stresses the
importance of institutes of consecrated life for the holiness and the
mission of the Church. The title, too, 'Institutes of Consecrated
Life' was used so as to include all who make public profession of the
evangelical counsels.
The 1983 Code shows greater respect for the charismatic inspira-
tion of each institute than the 1917 Code and the legislation that
preceded it. The law now positively encourages individuality. The
variety of institutes is attributed to the inspiration of the Spirit.
Canon 577, for example, states clearly:
In the Church there are many institutes of consecrated life, with
gifts that differ according to the graces given them: they more
closely follow Christ praying, or Christ proclaiming the kingdom of
God, or Christ doing good to people, or Christ in dialogue with
people of this world, but always Christ doing the will of the Father.
Canon 605 is in clear contrast to the famous prohibition of Lateran
IV: 'Diocesan bishops are to endeavour to discern new gifts of
 INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE 13

consecrated life which the H o l y Spirit entrusts to the C h u r c h ' . This

respect for charismatic inspiration is evident in a n u m b e r of canons
throughout this whole part of book II, but it is particularly clear in
the introductory canons. C o m p e t e n t authority in the C h u r c h 'has
the responsibility to do what is in its power to ensure that institutes
grow and flourish according to the spirit of their founders and to
their sound traditions' (c. 576). ' T h e whole p a t r i m o n y of an institute
must be faithfully preserved by all. This patrimony is comprised of
the intentions of the founders, of all that the competent ecclesiastical
authority has approved concerning the nature, purpose, spirit and
character of the institute, a n d of its sound traditions' (c. 578). This
same point is brought out in canons 586, 587, 598.
In h a r m o n y with this recognition of the charismatic inspiration
of each institute, the new law allows a measure of a u t o n o m y to
each:
A true autonomy of life, especially of governance, is recognized for
each institute. This autonomy means that each institute has its own
discipline in the Church and can preserve whole and entire the
patrimony described in canon 578. It is the task of the local ordinary
to preserve and protect this autonomy (cf also c. 593 and c. 611).

A consequence of this is that institutes must be allowed t h e required

freedom to draw up their own constitutions. Consequently, mar, y
matters that used to be decided by the c o m m o n law of the C h u r c h
are now left to be settled by the ius proprium of each individual
institute. Here the principle of subsidiarity has played an important
part. Institutes have to draw up their own law about m a n y things
that were formerly strictly laid down by the 1917 Code or by the
General Norms.
T h e effects of this same principle can also be seen in the fact that a
n u m b e r of matters which used to be the responsibility of the Holy
See or the local bishop are now left to the religious superiors
themselves. T h e revised law on canonical visitation is an example of
this (c. 628). It is no longer the right of the bishop to preside at the
election of the superior general of a lay pontifical institute. This has
now to be settled by the constitutions (c. 695). A similar approach is
to be seen in the new legislation concerning transfer from one
religious institute to another (c. 684,1), the grant of leave of absence
and of exclaustration (c. 665 and c. 686), and concerning departure
from and re-admission to an institute. All these matters are now
more the concern of the internal superiors t h a n they used to be and
greater discretion is now granted to superiors.
Distinction between exempt and non-exempt institutes has been
dropped, though of course the principle of exemption is clearly
stated in canon 591:
 14 INSTITUTES OF C O N S E C R A T E D LIFE

The better to ensure the welfare of institutes and the needs of the
apostolate, the Supreme Pontiff, by virtue of his primacy in the
universal Church, and with a view to the common good, can
withdraw institutes of consecrated life from the governance of local
ordinaries, and subject them to himself alone, or to some other
ecclesiastical authority.

E x e m p t i o n is based on the charismatic n a t u r e of an institute, and it

i s g r a n t e d 'so that these institutes m a y m o r e fully express their
identity and devote themselves to the c o m m o n good with greater
g e n e r o s i t y . . . , 2 Originally, e x e m p t i o n p r o v i d e d a necessary pro-
tection for religious orders, and was called for by the mission
entrusted to each institute b y the s u p r e m e authority in the C h u r c h .

All of this was, and was intended to express the pastoral solicitude of
the Supreme Pastor for the universal Church. Today, however,
when the bishops themselves are so much more involved in the
overall pastoral activity of the Church, while the principle of
exemption is affirmed and retained by the Second Vatican Council,
its early form is no longer applicable to the life of today's Church.
Indeed, from the time of the Council of Trent that form of it has
been more and more restricted, so that today it is in effect only the
internal autonomy of religious institutes which is emphasized'.S

H e n c e the new Code stipulates that religious institutes must have a

true a u t o n o m y of life and internal governance and discipline (cf cc.
586 and 593). C o n c e r n i n g the apostolate, however, they must work
within the structure of the local C h u r c h :

in matters concerning the care of souls, the public exercise of divine

worship and other works of the apostolate, religious are subject to
the authority of the bishops, whom they are bound to treat with
sincere obedience and reverence (c. 678).

M o r e o v e r , the diocesan bishop has the right to make a pastoral

visitation of churches, schools and other works entrusted to religious
' w h e t h e r these works be spir4tual or t e m p o r a l ' (c. 683). All this is in
h a r m o n y with the ecclesiology of c o m m u n i o n , with its stress on the
i m p o r t a n c e of the local C h u r c h that was put forward b y the V a t i c a n
Council. Religious must carry out their mission within the
structures of the local C h u r c h u n d e r the general direction of the local
bishop. T h i s in t u r n implies that religious should b e expected to take
part in the Council of Priests, the Pastoral Council and the other
structures for co-operation within the diocese a n d the parish. Such
co-operation requires m u t u a l knowledge and understanding.
 INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE 15

Religious need to grasp fully what is entailed by the renewed interest

in the theology of the local Church and the bishop's mission of
leadership. It is important too that the diocesan priests and the laity
take a real interest in consecrated life with its charism, its mission
and its various approaches to apostolic action. Mutual respect can
only grow out of mutual knowledge and understanding. The new
Code of Canon Law could provide an important stimulus to mutual
co-operation.

NOTES

I Cf Gallen, Joseph, s.j.: Canon Law for religious (Alba House, New York, 1983).
Flannery, A., O.p. and Collins, L., o.P.: Lightfor my path: The new Code of Canon Law for religious
(Dominican Publications, Dublin 1983).
2 CfMutuae relationes, n 22.
3 Beyer, J.: 'Religious in the New Code and their place in the local Church', Canon Law Society
Newsletter (September 1982), p 124.