Fathers and Brothers

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.