In the Roman Catholic Church, a plenary council is any of various kinds of ecclesiastical synods, used when those summoned represent the whole number of bishops of some given territory. The word itself, derived from the Latin plenarium (complete or full), hence concilium plenarium, also concilium plenum. Plenary councils [1] have a legislative function that does not apply to other national synods.
The ecumenical councils or synods are called plenary councils by Augustine of Hippo, [2] as they form a complete representation of the entire Church. Thus also, in ecclesiastical documents, provincial councils are denominated plenary, because all the bishops of a certain ecclesiastical province were represented. Later usage has restricted the term plenary to those councils which are presided over by a delegate of the Apostolic See, who has received special power for that purpose, and which are attended by all the metropolitans and bishops of some commonwealth, empire, or kingdom, or by their duly accredited representatives. In this article, only those modern provincial councils where the ecclesiastical province covered a whole country or countries (for example, Baltimore for the United States of America or Sydney for Australasia up to the mid-nineteenth century) are discussed, since it is only those that had a de facto plenary effect. Such plenary synods are frequently called national councils.
Plenary councils should be distinguished from:
Plenary councils, in the sense of national synods, are included under the term particular councils [4] as opposed to universal councils. They are of the same nature as provincial councils, with the accidental difference that several ecclesiastical provinces are represented in national or plenary synods. In current canon law [5] they are called by the Episcopal Conference of a given territory when approved by the Pope. The Episcopal Conference itself, a permanent body of bishops from a territory, is a relatively modern structure, with the earliest formed in Switzerland in 1863 and only confirmed as policy at Vatican II.[ citation needed ] The ability to meet regularly across large nations or territories waited on modern technology. In contrast, the need to meet for critical matters means that Plenary Councils, called only when necessary to justify the time and effort required, are quite ancient.
Provincial councils, strictly so-called, date from the fourth century, when the metropolitical authority had become fully developed. But synods, approaching nearer to the modern signification of a plenary council, are to be recognized in the synodical assemblies of bishops under primatial, exarchal, or patriarchal authority, recorded from the fourth and fifth centuries, and possibly earlier. Such were, apparently, the synods held in Asia Minor at Iconium and Synnada in the third century, concerning the re-baptism of heretics; such were, certainly, the councils held later in the northern part of Latin Africa, presided over by the Archbishop of Carthage, Primate of Africa. The latter councils were officially designated plenary councils (Concilium Plenarium totius Africae). Their beginnings are without doubt to be referred, at least, to the fourth, and possibly to the third century. Synods of a somewhat similar nature (though approaching nearer to the idea of a general council) were the Council of Arles in Gaul in 314 (at which were present the bishops of London, York, and Caerleon), and the Council of Sardica in 343 (whose canons were frequently cited as Nicene canons). Somewhat later, the Greek Council in Trullo was held in 692.
The popes were accustomed in former ages to hold synods which were designated Councils of the Apostolic See. They might be denominated, to a certain extent, emergency synods, and though they were generally composed of the bishops of Italy, yet bishops of other ecclesiastical provinces took part in them. Pope Martin I held such a council in 649, and Pope Agatho in 680. The patriarchs of Constantinople convoked, on special occasions, a synodos endemousa , at which were present bishops from various provinces of the Greek world who happened to be sojourning in the imperial city, or were summoned to give council to the emperor or the patriarch concerning matters that required special episcopal consultation.
From the end of the sixth century, "national councils" were convoked in the Frankish and West-Gothic kingdoms. The bishops in these synods were not gathered together because they belonged to certain ecclesiastical provinces, but because they were under the same civil government, and consequently had common interests which concerned the kingdom in which they lived or the people over whom they ruled.
As ecclesiastical jurisdiction is necessary for the person who presides over a plenary or national synod, this name has been refused to the assemblies of the bishops of France, which met without papal authorization in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These comitia cleri Gallicani were not really plenary councils. The more noted among them were those held at Paris in 1681 and 1682. [6] Convocations of ecclesiastics ( Assemblées du Clergé ) were frequent in France before the Revolution of 1789. They consisted of certain bishops deputed by the various ecclesiastical provinces of the kingdom, and of priests elected by their equals from the same provinces, to deliberate on the temporal affairs of the French churches, and more particularly on the assistance, generally monetary, to be accorded to the Government.
