TITLE III Secular Institutes

A secular institute is an institute of consecrated life in which the Christian faithful, living in the world, strive for the perfection of charity and seek to contribute to the sanctification of the world, especially from within.

The consecration of a member of a secular institute does not change the member’s proper canonical condition among the people of God, whether lay or clerical, with due regard for the prescripts of the law which refer to institutes of consecrated life.

Without prejudice to the prescripts of cann. 598-601, the constitutions are to establish the sacred bonds by which the evangelical counsels are assumed in the institute and are to define the obligations which these same bonds bring about; the proper secularity of the institute, however, is always to be preserved in its way of life.

§1. Members of these institutes express and exercise their own consecration in apostolic activity, and like leaven they strive to imbue all things with the spirit of the gospel for the strengthening and growth of the Body of Christ.

§2. In the world and from the world, lay members participate in the evangelizing function of the Church whether through the witness of a Christian life and of fidelity toward their own consecration, or through the assistance they offer to order temporal things according to God and to inform the world by the power of the gospel.

They also cooperate in the service of the ecclesial community according to their own secular way of life.

§3. Through the witness of consecrated life especially in the presbyterium, clerical members help their brothers by a particular apostolic charity, and by their sacred ministry among the people of God they bring about the sanctification of the world.

Members are to lead their lives in the ordinary conditions of the world according to the norm of the constitutions, whether alone, or in their own families, or in a group living as brothers or sisters.

§1. Clerical members incardinated in a diocese are subject to the diocesan bishop, without prejudice to those things which regard consecrated life in their own institute.

§2. Those who are incardinated in an institute according to the norm of can. 266, §3, however, are subject to the bishop like religious if they are appointed to the proper works of the institute or to the governance of the institute.

§1. All members are to participate actively in the life of the institute according to proper law.

§2. Members of the same institute are to preserve communion among themselves, caring solicitously for a spirit of unity and a genuine relationship as brothers or sisters.

§1. The constitutions are to prescribe the proper manner of governance; they are to define the time during which the moderators hold their office and the manner by which they are designated.

§2. No one is to be designated as supreme moderator who is not incorporated definitively.

§3. Those who have been placed in charge of the governance of an institute are to take care that its unity of spirit is preserved and that the active participation of the members is promoted.

The administration of the goods of an institute, which must express and foster evangelical poverty, is governed by the norms of Book V, The Temporal Goods of the Church, and by the proper law of the institute.

Likewise, proper law is to define the obligations of the institute, especially Financial ones, towards members who carry on work for it.

§1. For members to respond faithfully to their vocation and for their apostolic action to proceed from their union with Christ, they are to devote themselves diligently to prayer, to give themselves in a Fitting way to the reading of sacred scripture, to observe an annual period of spiritual retreat, and to perform other spiritual exercises according to proper law.

§2. The celebration of the Eucharist, daily if possible, is to be the source and strength of their whole consecrated life.

§3. They are to approach freely the sacrament of penance which they are to receive frequently.

§4. They are to obtain freely necessary direction of conscience and to seek counsel of this kind even from the moderators, if they wish.

The right of admission into the institute, either for probation or for the assumption of sacred bonds, whether temporary or perpetual or definitive, belongs to the major moderators with their council, according to the norm of the constitutions.

§1. A person is admitted to initial probation invalidly:

1/ who has not yet attained the age of majority;

2/ who is bound currently by a sacred bond in some institute of consecrated life or is incorporated in a society of apostolic life;

3/ a spouse, while the marriage continues to exist.

§2. The constitutions can establish other impediments to admission even for validity or can attach conditions.

§3. Moreover, to be received, the person must have the maturity necessary to lead rightly the proper life of the institute.

§1. Initial probation is to be ordered in a way that the candidates understand more fittingly their own divine vocation, and indeed, the one proper to the institute, and that they are trained in the spirit and way of life of the institute.

§2. Candidates are properly to be formed to lead a life according to the evangelical counsels and are to be taught to transform their whole life into the apostolate, employing those forms of evangelization which better respond to the purpose, spirit, and character of the institute.

§3. The constitutions are to define the manner and length of this probation before first taking on sacred bonds in the institute; the length is not to be less than two years.

§1. When the period of initial probation has elapsed, a candidate who is judged suitable is to assume the three evangelical counsels strengthened by a sacred bond or is to depart from the institute.

§2. This first incorporation is to be temporary according to the norm of the constitutions; it is not to be less than five years.

§3. When the period of this incorporation has elapsed, the member who is judged suitable is to be admitted to perpetual incorporation or to definitive incorporation, that is, with temporary bonds that are always to be renewed.

§4. Definitive incorporation is equivalent to perpetual incorporation with regard to the specific juridic effects established in the constitutions.

§1. Formation after the first assumption of sacred bonds is to be continued without interruption according to the constitutions.

§2. Members are to be formed in divine and human things at the same time; moreover, moderators of the institute are to have a serious concern for the continued spiritual formation of the members.

An institute can associate to itself by some bond determined in the constitutions other members of the Christian faithful who are to strive for evangelical perfection according to the spirit of the institute and are to participate in its mission.

