According to the belief prevailing in Poland that the deacon cannot assist at the marriage, the author enquires whether the practice of blessing marriages only by the priests is consistent with the law of the Roman Catholic Church. In his discussion, the author goes back to the norms written in the Second Vatican Council constitution Lumen Gentium and the Apostolic Letter of Pope Paul VI Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem – consisting the basis of legislation regulating the considered matter. Subsequently, applying the general norms of the code of Canon Law about the collisions of law, he is answering a question about the value of the documents released by the Apostolic See and Polish Bishop’s Conference since 1983. In conclusion, the author notes that if, contrary to the cited arguments, someone would still insist that the deacon, beyond the delegation needs a specific consent of the local ordinary, it should be noted that in this case it is a doubt about the lawand such law do not oblige.
After the promulgation by the Pope John Paul II of the Code for the Latin Church, deacon received the possibility to assist at the marriage under normal conditions on the basis of a delegation from the local ordinary or a pastor. Deacons should fulfill this function outside the Mass, however not towards marriages of the faithful of the Latin Church with a faithful of the Eastern Church (Catholic and Non-Catholic).Delegating the deacon should be held according to the same principles as delegating the priest. The instructions announced after the 1983 Code, enacted by the Polish Bishop’s Conference and the translations of the ceremonies into Polish do not mention any limits for the deacons to be The Official Witness of Marriage. According to the Polish law, the deacon can assists in the solemnization of the concordats marriage.The aim of this article is to present the evolution of the universal laws and Polish particular laws, regulating the possibility of deacons assisting at marriages unto the promulgation of the Code of the Canon Law by the Pope John Paul II in 1983.
One of the conditions to be satisfied by a candidate to the office of sponsor in order to be admitted to perform this task is being fully in the communion of the Catholic Church. This requirement is stipulated in c. 874 §1 n. 3 CIC as follows: “To be permitted to take on the function of sponsor a person must be a Catholic who has been confirmed and has already received the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist and who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on”. As the legislator has not provided either the entire norm stipulated in c. 874 §1 CIC or any of its individual elements with an invalidating or disqualifying clause, the question is what consequences are entailed for the validity of taking on the function of sponsor by failure to comply with the criteria laid down in c. 874 §1 n. 3 CIC. As this issue has not been directly discussed in the literature, in this article the author endeavours to address this concern.
PL
Pełna komunia z Kościołem katolickim a ważność przyjęcia munus chrzestnego Jednym z warunków, jaki musi spełnić kandydat na chrzestnego, by móc zostać dopuszczonym do przyjęcia tego zadania, jest trwanie w pełnej komunii z Kościołem katolickim. Wymaganie to zapisane zostało w kanonie 874 §1 n. 3 CIC następującymi słowami: „do przyjęcia zadania chrzestnego może być dopuszczony ten, kto jest katolikiem, bierzmowanym i przyjął już sakrament Najświętszej Eucharystii oraz prowadzi życie zgodne z wiarą i odpowiadające funkcji, jaką ma pełnić”. Ponieważ ustawodawca nie opatrzył klauzulą unieważniającą czy też uniezdalniającą całej normy zapisanej w kan. 874 §1 CIC, lub też poszczególnych jej elementów, nasuwa się zatem pytanie o to, jakie są dla ważności przyjęcia funkcji chrzestnego konsekwencje nieprzestrzegania kryteriów zapisanych w kan. 874 §1 n. 3 CIC. Biorąc pod uwagę, że w literaturze zagadnienie to bezpośrednio nie zostało dotychczas podjęte, autor w artykule udziela odpowiedzi na tę wątpliwość.
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