After the establishment of the empire, Napoleon I held a great convention of bishops at Paris (1811), and is said to have been much incensed because Pius VII did not designate it a national council. [7] Similarly, mere congresses of bishops, even of a whole nation, who meet to discuss common ecclesiastical affairs, without adhering to synodal forms, are not to be called national or plenary Councils, because no one having the proper jurisdiction has formally summoned them to a canonical synod. Such episcopal conventions have been praised by the Holy See, because they showed unity among the bishops, and zeal for asserting the rights of the Church and the progress of the Catholic cause in their midst, in accordance with the sacred canons, [8] but, as the requisite legal forms and proper hierarchical authority are wanting, these congresses of bishops do not constitute a plenary council, no matter how full the representation of episcopal dignitaries may be. For example, in current usage plenary assemblies though in all other ways identical to plenary councils do not meet those requirements.
After the nineteenth century, plenary councils became less frequent. For example, the United States held three plenary councils before 1884 and has held none since. From the first few years of the second half of the twentieth century there doesn't appear to be any plenary councils reported. Some prominent examples since the second decade of the nineteenth century in order of first plenary council in each territory are:
A plenary or national council may not be convoked or celebrated without the authority of the Apostolic See, as was solemnly and repeatedly declared by Pius IX. [27] This has always been the practice in the Church, if not explicitly, at least from the fact that recourse could always be had to the Holy See against decisions of such councils. Now, however, express and special papal authorization is required. He who presides over the council must have the necessary jurisdiction, which is accorded by special Apostolic delegation. In the United States, the presidency of such synods has always been accorded by the Holy See to the archbishops of Baltimore. In their case, a papal delegation is necessary, for although they have a precedence of honour over all the other American metropolitans, yet they have no primatial or patriarchal jurisdiction. It is not uncommon for the pope to send from Rome a special delegate to preside over plenary councils.
Summons to a national or plenary council is to be sent to all archbishops and bishops of the nation, and they are obliged to appear, unless prevented by a canonical hindrance; to all administrators of dioceses sede plena or vacua, and to vicars capitular sede vacante; to vicars Apostolic possessed of episcopal jurisdiction; to the representatives of cathedral chapters, to abbots having quasi-episcopal jurisdiction. In the United States, custom has sanctioned the summoning of auxiliary, coadjutor, and visiting bishops; provincials of religious orders; all mitred abbots; rectors of major seminaries, as well as priests to serve as theologians and canonists.
Only those who have a right to a summons have also a right to cast a decisive vote in councils. The others may give only a consultive vote. The fathers may, however, empower auxiliary, coadjutor, and visiting bishops, as well as procurators of absent bishops to cast a decisive vote. The Third Plenary Council of Baltimore allowed a decisive vote also to a general of a religious congregation, because this was done at the Vatican Council. At the latter council, however, such vote was granted only to generals of regular orders, but not to those of religious congregations [28] At Baltimore, a decisive vote was refused to abbots of a single monastery, but conferred on arch-abbots.
Those who have a consultive vote and who:
Critics suggest [31] that the Church does not communicate well the true limited role of lay participants in Plenary Councils, and that this may create unrealised expectations from the misapplication of the lay understanding of participation. This view is that the Church needs to find ways to make this consultative role of the laity more real.
In particular councils, the subject-matter to be treated is what concerns discipline, the reformation of abuses, the repression of crimes, and the progress of the Catholic cause. In former times, such councils often condemned incipient heresies and opinions contrary to sound morals, but their decisions became dogmatic only after solemn confirmation by the Apostolic See. Thus, the Council of Milevum (416) and Council of Carthage (418) condemned Pelagianism, and the Council of Orange (Arausicanum) Semipelagianism.
Such latitude is not allowed to modern synods, and the Fathers are warned that they are not to restrict opinions which are tolerated by the Catholic Church.
One of the most important powers of the plenary council is its legislative function. Decrees of plenary councils must be submitted, before promulgation, for the confirmation, recognition and revision of the Holy See. Such recognition does not imply an approval of all the regulations submitted by the council.
Bishops have the power of relaxing decrees of a plenary council in particular cases in their own dioceses, unless the council was confirmed in forma specifica at Rome. In like manner, when no specific confirmation of the decrees has been accorded, it is lawful to appeal from these councils.
