§ III. To whom the administration of ecclesiastical goods pertains, and in what way it is to be conducted

624. • Administration of right, or the very right of administering ecclesiastical goods, pertains to that authority to which dominion of those goods pertains; for the accessory follows its principal; but administration is the accessory of dominion; therefore, just as the dominion of ecclesiastical goods, from the sentence of St. Alphonsus (see above n. 621), pertains to the Church, so likewise the administration of them belongs to the same.

But under the name of the Church here comes the Supreme Pontiff for the whole world; the Bishop for his diocese; Chapters and Superiors of Orders and Congregations for the goods of the Order, Province, or Convent; the parish priest for the goods of his church; and the Pope indeed with subordination to divine right, but the rest with subordination to the Pope and to the laws sanctioned for them.

But administration of fact pertains to those to whom it is legitimately committed by those to whom administration of right belongs, and is necessarily subject to the one committing it.

625. • In what way administration is to be conducted.

I. As to the goods of the diocese generally, the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore has these things:²

"It would turn very much to the solace of the Bishop and utility of the Church, if ... he named a Steward, or in temporal affairs a Procurator, lay or cleric, whose duty it would be to have care of the episcopal house in temporal matters, and also to conduct the temporal administration of churches and ecclesiastical goods at the nod of the Bishop, and to render an account to him at appointed times of all things committed to him."

II. The goods of individual churches are administered by the Missionaries set over them and the Lay Trustees.

A) As to Missionaries, Bishops are admonished by the Fathers of the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore:

1° "That they watch lest priests, either by rashly erecting or repairing churches, or by contracting debt in another way, burden the affairs of the church, or break faith to the disgrace of Religion; therefore let them exact an account at least each year, and let them not allow them to contract debt without a license given in writing, in the name or for the cause of the church.

2° That "priests be admonished not to mix their own affairs with the affairs of the church, with danger to their reputation or offense to the faithful, who easily think an injury is being done to the church. Therefore let them have a book in which all the things of the church are catalogued; and, if they themselves have contributed money for the use of the church, let this be done with the Bishop approving, and with the knowledge of trustworthy men, and let it be recorded in the book, so that the Bishop, when holding visitation, can inspect individual things and protect the rights of all."²

3° "Priests who administer churches whose title has been handed over to Bishops are not to establish lay trustees in them without the authority of the Bishops, or permit them to be elected by the faithful, lest perhaps some impediment arise to the administration of them."³

See moreover those things which above, n. 623, 1°, 5°, 6°, we reported from the same Council.

626. • B) As to lay trustees, "that they may be restrained within due limits, in whatever way finally they are chosen" (therefore comprehended by this decree are not only those who have been constituted by the authority of the Bishops alone, but also those who were formerly constituted in that way which was mentioned at n. 622), the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore:⁴

a) Declares "that it is the universal law of the Catholic Church that all those who in any way administer the goods of the Church do this licitly only with the Apostolic See or Bishop consenting, and that in the administration of them they are subject to the authority and jurisdiction of the Bishops, or, if they are exempt, to the authority and jurisdiction of those whom the Apostolic See shall have designated."⁴

b) The Fathers extend to all the churches of these provinces, and counsel that everywhere there be observed, the following statutes of the Third Provincial Council of New York.⁵

1° "That he not be admitted into the number of the Lay Trustees concerning whom, under the election itself or a little before, it has been established that he has given his name to any secret Society, or has not received the Easter Sacraments."

2° "Let the Lay Trustees thoroughly understand that it is altogether wicked for them to divert the least part of the goods of the Church to their own uses under any title or pretext, or to strangers, except by permission of the Bishop and with the Apostolic Constitutions concerning alienation of ecclesiastical things observed."

3° "Ordinary expenses excepted, let it not be licit for the Lay Trustees to expend a sum of money beyond three hundred dollars" ($300) "upon any particular work, unless the Bishop assents in writing."

4° "Let the Lay Trustees know that the decision of naming and creating the Pastor of the church, and of retaining him in office or the contrary, rests with the Bishop. It also belongs uniquely to the Bishop himself to assign a certain sum of money to pastors of souls for their support; nor is it licit for the Lay Trustees to retain, lessen, or increase stipends of this kind."

5° "It belongs to the Pastor to designate the Organist, Singers, Sacristan, Custodian or Apparitor, Schoolmaster, if some school exists in the parish, and other men of this kind who serve the altar or temple."

6° "Let the Lay Trustees beware lest, without consulting the Pastor, they prescribe anything to the Parishioners as law or norm. But if some discrepancy should arise between the Pastor and the Lay Trustees consulting about things to be done, and they are not able by themselves to compose the dissension, the Bishop will settle the controversy, and all will obey his judgment and sentence."

627. • III. As to Regulars, they have either undertaken diocesan works to be governed, that is, works which are sustained by money and other means drawn from the diocese, for example a quasi-parish, or they have not. In the former case, in the administration of goods which pertain to those works and which cannot be proved by a written document to have been handed over to the Order for use, or is not clear of itself, they are subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishop or to the agreements entered between him and the Order. It is said: or is not clear of itself, so that movables of religious houses, for example furniture, books, etc., may be excluded. For Regulars acquire these from their own monies or monies given to them for this purpose. - In the latter case they are not subject to the Ordinary, unless otherwise it was agreed between them and the Ordinary at the threshold of the foundation.

As to Nuns, see what is to be said in the Treatise on Particular States, n. 1189.