Governance and Discretionality in the Conferral of Ecclesiastical Offices

Abstract

Choosing, hiring and firing ecclesiastical office holders is a crucial dimension Church governance. This dimension has to get along with both rights of the faithful (including pastors’) and a reasonable discretion. The goods at stake in this dimension (with their implications of justice) arise when deepening in the limits within which discretion operates. Assessment of candidates’ suitability and time-based configuration of the appointment define two lines of governance: prevalence of the common good as public good avoiding arbitrariness, and the incentive for a concerted action among bishops and priests in order to serve the faithful. Stressing currently deficit of judicial protection against the wrong decisions of the authority in this area, opens a reflection on the liability of those who “owe” a good governance to the faithful.