Due Process to be Followed in the Administration of Discipline in Religious Institutes According to the Code of Canon Law

Abstract

The need for just and fair procedures for responding to accusations of misconduct is a sad but necessary part of governance in religious institutes. Many institutes, or parts of institutes, have established protocols for addressing accusations of sexual misconduct by their members. Not all forms of misconduct, however, are sexual in nature, nor does the law (proper or universal) anticipate every imaginable form of misconduct. Superiors in religious institutes rightly have discretionary authority to address matters, including disciplinary matters, about which the law is silent. Rarely, however, do superiors in religious life have adequate experience or training to address complex disciplinary cases in ways that follow the relevant law, respect the rights of all parties, and ensure the safety of potential new victims. The thesis begins with an examination of the Church's magisterial documents that have bearing on the administration of discipline in religious institutes from the time of the Second Vatican Council until the present. It looks at the nature of power exercised by religious superiors and the place of rights and other legal parameters in structuring all disciplinary procedures, even when the misconduct in question is not defined in law as a delict. The thesis uses the disciplinary procedures that exist in Book II and Book VI of The Code of Canon Law as the basis for developing guidelines for non-penal disciplinary cases, that is, cases of misconduct which violate some divine, ecclesiastical, or proper law, but which are not defined in the law as a delict.