I do understand this - this was what I was trying to say in my first post. Which is why I also say, that since they are of diocesan right, their Superiors, after their community servant, are the Bishop and not the Ministers or Superiors General
That can be either a transitional state or a permanent one. It depends on the general chapter of the community. A community can petition to become an Institute of Pontifical Right. If they do, to be approved, they must fit into the family to which they want to belong, in this case, the Franciscan Order.
On the other hand, if the expectations of the Franciscans are not consistent with their mission and their way of life, they can choose to remain a diocesan congregation. They are still considered Third Order, whether you’re diocesan or pontifical. Because if you are Franciscan, you have to belong to one of the four obediences. That’s a requirement of theSacred Congregation for Religious Institutes and Societies of Apostolic Life. The Third Order of the Franciscan family encompasses all congregations of Franciscans, all orders of Franciscans that are not Friars Minor and the Secular Franciscan Order. All of them come under the jurisdiction of the Sacred Congregation, even if they are diocesan congregations.
Once the bishop has been granted permission to establish the congregation, he cannot suppress it without the permission of the Holy See. The congregation is inscribed in one of the existing religioius families, if there is already one with the same charism and rule. If there is none other, they are inscribed independently.
Their status is different in terms of governance, becaues the local bishop remains the Superior General. However, the local bishop cannot trump the Council of the Order. Once he sends his request to the Sacred Congregation for a Franciscan congregation, he must abide by the rules of the Franciscan family and its traditions.
This was first tested in the 1880s when Bishop John Carroll asked Elizabeth Ann Seton to found the Sisters of Charity and gave her the constitutions and statutes of St. Vincent de Paul. When the Daughters of Charity arrived they Sisters of Charity refused to be absorbed into the Daughters. Rome’s response was that they had to be incorporated into the Daughters, because they were using their constitutions and their statutes. Those communities who did not want to be incorporated had to find bishops who would accept them as diocesan congregations and they had to rewrite their statutes so as to prove that they were not of the same family as the rest of the Daughters of Charity. They could claim St. Vincent as their inspiration, but not as their father.
The Missionaries claim St. Francis as their Father. They have a right to do so, because they have Franciscan succession. They were founded by a Poor Clare who is a canonical successor to St. Francis and St. Clare. But if you claim St. Fancis as your Father, then you must abide by the consensus of the Franciscan family, unless there is a pastoral reason or a conflict in charism. In that case, your first duty is to demonstrate the reason. Once it is acknowledged by the proper authorities, you can do what is best for your community.
But all that the bishop does in the case of a diocesan congregation is to ensure that they live according to the charism that they profess and that they serve the Church in the manner that they propose in their mission statement. He cannot change the charism. However, he is a little loophole in the law. The bishop can change their mission statement. Since he is not a member of the congregation, he is not bound to obey their general chapter. In fact, the deliberations of their general chapter have to be approved by him. That is not the case in communities of Pontifical Right. In these communities, the Major Superior is part of the community and is bound to obey the General Chapter and implement what the General Chapter wants.
It gets very hairy when you start a community using the charism, rule and spirit of an existing religious family. Ask the Dominicans. Their constitutions have to conform to the rule of St. Augustine. They are part of that family, even though they are an autonomous order for every other purpose.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