In modern times, it is not unusual for the Holy See to confirm councils in forma specifica, but only to accord them the necessary recognition. If, consequently, anything be found in their acts contrary to the common law of the Church, it would have no binding force unless a special apostolic derogation were made in its favour.
Australia was to hold its Fifth Plenary Council in 2020. [32] However, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the Council was delayed to late 2021 and mid-2022. The First Assembly was held from the 3rd to the 10th of October, 2021 in a mixed mode in-person and online format due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and the Second Assembly is to be held in Sydney, NSW in July 2022 [33] Archbishop Phillip Wilson of Adelaide was a proponent of a plenary council for over a decade. [34] In a departure from previous councils, the first session will be held in Adelaide, South Australia, not Sydney. Unlike the Fourth Plenary Council of Sydney, it will not include New Zealand.
Eight bishops of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops formally called for a plenary council in 2002 but this did not proceed. [35] There is speculation from US sources [36] that a successful plenary council in Australia will lead other provinces and nations within the Church, such as the US to ask for similar councils.
In both the US [37] and Australian [38] instances the main driver for seeking a plenary council was to deal with the issues surrounding Catholic Church sexual abuse cases, though the Fifth Australian Plenary Council will deal with a wider range of issues. Archbishop Phillip Wilson of Adelaide gave evidence [39] before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that the plenary council was the appropriate church forum to respond to the child sexual abuse issue, rather than national or diocesan synods because:
In the system, the really important gathering for the local Church is called the plenary council. The plenary council involves not just the bishops, although they are part of it, but it involves an engagement with other clergy and laypeople and it has to have a program of consultation to prepare for its action. The plenary council has the ability to make regulations and rules, so it has a legislative power, which makes it a very important part of the way in which the life of the Church operates.
— Phillip Wilson
However, because this issue is significant in many other territories, there is potential for the further revival of this long neglected form of governance through plenary councils in other jurisdictions if it is seen as being effective.
An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. The word "bishop" here is derived via the British Latin and Vulgar Latin term *ebiscopus/*biscopus, from the Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος epískopos meaning "overseer". It is the structure used by many of the major Christian Churches and denominations, such as the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Anabaptist, Lutheran, and Anglican churches or denominations, and other churches founded independently from these lineages. Many Methodist denominations have a form of episcopal polity known as connexionalism.
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
A synod is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word synod comes from the Ancient Greek σύνοδος 'assembly, meeting'; the term is analogous with the Latin word concilium'council'. Originally, synods were meetings of bishops, and the word is still used in that sense in Catholicism, Oriental Orthodoxy and Eastern Orthodoxy. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not. It is also sometimes used to refer to a church that is governed by a synod.
An ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain courts having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. In the Middle Ages, these courts had much wider powers in many areas of Europe than before the development of nation states. They were experts in interpreting canon law, a basis of which was the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian, which is considered the source of the civil law legal tradition.
An exarch was the holder of any of various historical offices, some of them being political or military and others being ecclesiastical.
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore is the archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in northern and western Maryland in the United States. It is the metropolitan see of the Ecclesiastical Province of Baltimore.
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis.
Primus inter pares is a Latin phrase meaning first among equals. It is typically used as an honorary title for someone who is formally equal to other members of his group but is accorded unofficial respect, traditionally owing to his seniority in office.
An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consists of several dioceses, one of them being the archdiocese, headed by a metropolitan bishop or archbishop who has ecclesiastical jurisdiction over all other bishops of the province.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is the permanent organizational assembly of the Catholic bishops of the Philippines exercising together certain pastoral offices for the Christian faithful of their territory through apostolic plans, programs and projects suited to the circumstances of time and place in accordance with law for the promotion of the greater good offered by the Catholic Church to all people.
A coadjutor bishop is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor is a bishop himself, although he is also appointed as vicar general. The coadjutor bishop is, however, given authority beyond that ordinarily given to the vicar general, making him co-head of the diocese in all but ceremonial precedence. In modern times, the coadjutor automatically succeeds the diocesan bishop upon the latter's retirement, removal, or death.
