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Amovibility or amovability is a term used in Catholic canon law for the condition of a priest who can be removed from his parish or post by his bishop. [1] [2] An amovible office constrasts with a perpetual or irremovable one, from which the holder can only be removed under special circumstances. [1]
The term covers most of the rectors of churches in the United States and England, as also in general and everywhere those who have charge of succursal churches or are parish assistants. Under the head of removable dignitaries, canonists generally class also vicars-general, archdeacons, and rural deans. Such an office or benefice is designated manuale, as opposed to titulare or perpetuum. [1]
The interpretation of amovibility has caused controversy. Many canonists have argued that because the possessor of an office holds it ad nutum , he can therefore be deprived of it without cause. Otherwise, they declare, the word amovibility would have no meaning. They note as exceptions, however, to this power of the bishop, cases in which he acts from open hatred, or injures the good name of the ecclesiastic, or damages the parish. Likewise, they say, if the person removed were not given another office, he could have recourse to a superior authority, as this would be equivalent to injuring his good name. These canonists also add that the bishop would sin if he removed an ecclesiastic without cause, as his action would be without a proper motive, and because frequent changes are necessarily detrimental to churches. Other canonists seem to maintain for removable rectors practically the same rights as to perpetuity, which are possessed by irremovable ecclesiastics. [1]
Amovibility contrasts with arbitrary removal, which the Catholic Church has always condemned. It is opposed to the perpetual tenure of those benefices, for removal from which the canons require a cause expressly named in law and a formal canonical process or trial. But there may be other causes that justify a removal besides those named in the canons. A removable rector is, therefore, one who may be removed without cause expressed in law, but not without a just cause; one who may be removed without canonical process, but not without certain prescribed formalities, which are really judicial, though "extra-judicial" as regards the canons. Since, however, removable ecclesiastics have no strict and perpetual right to their offices, any revocation made by the superior ad nutum is valid, though it might be gravely illicit and reversible. In such cases recourse may be had to a superior authority, although an ordinary appeal in the strict sense is barred. [1]
In the United States the method of procedure was laid down principally in the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore (1866) and the Roman Instructions "Quamvis" of 1878 and "Cum Magnopere" of 1884. [1]
A vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior. Linguistically, vicar is cognate with the English prefix "vice", similarly meaning "deputy". It also refers to a senior priest in the Church of England. The title appears in a number of Christian ecclesiastical contexts, but also as an administrative title, or title modifier, in the Roman Empire. In addition, in the Holy Roman Empire, a local representative of the emperor, such as an archduke, could be styled "vicar".
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense, curate means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term curate is commonly used to describe clergy who are assistants to the parish priest. The duties or office of a curate are called a curacy.
A benefice or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term beneficium as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by the Western Church in the Carolingian Era as a benefit bestowed by the crown or church officials. A benefice specifically from a church is called a precaria, such as a stipend, and one from a monarch or nobleman is usually called a fief. A benefice is distinct from an allod, in that an allod is property owned outright, not bestowed by a higher authority.
The term "coadjutor" is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence.
In canon law, commenda was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice in trust to the custody of a patron. The phrase in commendam was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastical benefice, which was temporarily without an actual occupant, in contrast to the conferral of a title, in titulum, which was applied to the regular and unconditional occupation of a benefice.
Ecclesiastical jurisdiction is jurisdiction by church leaders over other church leaders and over the laity.
In the jurisprudence of the canon law of the Catholic Church, a dispensation is the exemption from the immediate obligation of law in certain cases. Its object is to modify the hardship often arising from the rigorous application of general laws to particular cases, and its essence is to preserve the law by suspending its operation in such cases.
The canon law of the Catholic Church is "how the Church organizes and governs herself". It is the system of laws and ecclesiastical legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Catholic Church to regulate its external organization and government and to order and direct the activities of Catholics toward the mission of the Church. It was the first modern Western legal system and is the oldest continuously functioning system of law in the West, while the unique traditions of Eastern Catholic canon law govern the 23 Eastern Catholic particular churches sui iuris.
In English ecclesiastical law, the term incumbent refers to the holder of a Church of England parochial charge or benefice. The term "benefice" originally denoted a grant of land for life in return for services. In church law, the duties were spiritual ("spiritualities") and some form of assets to generate revenue were permanently linked to the duties to ensure the support of the office holder. Historically, once in possession of the benefice, the holder had lifelong tenure unless he failed to provide the required minimum of spiritual services or committed a moral offence. With the passing of the "Pastoral Measure 1968" and subsequent legislation, this no longer applies, and many ancient benefices have been joined into a single new one.
Cathedraticum is a specified sum of money to be paid annually toward a bishop. It is a mark of honour and a sign of subjection to the cathedral church, from which its name is derived.
The right of patronage in Roman Catholic canon law is a set of rights and obligations of someone, known as the patron in connection with a gift of land (benefice). It is a grant made by the church out of gratitude towards a benefactor.
Perpetual curate was a class of resident parish priest or incumbent curate within the United Church of England and Ireland. The term is found in common use mainly during the first half of the 19th century. The legal status of perpetual curate originated as an administrative anomaly in the 16th century. Unlike ancient rectories and vicarages, perpetual curacies were supported by a cash stipend, usually maintained by an endowment fund, and had no ancient right to income from tithe or glebe.
Canonical institution is a technical term of the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, meaning in practice an institution having full recognition and status within the Catholic Church.
"Appeal as from an abuse" is a legal term applied in the canon law of the Catholic Church, meaning originally a legal appeal as recourse to the civil forum (court) against the usurpation by the ecclesiastical forum of the rights of civil jurisdiction. It could also mean a recourse to the ecclesiastical forum against the usurpation by the civil forum of the rights of ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
"Desservants" was the name of a class of French parish priests.
Vicar is a title given to certain parish priests in the Church of England and other Anglican churches. It has played a significant role in Anglican church organisation in ways that are different from other Christian denominations. The title is very old and arises from the medieval arrangement where priests were appointed either by a secular lord, by a bishop or by a religious foundation. Historically, but no longer, vicars share a benefice with a rector to whom the great tithes were paid. Vicar derives from the Latin vicarius meaning a substitute.
In the canon law of the Catholic Church, excommunication is a form of censure. In the formal sense of the term, excommunication includes being barred not only from the sacraments but also from the fellowship of Christian baptism. The principal and severest censure, excommunication presupposes guilt; and being the most serious penalty that the Catholic Church can inflict, it supposes a grave offense. The excommunicated person is considered by Catholic ecclesiastical authority as an exile from the Church, for a time at least.
A rector is, in an ecclesiastical sense, a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations. In contrast, a vicar is also a cleric but functions as an assistant and representative of an administrative leader.
Saint Casimir Church is a Catholic parish church in Cleveland, Ohio, and part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. It is designated "a personal parish for those Catholics of the Latin Rite of Polish descent" in Cleveland. A personal parish is designated under Canon 518 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. It is located at the north-east corner of intersection of East 82nd St. and Sowiniski Ave., in a part of the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood previously known in Polish as na Poznaniu.
A censure, in the canon law of the Catholic Church, is a medicinal and spiritual punishment imposed by the church on a baptized, delinquent, and contumacious person, by which he is deprived, either wholly or in part, of the use of certain spiritual goods until he recovers from his contumacy. These goods can encompass access to the sacraments, participation in certain liturgical activities, and involvement in ecclesiastical functions.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Fanning, William Windsor (1907). "Amovibility". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
