For us to elaborate and understand the phenomenon, the person and duties of Holy Trinity parish pastor (a religious pastor), it will surely be necessary to adhere to the ordinary meaning of the notion “pastor.” The current legislation denotes: “Parochus est pastor proprius paroeciae sibi commissae, cura pastorali communitatis sibi partem ministerii Christi vocatus est, ut pro aedem communitate munera exsequatur docendi, sanctificandi, et regendi, cooperantibus etiam aliis presbyteris vel diaconis atque operam conferentibus christifidelibus laicis, ad normam iuris.”251 Literally translating, a pastor (parochus) is the proper pastor (pastor) of the parish entrusted to him, whose duty is to exercise the pastoral care of the community handed over to him probably by the bishop (diocesan bishop) in whose ministry of Christ he has been called to share, so that for that same community he carries out the function of teaching, sanctifying, and governing, also with the co-operation of the presbyters or deacons and with the assistance of lay members of Christian faithful, according to the norm of law.
Just like in the case of difference between a religious and diocesan parish (in which we said that, religious parish still remains a parish, whatever difference may be between the two), likewise we would say that a religious pastor is also a pastor, whatever the case may be; therefore, all that can be applied in the case of other pastors are applicable to him as well, though with difference in the person (physical and juridical) who holds the parish.
So it would be better for us to first approach the notion of “pastor” in an ordinary and general point of view. Moreover, the above fantastic definition discloses that a pastor has a lot to do to take care of the flock entrusted onto him; pointing that a pastor is not mere a civilian who lives independent of his parishioners. A pastor should be for his flock, be at the center to answer for the souls of the faithful under his care. With the help of the above definition, let us look into the properties attached to the “person of pastor” with special regard to Holy Trinity parish.
251 Canon 519.
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1 He is a “proper (own) pastor”
In other words, he is assigned to a given parish to carry out the salvific functions of a particular group of people of God in a parish and that parish must always be proper. The person to be assigned must be an ordained person, chosen to care for a particular parish.
He can never be a lay person, but a fully ordained cleric, and only an ordained person, but a deacon cannot be appointed to be a pastor.252 Hence, “Ut valide in parochum assumatur, oportet sit in sacro presbyteratus ordine constitutes.”253 This is why a lay person or a religious may sometimes seem to possess the qualities and virtues needed to carter for the faithful, still he cannot be appointed a pastor. To be a pastor, the person must begin by been ordained and chosen to handle a parish.254 Even, presbyters sharing the same clerical right with him, like the chaplain, administrator etc.,255 could be in charge of a certain group of the faithful but they are not pastors and that is why the legislator warns them not to harm the parochial ministry of the pastor in any way.256 Consequently, their offices regarding the given parish or group of faithful are not stably instituted.
2 The parish is entrusted to him
The second and important property of a pastor is the entrustment of parish to him. One becomes a pastor, or in other words, one becomes a parish pastor if that parish entrusted to him is a certain community of Christian faithful.257 In the office of the pastor, we have a to-and-fro conditional situation: the parish precedes the pastor just as the pastor presupposes the parish. As already discussed in the above chapters, the diocesan bishop is the only person that possesses the power to entrust a parish unto someone;258 entrusting a priest to work as a collaborator in his stead, to be a proper pastor of a group of the faithful
252 This should be highlighted because sometimes situations may arise when exercise of pastoral care is entrusted to a deacon, or even to someone who is not a cleric, especially due to lack of priests. Even though, the person performs many pastoral functions to maintain the parish, he is never called a pastor to that parish.
The souls of the faithful under that parish cannever be entrusted to him.
253 Canon 521, §1.
254 Canon 521, §1.
255 See c. 549.
256 See c. 559.
257 ERDŐ, P., - SZUROMI, SZ. A., Egyházjog, SZIT, az Apostoli Szentszék Könyvkiadója, Budapest, 2014, 371. Erdő and Szuromi highlighted that the parish entrusted to the pastor should not be imagined to be merely something territory, but instead an erected and governed group who are specifically defined with such demarcating elements like territory.
258 See c. 519.
134 in his diocese. If a religious priest is the proper pastor, the relationship between the pastoral work of the parish entrusted to him and the apostolate of his religious community nem melléreldeltségi, hanem aláreldeltségi kapcsolatban vannak egymással, 259 that is, not coordinating but subordinating in nature, to the benefit of the pastoral work in quote.
3 His office is under the authority of the bishop
A pastor is proper to the parish given to him by the bishop, but not independent from the diocese which the parish belongs to. He is the shepherd but not the high shepherd of the flock of the parish. So, the word, “proper,” refers to the local group of the faithful he governs. His works are controlled by the bishop who assigns him a pastor. He should then do everything to enhance a very strong relationship between the parish and the diocese.
This affirmation is well understood in the way it is expressed by current code, where the diocesan bishop is described as the owner of Christ’s ministry in which the pastor shares.260 The authority of the diocesan bishop highlighted here is highly necessary in whom all the rights of the administering of the sacraments are complete.261 Again, his authority to ordain and send priests to evangelize, the authority to govern the greater flock of God in Christ’s stead, and so on, are all in him.
4 The three main functions of Christ’s ministerial priesthood are his attributes
The code of 1983 has added this property in its definition of pastor; the three main functions of a priest, namely teaching, sanctifying and governing the flock entrusted to his care. There are so many fuctions, or in a better expression, responsibilities which originate from the state of the office of a priest, and they are well carried out if the priest is well disposed as required by the vow of obedience he took on his day of ordination.262 These form the center of the duties of a pastor which I will still elaborate in the subsequent topics.
259 SZUROMI, SZ. A., A szerzetesi és szerzetesrendre bízott plébániákra vonatkozó hatályos egyházfegyelmi előírások vázlata, 237.
260 Canon 519.
261 See CD 15.
262 See KUMINETZ, G., Klerikusok Kézikönyve I, SZIT, SZIT, Az Apostoli Szentszék Könyvkiadóka, Budapest 2012, 296-298.
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5 His pastoral function requires the help of collaborators
The last property mentioned by the current legislation is, the working together of the pastor with the presbyters or deacons with the assistance of the lay faithful as collaborators. This property also appeared among the properties of parish as we have discussed above, because parish is the office of the pastor which has the same function with the pastor who holds it.
It explains that the pastoral work is never a personal endeavor and can only be achieved if the parish works as a community, aiming towards the same goal of salus animarum.
The 1917 code makes the person and horizon of pastor to be more wider. Apart from individual pastors, it empowers moral persons to be pastors as well. Thus a pastor could be ordinarily an individual (a priest) and can be a moral person. And again, it affirmed that the pastor “cares for the souls of the parish.” Hence it denotes: “Parochus est sacerdos vel perona moralis cui paroecia collecta est in titulum cum cura animarim sub ordinarii loci auctoritate exercenda.”263
In the first addition it says that a pastor can also be a moral person. The moral person considered here could be a religious order or clerical religious organization. So it refers to such occasions when a parish is entrusted to religious as in this case of the Kecskemét Holy Trinity Piarist parish. This code also adds that the pastor takes care of the souls entrusted unto him. The function of the pastor, whether in form of rights or obligations, and whether as an individual or as a moral person is simply to take care of the same people of God entrusted to his care. That is why he should do all to see that this aim is achieved.
After these explanations, we would dabble into treating the issue of religious pastor in order to comprehend the conditions and challenges which surrounded the pastor of Holy Trinity parish.
263 See c. 451, §1 of 1917 code.
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