An episcopal conference, sometimes called a conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to meet regularly, with its own legal structure and ecclesial leadership function, is the Swiss Bishops' Conference, which was founded in 1863. More than forty episcopal conferences existed before the Second Vatican Council. Their status was confirmed by the Second Vatican Council and further defined by Pope Paul VI's 1966 motu proprio, Ecclesiae sanctae.
The Plenary Councils of Baltimore were three meetings of American Catholic bishops, archbishops and superiors of religious orders in the United States. The councils were held in 1852, 1866 and 1884 in Baltimore, Maryland.
A diocesan chancery is the branch of administration that handles all written documents used in the official government of a Catholic or Anglican diocese.
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The Provincial Councils of Baltimore were councils of Roman Catholic bishops that set the pattern for Catholic organisation in the United States. They took place in Baltimore. They were seen as having a unique importance for the Church in the United States, inasmuch as the earlier ones legislated for practically the whole territory of the Republic, and furnished moreover a norm for all the later Plenary Councils of Baltimore covering the whole country. This article touches upon only those parts of the canonical legislation which may seem in any way to individualize the discipline of the Church in the United States or depict the peculiar needs and difficulties of its nascent period.
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of holy orders and is responsible for teaching doctrine, governing Catholics in his jurisdiction, sanctifying the world and representing the Church. Catholics trace the origins of the office of bishop to the apostles, who it is believed were endowed with a special charism and office by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Catholics believe this special charism and office has been transmitted through an unbroken succession of bishops by the laying on of hands in the sacrament of holy orders.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) is the permanent association of the Catholic bishops of India. It was established in September 1944, in Chennai. The CBCI Secretariat was located in Bangalore until 1962, when it was shifted to the national capital, New Delhi. The CBCI is a member of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences.
The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba. Headquartered in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, the church reported more than 1,000 congregations and more than 128,000 members in 2023. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014. In June 2024, the College of Bishops elected Steve Wood as the third archbishop of the ACNA. Authority was transferred to him during the closing Eucharist at the ACNA Assembly 2024 conference in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
In the Catholic Church, the Synod of Bishops, considered as an advisory body for the pope, is one of the ways in which the bishops render cooperative assistance to him in exercising his office. It is described in the 1983 Code of Canon Law as "a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world and meet at fixed times to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world."
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: CS1 maint: location (link)BOOK II. THE PEOPLE OF GOD LIBER II. DE POPULO DEI PART II. THE HIERARCHICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH SECTION II. PARTICULAR CHURCHES AND THEIR GROUPINGS TITLE II. GROUPINGS OF PARTICULAR CHURCHES (Cann. 431–459) Chapter III. Particular Councils
Can. 439 §1. A plenary council, that is, one for all the particular churches of the same conference of bishops, is to be celebrated whenever it seems necessary or useful to the conference of bishops, with the approval of the Apostolic See.
The 1875 Maynooth Plenary in Ireland would significantly influence the Australasian council.
In 1874, Melbourne became an Archdiocese and Metropolitan See for the new Province of Melbourne which in 1885 had 5 suffragan sees: Hobart, Perth, Adelaide, Ballarat and Sandhurst. Councils representing all the churches of Australia would now have to be 'plenary', not 'provincial'.
At the 1885 Plenary Council, significant effort went into planning new dioceses, vicariates apostolic, and ecclesiastical provinces.
Can. 443 §1.-§3.
Can. 443 §4.-§6.
Church law prevents the plenary council from being a body of representatives in that parliamentary sense, but that should not be confused with the idea of constructing a body which is representative of the full range of circumstances, views and opinions within the church. The 2020 council must be inclusive to be respected.
Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson, who for more than a decade has been a proponent of such a gathering, said he was delighted the first of two sessions will take place in South Australia.
"You want to hope the plenary council is going to do that. "I think Pope Francis is waiting for local churches (for instance the Church in Australia) to ask for it."
In the wake of the clergy sex abuse crisis in the United States and the bishops' post-Dallas efforts, eight bishops believe the time is ripe to dust off the idea of a plenary council – spelled out in canon law – and once more convene such a gathering, "this most solemn common act of teaching and governing" by a nation's bishops.
""What the plenary council is all about is planning for the future of the Church in this country at a very complex time," Archbishop Coleridge said. He said the plenary council 2020 would have to consider deep questions of culture and the Church. There would have to be genuine and thorough responses to all that had come to light in the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse.""
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