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[German Version] I. Catholicism – II. Orthodoxy – III. Protestantism The term parish comes from the Greek παροικία/ paroikía (“resident alien’s dwelling”), which in early Christianity expressed the foreignness of Christians in society. Resulting from this basic feeling, individual congregations were called παροικίαι/ paroikíai from the 2nd century. Until Late Antiquity, paroikía remained a technical term for a bishop’s …

[German Version] originally referred in (non-Christian) Greek (διοίκησις/ dioíkēsis) to the state administration, especially of finances. The Roman Empire took over the term in a technical political sense: a redivision of the Empire into 12 dioceses and these into provinces (under Diocletian, 284–305). The organization of the church followed this division, with the church diocese originally coinciding with the imperial diocese. Their subdivisions into the parishes of the individual bishops were called παροικία/ paroikía (cf. c. 9 of the Council of Antioch, 341). In the Eastern Church, which never used the term “diocese,” the term “eparchy” became common as a designation for an individual diocese…

[German Version] From ancient canon law to CIC/1917, reconciliation (Lat. reconciliatio) denoted the (liturgical) absolution required for a church, cemetery, or altar to be used again after desecration or profanation ( CIC/1917 cc. 1172–1177; 1207). It also denotes reconciliation with God and the church through the sacrament of penance (Repentance: IV, 3.a); cf. CIC/1983 cc. 959f. and CCEO cc. 718 and 720 §1) and specifically restoration to full communion with the church through lifting an excommunication incurred through apostasy (Apostate), heresy, or schism. If the party concerned is living in a marriage that is not valid in the eyes of the church, that is not an impediment to reconciliation, though it may well be to readmission to the sacraments. Authority for reconciliation rests with the bishop, who as rule delegates it to…

[German Version] denotes three functions in canon law: 1. The paenitentiarius canonicus (canon penitentiary) to be appointed in cathedrals and collegiate churches. By virtue of his office he has both the authority, within ¶ his area of jurisdiction, to hear confessions ( CIC/1983 c. 968 §1), and also the regular, but not delegable, authority to absolve, within the sacrament of penance (Repentance: IV, 2.b; 3.a), from undeclared latae sententiae censures not reserved to the Holy See. This authority can be exercised by the penitentiary, within the diocese, even ov…

[German Version] The earliest evidence of punitive suspension from performing liturgical functions or any official function dates from the late Roman era. At the close of the 11th century, we find suspensio ab officio et beneficio (including loss of emoluments); the loss of income represents a reinforcement ( Corpus iuris canonici, Liber extra [X] 2.21.2; X 5.19.7). Suspension from the power of orders alone first appears toward the end of the 12th century (X 5.8.1). In CIC/1917 suspension appears as both a coercive penalty and an atonement penalty. It is one of three co…

[German Version] The parish council (Ger. Pfarrgemeinderat), as it at present exists in the bishoprics of Germany (and similarly in other German-speaking ¶ bishoprics), owes its self-understanding and essential structure to the resolution “Councils and Associations” of the joint synod of bishoprics in the German Federal Republic (1972–1975), and the framework order for structures of co-responsibility in the diocese, passed at the same time. The resolution draws (a) on the traditional structure of the lay apostolate of…

[German Version] A sanction is the legal detriment associated with failure to observe a requirement of church law. Roman law recognized leges plus quam perfectae (legal action voided, penalty), leges perfectae (legal action voided), leges minus quam perfectae (penalty but legal action valid), and leges imperfectae (not voided and no penalty). Criminal sanctions must be distinguished from non-criminal sanctions. The former are ecclesiastical penalties. In canon law, there is a range of possibilities, depending on the legal action in questio…

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[German Version] (also called primatial, general, univers…

[German Version] In Catholic practice, a Josephite marriage is a marriage modeled on that of Joseph (Joseph, “Father” of Jesus) and Mary (Mary, Mother of Jesus), in which both parties agree voluntarily to sexual abstinence, whether from the beginning of the marriage or at some later time. Such a resolution by one or both parties, eve…

[German Version] is the violation of persons, places, or things that have been dedicated to God or are associated with God. In canon law, physical attacks on the pope, bishops,or clergy and religious are penal offences, as are desecration, retention, or discarding the eucharistic species, profaning a holy object, and consecration of only one eucharistic species or of both outside a eucharistic celebration. Helmuth Pree Bibliography W. Rees, Die …

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[German Version] I. General A provincial council is a council for all the particular churches of an ecclesiastical province. They were ¶ already common practice in the 3rd century. Provincial councils, also called metropolitan synods, were first regulated for the whole church by canon 5 of the Council of Nicea in 325, which prescribed that they meet twice a year. The requirement was imperfectly observed and had to be renewed repeatedly. After the 6th century, conciliar discipline largely fell apart in the West. The m…

[German Version] In the case of papal, episcopal, and quasi-episcopal office (cf. CIC/1983, c. 381 §2), the term sede vacante (“while the see is vacant”) refers to the period between the time the incumbent leaves office (through death or resignation; in the case of the pope also through clear and irreversible loss of the use of reason; in the case of bishops, also through removal or transfer) and a new incumbent takes office. The norms governing vacancy of the papal see are found in the apostolic constitution …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies The term substitution, originating in the language of law, is used primarily in Christian theology, but it is well suited for use in religious studies as well, even though so far there has been no detailed systematic treatment of it. In the most general sense, we speak of substitution when the true subject affected or acting (God, an individual like the king, or a collective) is represented by another …

[German Version] refers to the right of bishops to “bring forward opposing arguments” (Lat. remonstratio) against papal laws. Going back to the decretals of Pope Alexander III …

[German Version] Regional Deanery, also called a district deanery, is a coalition of neighboring deaneries (Dean) to foster pastoral care through common action. Their legal basis is CD 30, the motu proprio Ecclesiae Sanctae I, 19 §1; the Directorium Apostolorum successores, 2004, no. 2; and CIC/1983 c. 374 §2. The Gemeinsame Synode der Bistümer der Bundesrepublik Deutschland had already provided for midlevel regional deaneries above the local deanery level, without making them…

[German Version] Following the example of Roman law, canonical law developed the rescript as a legal institution which differentiates between rescriptum iustitiae and rescriptum gratiae (cf. Corpus Iuris Canonici: Liber extra 1.3; Liber sextus [VI] 1.3). The rescript was regarded as a quasi-contractual relationship; the petitioner wa…