The Eastern Code on the Apostolate of Religious Needs Revision

Abstract

Whereas there is currently a project to revise the penal law of CIC, there is no such corresponding project regarding CCEO, in which the penal legislation has perhaps benefitted by hindsight. However, this latter code is defective in another area, viz. the legislation on the Religious. The almost complete lack of norms regarding the apostolate of religious as well as defective legislation on the formation of religious in title xii has already proved to be a source of practical problems. The present article illustrates these defects and proposes a schema for a partial revision of CCEO in these areas. Such a revision of both the codes can forestall the risk of a narrow concentration on the defects of the one code creating the wrong impression that all was well with the other code. In the light of the principle Ecclesia semper reformanda, it would seem proper that each of the “two lungs” of the Church were attended to on the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council.