Canon lawyers draft new guidelines on church communities

CEBU, Philippines - Canon lawyers crafted new guidelines on Basic Ecclesiastical Communities (BECs) in order to have uniformity on their structure and direction.

Msgr. Rey Manuel Monsanto, the Canon Lawyers Society of the Philippines (CLSP) vice president for Mindanao, made clarifications on the different issues concerning BEC during the National Convention of Canon Lawyers in Bacolod which ended the other day.

In his talk on the theologico-canonical reflections on BEC, Monsanto said that it has been noticed that BECs are lived in many different ways in many different places, according to different situations.

He cited the probable lack of Vatican definition and particular instructions or directives or at least guidelines on how BECs are to be structured and directed, as one of the reasons why those things happened.

“There have been questions on how to govern them and direct their activities so that there will some uniformity, especially in the light of the Church’s hierarchical structures and canonical laws,” Monsanto said.

He added that there have also been complaints on BECs activities and actuations, and on their policies, norms and guidelines, especially towards non-members and the not-so-faithful members of the units or cells.

He further stated that these policies have discriminated against non-members and have in fact alienated some from the Church as they have been considered too excessive and stricter than Canon Law or the official laws of the Church.

Some people and even some priests have even been observed to downplay other existing church organizations and associations in favor of the BECs, he said.

On the other hand, Monsanto said the BECs have been praised and in fact been made a thrust of the Philippine Church especially after Plenary Council of the Philippines II, and have become a realities in many Philippine dioceses and parishes.

“Of these ‘lights and shadows’ of the BECs, there have been growing requests from many sides to look at them from the point of view of the canons of the Code, and to see if there can be some canonical guidelines on them,” Monsanto said.

During the said convention, Monsanto presented to all the CLSP members a working paper which is an attempt to answer the requests of BEC directors, of parish priests and even of lay people both those who are members and those who are not.  —/JPM (FREEMAN)