§1. When the period of temporary incorporation has elapsed, a member is able to leave the institute freely or the major moderator, after having heard the council, can exclude a member for a just cause from the renewal of the sacred bonds.

§2. For a grave cause, a temporarily incorporated member who freely petitions it is able to obtain an indult of departure from the supreme moderator with the consent of the council.

§1. After having considered the matter seriously before the Lord, a perpetually incorporated member who wishes to leave the institute is to seek an indult of departure from the Apostolic See through the supreme moderator if the institute is of pontifical right; otherwise the member may also seek it from the diocesan bishop, as it is defined in the constitutions.

§2. If it concerns a cleric incardinated in the institute, the prescript of can. 693 is to be observed.

When an indult of departure has been granted legitimately, all the bonds as well as the rights and obligations deriving from incorporation cease.

Dismissal of a member of the institute proceeds pursuant to cann. 694 §1, 1 and 2; and 695. The constitutions may also define other causes for dismissal, provided that they be commensurately serious, external, attributable and juridically proven, and that the procedure established in cann. 697-700 also be observed. The provisions of can. 701 are applicable to the dismissed member.

In order for a member of a secular institute to transfer to another secular institute, the prescripts of cann. 684, §§1, 2, 4, and 685 are to be observed; moreover, for transfer to be made to a religious institute or to a society of apostolic life or from them to a secular institute, the permission of the Apostolic See is required, whose mandates must be observed.

§1. Societies of apostolic life resemble institutes of consecrated life; their members, without religious vows, pursue the apostolic purpose proper to the society and, leading a life in common as brothers or sisters according to their proper manner of life, strive for the perfection of charity through the observance of the constitutions.

§2. Among these are societies in which members assume the evangelical counsels by some bond defined in the constitutions.

Those things which are established in cann. 578-597 and 606 apply to societies of apostolic life, without prejudice, however, to the nature of each society; moreover, cann. 598-602 apply to the societies mentioned in can. 731, §2.

§1. The competent authority of the society erects a house and establishes a local community with the previous written consent of the diocesan bishop, who must also be consulted concerning its suppression.

§2. Consent to erect a house entails the right to have at least an oratory in which the Most Holy Eucharist is to be celebrated and reserved.

The constitutions determine the governance of a society, with cann. 617-633 observed according to the nature of each society.

§1. The proper law of each society determines the admission, probation, incorporation, and formation of members.

§2. In what pertains to admission into a society, the conditions established in the cann. 642- 645 are to be observed.

§3. Proper law must determine the manner of probation and formation, especially doctrinal, spiritual, and apostolic, adapted to the purpose and character of the society, in such a way that the members, recognizing their divine vocation, are suitably prepared for the mission and life of the society.

§1. In clerical societies, clerics are incardinated in the society itself unless the constitutions establish otherwise.

§2. In those things which belong to the program of studies and to the reception of orders, the norms for secular clerics are to be observed, without prejudice to §1.

Incorporation entails on the part of the members the obligations and rights defined in the constitutions and on the part of the society concern for leading the members to the purpose of their proper vocation according to the constitutions.

§1. All members are subject to their proper moderators according to the norm of the constitutions in those matters which regard the internal life and discipline of the society.

§2. They are also subject to the diocesan bishop in those matters which regard public worship, the care of souls, and other works of the apostolate, with attention to cann. 679-683.

§3. The constitutions or particular agreements define the relations of a member incardinated in a diocese with his own bishop.

In addition to the obligations to which members as members are subject according to the constitutions, they are bound by the common obligations of clerics unless it is otherwise evident from the nature of the thing or the context.

Members must live in a house or in a legitimately established community and must observe common life according to the norm of proper law, which also governs absences from the house or community.

§1. Societies and, unless the constitutions determine otherwise, their parts and houses are juridic persons and, as such, capable of acquiring, possessing, administering, and alienating temporal goods according to the norm of the prescripts of Book V, The Temporal Goods of the Church, of cann. 636, 638, and 639, and of proper law.

§2. According to the norm of proper law, members are also capable of acquiring, possessing, administering, and disposing of temporal goods, but whatever comes to them on behalf of the society is acquired by the society.

The constitutions of each society govern the departure and dismissal of a member not yet definitively incorporated.

Without prejudice to the prescript of can. 693, a definitively incorporated member can obtain an indult of departure from the society from the supreme moderator with the consent of the council, unless it is reserved to the Holy See according to the constitutions; with the indult, the rights and obligations deriving from incorporation cease.

§1. It is equally reserved to the supreme moderator with the consent of the council to grant permission for a definitively incorporated member to transfer to another society of apostolic life; the rights and obligations proper to the society are suspended in the meantime, without prejudice to the right of returning before definitive incorporation in the new society.

§2. Transfer to an institute of consecrated life or from one to a society of apostolic life requires the permission of the Holy See, whose mandates must be observed.

The supreme moderator with the consent of the council can grant an indult to live outside the society to a definitively incorporated member, but not for more than three years; the rights and obligations which cannot be reconciled with the new condition of the member are suspended, but the member remains under the care of the moderators. If it concerns a cleric, moreover, the consent of the ordinary of the place in which he must reside is required, under whose care and dependence he also remains.

For the dismissal of a definitively incorporated member, cann. 694-704 are to be observed with appropriate adaptations.