CL 744 Temporal Goods
This course considers the ownership, administration and alienation of ecclesiastical goods, normally after students have acquired some background in the history of canon law, general norms, sacramental law and particular Church structures. The canon law of temporal goods can only be understood properly in relation to the Church's theological self-understanding and the role that temporalities have played in the history of the Church. It is especially important that students understand the canon law of temporal goods in relation to the doctrine of the Incarnation and its implications for the Church's ownership and use of material things.
The Church asserts a fundamental right and responsibility to own and use material things. How the Church's structure is understood theologically and given concrete expression juridically affects the exercise of this fundamental right and fulfillment of the responsibilities it gives rise to. This concern should likewise influence the way Church entities are structured in civil law.
After a brief consideration of the theological context in which the Church's law of temporal goods should be understood and the historical development of theological concepts that inform the current norms of the Code regarding temporalities the course will begin to consider the norms of the Code themselves, starting with the general principles outlined in the introductory canons of Book V.
Interwoven with the treatment of the introductory canons will be a consideration of the temporal context within which the Church's regulation of temporalities is to be understood (a brief history of Church/State relations with respect to the Church's ownership and use of property, and the contemporary context in this regard). Following the structure of Book V, the course will go on to consider norms that apply to the acquisition of goods by Church and specific Church entities. Because of the relationship between the acquisition of goods for the Church's use and the necessity of identifying exactly what person or entity has acquired them, at this point in the course attention will also be given to the ecclesiological context within which the canon law of temporal goods is to be understood and applied (that is, how authority is distributed in the Church and various discrete entities capable of property ownership are created and identified), and the civil context (how those same persons and entities gain recognition before the civil law for purposes of protecting and vindicating property rights). Norms that apply to the administration of Church goods will then be taken under consideration, and then norms that apply to contracts that affect the ownership and use of Church goods. As the Code itself does, special attention will be given to contracts and transactions that involve the alienation of Church property. Finally, pious causes and pious wills and foundations will be considered.