Communal Right In Perfect Theocratic Society
Chapter 2
Rights concerning admission to the Church
| The right of admission relative to the person desiring admission, and to the Church bestowing admission |
875. Granted the foundation of the Catholic Church by the Redeemer, every person deciding to believe what she proposes has the right, as we said, to be aggregated to the Church.
876. But has the Church any right relative to persons entering her society?
It is certain that all those coming to know the Church have the duty to join her as members. Although, in respect of God, this is a jural moral duty, it is only a moral duty relative to the faithful forming the Church militant on earth. A person not joining the body of the faithful does no injury to their rights. The Church, the community of the faithful (clergy and people), cannot demand entry on the part of non-members, although she has the right to use persuasion in calling all people to herself.
| Can a member abandon church society? |
877. A person who has freely entered the Church has no right to leave her.
878. This can be deduced in the first place from the perpetual nature of the society.
879. It can also be deduced from the nature of the aggregation which, while
free (cf. 742) and presupposing free assent in human beings, renders obligatory
the Right of seigniory and social Right, that is, governmental and communal
right.
We have already seen that the Right of seigniory and Social right are fused in
theocratic society (cf. 710-712). Entrance to such a society demands unending
submission to divine dominion, and a consequent bond between self and God (cf.
742). Theocratic society also implies association between all those bonded in
society with God (in Christ) (cf. 717-722). Admission of a believer to the body
of the faithful under divine seigniory comes about through a contract in which
the parties are the minister of the Church (who receives on behalf of the whole
Church the request for entry), and the postulant. The Church's minister, as
representative of the society, exercises an office belonging to governmental
Right; the postulant brings communal Right into being through his promises.
The Right of seigniory comes into play as follows. In baptism, when admission to society takes place, God takes possession of the human being through an action exercised in his soul (cf. 738). The effect of this action is called by theologians the `indelible character'. Through it, human beings are ordered to the worship of God. The basic stability of God's works prevents the dissolution of his domination within the human being, and of this intellectual encounter and effect impressed in the soul. The bond of seigniory put into effect once and for all on admission to the society cannot be dissolved. But is this true of the social bond?
880. The social bond can be dissolved de facto, but never de
iure on the part of the member.
The social bond can be dissolved in fact whether the dissolution be viewed
related to the bond a human being makes with God or with the Church. Neither
God nor the Church wishes to retain in a society destined to benefit people
those who of their own will renounce their place in that society. God wishes
deiform society to be upheld through human freewill, because its only aim is
voluntary honour of God on the part of human beings, the greatest good possible
to a creature; for the same reason, the Church admits to communion in the good
she possesses only those who wish freely and with true love to remain in her.
881. But if the matter is examined from the point of view of right, it is certain that no one entering theocratic society has the right to leave it. In virtue of the perpetual contract made on entry, members have promised to belong to it forever. This promise, an absolute condition of membership, has brought about the transfer to the Church of the members' right to remain perpetually united to her.
882. A person leaving the Church, therefore, harms the Church. Moreover, defection, far from diminishing the Church's rights over the member, increases them. As a result, those abandoning the Church are deprived of the good things inherent in her society, but they also remain subject to her authority. Her governmental Right is not lessened or weakened through the violation of that Right by her unfaithful members.
| Can the Church separate members from the society? |
883. When members fail to keep their promises and social agreements, a society can always deprive them of their share in the goods of the society (cf. USR, 458-466).
884. The Church does not take this step before using all the means in her power to bring back the faithful to the fulfilment of their obligations.
885. Depriving members of their share in the goods of a society is to exclude them from that society.
886. Nevertheless, the Church, while expelling those who obstinately refuse to carry out the obligations assumed in their social contract, never deprives them of hope of readmission. Indeed, she opens her doors to them whenever they ask, provided they repent of their unfaithfulness and are ready to give her complete satisfaction - satisfaction which, we must remember, is wholly to their advantage.
887. Do persons expelled from the Church through their own fault regain by repentance a true right to be readmitted?
Yes, granted the superabundance of the charity of Christ who, in founding the Church, intended to found a society for people of good will, amongst whom are those who have returned to such a state by repenting of their faults.
888. The perpetual right of readmission to society after pacts with it have been broken is wholly characteristic of the Church of JESUS Christ, and is found in no other society.