Fathers and Brothers: The Legitimate Expectation of Diocesan Clerics in the Light of Canon 384 of the Code of Canon Law

Law is concerned with the recognition of human relationships and the

duties and obligations which they generate. It is through the

promulgation of norms that such legal systems declare this recognition.

However, human relationships find expression in lived experience. It is

in this same lived experience that the values espoused by the legal

system stand or fall. The relationship between incardinated cleric and

Diocesan Bishop is central to the vitality of the particular church. The

dynamic of the relationship has been encapsulated in familial terms

redolent of mutual dependency and commitment. Canon 384 CIC proclaims

the duty of the Diocesan Bishop to protect the rights of his priest.

Yet the lived experience not infrequently exposes the incardinate priest

to a reality of isolation and abandonment. Such experiences oblige us to

ask: what are the legitimate expectations of the incardinated cleric?

This study is directed to the resolution of this question.