§ 142. Statutes of Brotherhoods

There have existed, and there exist today in the Church, numerous brotherhoods, which, through the joint action of their members, strive toward certain pious aims, or which have the task of cultivating certain means which the Church in general requires for the attainment of her aim.[1] All these brotherhoods, or communities of the faithful, as soon as they are lawfully recognized, enjoy their autonomy for their internal affairs, and on the basis of that autonomy have the right to issue corresponding laws, which regulate the relations of the brotherhoods themselves and the obligations of their members. The autonomous right which one or another church brotherhood enjoys is founded upon the corresponding law, issued by the competent higher authority with regard to the aim and composition of the brotherhood itself. On the basis of this law, the brotherhood itself draws up its own statute, which as such becomes the source of particular regulations for the members of the brotherhood. This statute in itself requires approval from the competent authority, insofar as that authority is called upon to attest that the statute is founded upon the corresponding law which that same authority issued.

For a brotherhood’s statute to have legal significance, it must be founded upon the canonical law of the Church, and in general upon the corresponding legal prescriptions of the competent church authority. The autonomous right that derives therefrom can move only within strictly defined bounds, and accordingly the legal regulations which the brotherhood issues must contain nothing that would conflict with the fundamental constitution of the brotherhood itself. If a brotherhood oversteps the bounds set for it, it loses its autonomy; and if, by its nature, a brotherhood is bound up with the constitution of the Church herself, it becomes subject to the general laws until such time as it again shows itself worthy to enjoy autonomy; if it is not of such a nature, and does not stand in a causal connection with the constitution of the Church, then the brotherhood itself thereby ceases to exist as a legal entity.[2]