§ II. What is the subject in which direct dominion of ecclesiastical goods resides, and what is required so that they may be legitimately acquired and held

621. • There are three sentences concerning the subject to which direct dominion of ecclesiastical goods inheres. The first holds that it inheres in the churches themselves, or institutes, for whose use they have been acquired. The second holds that it resides with the Supreme Pontiff. The third, which according to St. Alphonsus¹ is truer and more common, holds that it exists with no man, whether public or private, but with the Catholic Church, while administration alone consists with the ministers of the Church.²

622. • So that ecclesiastical institutes may canonically acquire temporal goods, it generally suffices that those things be observed which are required among private persons for the forum of conscience. Thus, so that something may be acquired by donation, acceptance by the legitimate Superior of the ecclesiastical institute to which the donation is made suffices.

But so that they may be acquired and held among us by a civilly valid title, it is necessary that either 1° they be conceded to someone in trust, or 2° they be acquired by right of a college or corporation, or 3° they be handed over to a Bishop or to some other person in property (in fee simple).

But none of these titles is canonical or altogether safe. Not the first. For they can be conceded in trust in a double way, namely to the Bishop, or to trustees, whom the adults, whether women or men, who profess that they pertain to some religious Communion, have chosen from their own body. But to the Bishop as such, and thus also to his successors in perpetuity, generally there has been conceded only a certain species of ecclesiastical goods, namely churches and presbyteries, to be acquired in trust, and this only in certain States. - That this title is not canonical is clear even from this, that it is restricted to a certain species of goods. But experience proves that it is not altogether safe; for in political disturbances those things which are possessed in the name of the Church or of some religious community are more liable to so-called legal depredations. Yet that title is more canonical than the rest, since by force of it the Bishop possesses in the name of the Church, and through him the dominion of the Church over her goods is recognized. It is also safer than the rest, as will be clear from what is to be said.

The worst of all is the other manner of acquiring, namely through trustees elected by the adults of some Congregation. For to these elected in this way the right will belong of repairing and changing the church, of building a new one, of erecting a pastoral house and other buildings for the use of the Congregation; of making statutes according to which the temporal affairs of the Church are to be administered; of disposing of the revenues of the church, leasing seats, choosing and removing ministers, and determining their salaries and even offices, etc. Moreover at appointed times, by majority of votes, either the Congregation itself or the college of trustees substitutes new trustees in the place of those whose trust, which has been defined to a certain number of years, expires, or confirms the old. It is sufficiently clear how greatly all these things are opposed to the discipline and even to the constitution of the Church, and this although the Bishop or Pastor is from the number of trustees, or is elected by them as President of their college, or even statutes are made by which the right of the Church is preserved. For those statutes, just like the election of the Bishop or Pastor as President, by which moreover little is obtained, can be annulled by the same majority by which they exist.

Nor can the second title be called canonical or altogether safe. For the right of a college or corporation is liable to the infidelity of directors; it can also be revoked (see n. 618), and regularly has the attached condition that goods beyond a certain defined value not be acquired for the college.

Finally neither can the third title be held canonical or safe. "For those things which," says Kenrick,¹ "have been handed over to the Bishop in property are liable to very many dangers, since they can be burdened by debt, or, if the testament is not rightly made, pass into the hands of others."

Moreover one from these three titles (or perhaps even that which exists from a contract of partnership, and concerning which below), although not canonical nor altogether safe, must necessarily be chosen, so that the goods of the Church may be protected at least in that manner in which it can be done. But which of the three is to be preferred, and what cautions must be employed so that the dangers joined with each may be removed as far as it can be done, is clear from the following statutes of the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore.

623. • 1° Bishops, priests, and all others "with whom goods, whether movable or immovable, given for ecclesiastical uses are held, are admonished that they take care as soon as possible that those things, in that way which in the individual Federated Provinces will seem safest, be preserved according to the civil laws for the uses designated by the donors."¹ From these words it is sufficiently clear that trustees can in no way be employed in that signification which was declared at n. 622. But if somewhere, where formerly they were brought in, they seem still to have to be tolerated, they are to be restrained within just limits, concerning which below. For Pius VII not undeservedly pronounced their right, insofar as it does not depend on Bishops, immoderate and unbridled, in letters given to the Archbishop of Baltimore on 24 Aug. 1822.²

2° In States in which Bishops, because of defect of another civilly legitimate title, are forced to take care that the property of ecclesiastical goods be ascribed to themselves as physical persons, their conscience is burdened by the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide,³ that by testament, which also must be drawn up if any other method whatever of holding and protecting ecclesiastical goods is brought into effect,⁴ or by another legitimate instrument, they provide for the security of those goods; but let them deposit a duplicate exemplar of this testament with the Archbishop, but the Archbishop with the senior Bishop; and this within three months from their consecration. But if some Bishop neglects this, the Archbishop will remind him of his office, and report him, if he ceases for a long time, probably if he delays, to the Sacred Congregation.⁵

3° "Let them" (Bishops) "also have an inventory of ecclesiastical goods, and all titles and instruments duly arranged."¹

4° "If it happens that they," for a longer time, "reside outside the diocese, let them leave letters of procuration" (power of attorney) "with some approved man who can preserve these goods for ecclesiastical uses."²

5° "We most greatly desire," say the Fathers, "that no church be erected or consecrated in the future unless it has been assigned to the Bishop in whose diocese it is to be erected, by written instrument, for divine worship and the utility of the faithful, whenever this can be done; with the privileges of Regulars" (concerning which below) "preserved whole and untouched."³

6° Bishops are admonished "that they not allow priests to retain with themselves in their own name those things which have been donated by the faithful for public and ecclesiastical uses, and committed to their trust."⁴

7° Religious communities, both of men and also of women, and whatever other pious institutions, are forced to provide for the security of their goods in one of the four following ways.

a) By obtaining, where it can be obtained, right of a college (Right of Corporation). b) Through a contract of partnership, by which goods are possessed in common by three or four members of the Community, so that all the partners possess that right during the time of their natural life; but, when any one of them has died, the right of possessing all the goods remains with the surviving partners, with no power having been made to any of them of alienating in his lifetime, or of leaving by testament after death, the aforesaid goods. In this case, care will only have to be taken that, when one of the partners has died, another from the members of the Community be admitted into the partnership. c) "If only the way of testament remains for transmitting goods to successors, he who possesses the goods of the Community in his own proper name must take care that immediately he perfect a testament according to the civil laws, which is to be diligently preserved in the archives of the Community."⁴ d) "As to Communities" whose "goods are possessed by the Bishop, ... through the testament of the Bishop sufficient provision is made for the security" of those goods. These things according to the mind of the Decree of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, 15 Dec. 1840.¹