We’ll wrap up the introduction to the document Mutuae Relationes. You can check the full document online here, and we’ll start getting to the meat of the text tomorrow.
Why was Mutuae Relationes written? The document tells it:
III. The matter treated is circumscribed by well defined limits. It deals with the relations between bishops and religious of all rites and territories throughout the Church and aims at making a practical contribution to the smooth functioning of the same. The direct subject of discussion are the relations which should exist between the local Ordinary, on the one hand, and Religious Institutes and Societies of Common Life on the other. Secular Institutes are not dealt with directly, except where general principles of the consecrated life (cf. Perfectae Caritas 4) and the place of these Institutes within the particular Church (cf. Christus Dominus 33) are involved.
Who is impacted? Every bishop. Every person who has taken religious vows in a community. I would think the authors of this document intended individual bishops to attend to relationships themselves, and not just rely on a fallback: somebody else did that work for me in 1978. Or worse: to be totally unfamiliar with the document at all.
The structure we discussed a few days ago:
The text is divided into two parts: one doctrinal, the other normative. The intention is to give some guidelines for an ever better and more efficient application of the principles of renewal set forth by the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council.
Thoughts or comments?
Catholic Sensibility 