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Quaeritur: Perhaps you could comment on when and where this command of Pope St. Pius about doctorates in theology and canon law was reversed? Or whether someone is improperly and liberally interpreting the Saint's words, "the regular course"?
49. Equal diligence and severity are to be used in examining and selecting candidates for Holy Orders. Far, far from the clergy be the love of novelty! God hateth the proud and the obstinate mind. For the future the doctorate of theology and canon law must never be conferred on anyone who has not first of all made the regular course of scholastic philosophy; if conferred, it shall be held as null and void. The rules laid down in 1896 by the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars for the clerics, both secular and regular, of Italy, concerning the frequenting of the Universities, We now decree to be extended to all nations. (Pope St. Pius X, Pascendi Dominici Gregis, par. 49)
God bless,
Daniel Offutt
Respondeo: Good quote, Daniel. I am no canon lawyer, but as far as I understand, the New Code supplants all prior legislation, such that this legislation is no longer in force. Now, up until the issuing of the Codex Iuris Canonici (1983), I would think this legislation was still in force. Yet, during the 18 years between the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and 1983, it was simply ignored. To my knowledge, no one even bothered misinterpreting it. People just got doctorates without even the slightest training in Scholastic thought, and no one thought it a legal problem. It was not even an issue. In their minds it was the "spring time" of the Church, the "New Pentecost," and scholastic philosophy was directly against what the Holy Ghost was doing in the Church, so it was obvious to all that no such training was needed. Assuming that this Pascendi quote was in force until 1983, I wonder if canonically one could argue that doctorates (at least the canonical doctorates, i.e., STDs and JCDs) 'awarded' by pontifical faculties without the proper scholastic training before the new Code was issued are indeed null and void, such that many people with apparent doctorates do not really have them. In any case, it's an interesting issue. I welcome informed thoughts on it.
4 comments:
St. Pius X had the Gift of Counsel. Since He was a saint, the Holy Ghost worked in Him through the Gift of Counsel, all the time. Hence the Holy Ghost was working in St. Pius X while He was writing and/or approving Pascendi. Hence the quote about STDs being null and void for those who have not undergone the regular course of scholastic philosophy cannot be reasonably contradicted by anyone who has not been canonized.
How would one go about determining during what periods of the past (since 1907) scholastic philosophy what not taught in each of the world's actual- and supposedly-Catholic seminaries?
How would one go about determining who "has" a STD who was "trained in philosophy" at such a seminary during such a period?
How would one most effectively cause such "theologians" to be dismissed from seminary and other faculties until they completed their remedial training in scholastic philosophy and proved their competence in it?
Daniel Offutt
The mere lack of an older code in the new canon does not negate the moral force of earlier canons, which retain their binding force. For example of how such operates, see the response to the dubium about membership in the Masons.
Dear Dr. Romero,
Does Mark's remark mean that some of those younger Jesuits at Marquette University can be driven off the Marquette faculty, so that some Marquette students, at least, may be saved?
God bless,
Daniel Offutt
Dear Daniel,
It does not mean that because Marquette is not a Catholic university.
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