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NewEnglandPriest
Guest
True but exceptions are made. Cardinal Avery Dulles, SJ was never ordained a bishop.
Its entirely possible for women to be Cardinals as well. However, I don’t think we’d ever see a return of lay Cardinals.
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Its entirely possible for women to be Cardinals as well. However, I don’t think we’d ever see a return of lay Cardinals.
A
Aramis
Guest
There was a lay cardinal during the 19th C… but he was above voting age.
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JReducation
Guest
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JReducation
Guest
This was true. The canons were changed in 1983. But the canons, as we who are religious and clerics know, are at the pleasure of the Holy See.
Too often, Catholics look at Canon Law as we look at the Constittuion of the USA and the President. This is not the case in the Church. The giver of the law can dispense with the law without any consultation, unlike civil law.
There is room for a lay Cardinal. There have been brothers who were cardinals. They are not clerics. They are lay men, even though they are religious.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
A
Aramis
Guest
Until the 1983 CIC, they were religious, not laymen. First tonsure or minor ordination (either one) removed one from the ranks of the laity under pre-VII canon law. VII made them no longer clerics, but didn’t define clerks out of existence.This was true. The canons were changed in 1983. But the canons, as we who are religious and clerics know, are at the pleasure of the Holy See.
Too often, Catholics look at Canon Law as we look at the Constittuion of the USA and the President. This is not the case in the Church. The giver of the law can dispense with the law without any consultation, unlike civil law.
There is room for a lay Cardinal. There have been brothers who were cardinals. They are not clerics. They are lay men, even though they are religious.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
They were in the category of clerks, included with the minor clerics, once professed.
(newadvent.org/cathen/04049b.htm)
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JReducation
Guest
Religious brothers never received minor orders unless they were going to be ordained priests. These are called brother priests in monastic and mendicant communities. Other communities, such as the De la Salle Christian Brothers, never had brother priests.
Religioius men who were not priests, were then and are now, lay men. They are not secular men. Maybe this is where you are getting confused. Our brothers who are not ordained are lay men, but they are not secular, because they are in solemn vows. They can be Ordinaries (Major Superiors).
In religious families such as Benedictine, Franciscans, Carthusians, Carmelites, Dominicans, Augustinians and several others, they had clerical brothers and lay brothers since the beginning. Some were founded as lay orders. The Franciscans were founded as a lay order and remain a lay order to this day, even though we do have ordained friars. The reason is that the priesthood is not part of the vocation to be a Franciscan. It is a vocation within a vocation. Many Benedictine congregations also follow this rule.
The term lay, as it is used in canon law, means someone who is not a cleric. Monasteries and mendicants are not all orders for clerics. Only some are. Some religious congregations are also lay: De la Salle Christian Brothers, Xaverian Brothers, Alexian Brothers, Good Shepherd Brothers, Brothers of Charity, Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s). These men retain their canonical title: lay. But they are religious, not seculars.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
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