INCARDINATION AS A CONDITION TO BE A BISHOP?

By Thed Oparah | Published on: 21.07.2017

This article is copyright of Thed Oparah and has not been modified.

In the recent time, precisely after the Pope had given his verdict on Ahiara Diocese on June 8th 2017, Professor Edward Oparaoji has elected to spearhead a new disobedient and recalcitrant school he names Ahiara Laity Worldwide. According to him, this new school is questing for justice and the quest is occasioned by the violation of article 377 §2 of the Code of the Canon Law. Again, according to Oparaoji, his new fight now hovers on incardination as “the criterion” to qualify as a diocesan bishop. This informs the title of one of his postings on facebook entitled “AHIARA LAITY WORLDWIDE WRITES TO POPE FRANCIS PRAYS FOR BISHOP INCARDINATED IN AHIARA DIOCESE”. Well, it has never been my intention to join this latest debate on who becomes the Bishop of Ahiara Diocese because I want to believe that people already know my position on this. However, I am constrained to make this posting considering the misapplication Professor Oparaoji makes by his reliance on Canon 377 §2 as the criterion for electing a bishop of a diocese.

First, let me say that it is wrong for Oparaoji to suppose that Canon 377 §2 holds the criteria/criterion for electing a Bishop of a diocese. What is contained in the said paragraph is only part of a process which actually starts from paragraph one and ends in paragraph five. Paragraph one states as follows:
Canon 377 §1 “The Supreme Pontiff freely appoints Bishops or confirms those lawfully elected”. While paragraph five states: §5 “For the future, no rights or privileges of election, appointment, presentation or designation of Bishops are conceded to civil authorities”. My reason for stating this paragraph five is because of Oparaoji’s apparent intention to stampede and arm-twist first Pope Francis and second the entire Church into doing their bidding.

The criteria for electing a bishop are rather clearly stated at Canon 378. None of the requirements in this article ever mentions “incardination”. So from where and how did Oparaoji smuggle in “INCARDINATION” as a criterion to be a bishop in the Code of the Canon Law? See Canon 378 as appendix below.

Second, to think that a bishop must be drawn from a particular diocese, from a list of incardinated members, is a total misrepresentation of what Canon 377 §2 stands for, and indeed standing this article of the Canon on its head. Otherwise one would ask what is the phrase “even of members of institutes of consecrated life” doing in the contentious second paragraph? But then one may ask: who are the members of institutes of consecrated life? I want to bet my life that Oparaoji does not have an inkling of who this group of people are. If he knows, he would have known that they are not members of a diocesan Presbyter and so are never a diocesan incardinates (See Canon 266 §2). However, Canon 377 §2 which Oparaoji relies heavily on and quotes in his posting states as follows:
Canon 377§2 “At least every three years, the Bishops of an ecclesiastical province or, if circumstances suggest it, of an Episcopal Conference, are to draw up, by common accord and in secret, a list of priests, even of members of institutes of consecrated life, who are suitable for the episcopate; they are to send this list to the Apostolic See. This is without prejudice to the right of every Bishop individually to make known to the Apostolic See the names of priests whom he thinvks are worthy and suitable for the Episcopal office”.

Third, one of the questions Oparaoji and his fellows have been asking is how did Okpalaeke’s name enter the list…? Somebody, in my thinking, has satisfactorily answered him this question but he does not seem to be satisfied. However, I would like to draw his attention to the fact that his much quoted §2 of Canon 377 did not make that process an exclusive preserve of a bishop of a diocese. Otherwise I wonder what this statement “the Bishops of an ecclesiastical province or, if circumstances suggest it, of an Episcopal Conference, are to draw up, by common accord and in secret”, would be doing in the said paragraph.

Fourth, I call Oparaoji’s attention to the this part of Canon 377 §2 which states “This is without prejudice to the right of every Bishop individually to make known to the Apostolic See the names of priests whom he thinks are worthy and suitable for the Episcopal office”. I want to think that the meaning of this statement is more than clear. One obvious meaning of it is that irrespective of the number of terna a bishop sends to Rome, the Pope is not under any obligation to pick from that list. He is rather at liberty to go outside the list provided by a bishop.

Having said these, I think it is high time for Oparaoji to realize that his letter is simply dead on arrival. The truth is that when you hear yourself talk about “INCARDINATION” your catchy word only you know its meaning, it sounds to you as if you are quoting for the Vatican a word they would order Webster or Oxford Dictionary from the heavens to look for its meaning. You have forgotten that no department of the Church exists without sound Canonists. Consequently, no action, such as the one at hand, can ever be taken in the Church without due consideration of the relevant aspects of the Codex Iuris Canonici.

The issue of precedence in law is a very important one and plays a fundamental role in determining cases. For Oparaoji to press his new found vocabulary “INCARDINATION” as a sole criterion to elect a bishop, he seems to have forgotten that many Nigerian Catholic Dioceses are dotted with Bishops not originally incardinated in some of these Dioceses. One recent case: the new bishop of Bauchi Fr. Hilary Dechelem was never incardinated in Bauchi Diocese and is not even Bauchi by birth. He hails from Moeda-Kwalla from Kwampan Plateau State and in fact spent good number of his life in Owerri, Imo State, first as a Claretian and second as a Parish Priest of Maria Goretti Parish Owerri. Or are you not awake to this fact? Common, Oparaoji, how did you smuggle in “INCARDINATION” as the condition for there to be a bishop in the Code of Canon Law?

So, Oparaoji has been ignorantly thinking he is equipped to arm-twist the Church with his new vocabulary “INCARDINATION”, unfortunately it’s a vocabulary wrongly deployed and of no consequence, I therefore urge him to see how to move the Church in Ahiara Diocese forward.

One possible suggestion which I had made earlier is for Ahiara people to engage Okpalaeke to see the need to have an Auxiliary Bishop in Ahiara. Unfortunately, that opportunity seems to be lost by staging a fight we would never win. And by the fact of this fight anchored on “DISOBEDIENCE”, the possibility of an Ahiara clergy becoming a Bishop is made very remote. Ahiara, let us put our thinking cap on. Thanks and God Bless All of Us.

APPENDIX: CONDITION NEEDED TO BE A BISHOP

Canon 378 §1 To be a suitable candidate for the episcopate, a person must:

1° be outstanding in strong faith, good morals, piety, zeal for souls, wisdom, prudence and
human virtues, and possess those other gifts which equip him to fulfill the office in question;

2° be held in good esteem;

3° be at least 35 years old;

4° be a priest ordained for at least five years;

5° hold a doctorate or at least a licentiate in sacred Scripture, theology or Canon law, from an institute of higher studies approved by the Apostolic See, or at least be well versed in these disciplines.

§2 The definitive judgment on thev suitability of the person to be promoted rests with the Apostolic
See.


The author, Thed Oparah is a lecturer at FUTO, Nigeria.

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    Covering and documenting events and developments in Ahiara Diocese and involving Mbaise Catholics. Follow us : @MbaiseCatholics

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