Brother Ignatius, a perpetually professed brother in a religious congregation, decided to leave and applied for an “indult” to leave the institute. When the “rescript” arrived from Rome, he refused to accept it. The superiors permitted him to continue his religious life. Is it right from the part of the superiors to permit him to stay on even after the Holy See granted the permission to leave? Would you also explain the terms, ‘indult’ and ‘rescript’?
We shall begin with explaining these terms: (i)The word ‘indult’ is derived from the Latin word indultum meaning a ‘favour’ or ‘privilege’ or ‘dispensation’ or ‘special permission’ granted by the competent superior. (ii) The term ‘rescript’ comes from the Latin re-scribere meaning a response in writing by the competent authority.The competent authority in both cases is: For a pontifical right institute, it is the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life;for a patriarchal right institute,the Patriarch and for a diocesan right institute, it is the diocesan bishopof the diocese where the generalate resides (CIC c. 691§2; CCEO c. 549§2, 1º,2º).
The term ‘indult to leave the institute’ is also called ‘secularisation’. It refers to the definitive departure of a member from the religious institute. It concerns, just as in exclaustration, only with the perpetually professed and not temporarily professed members.
“A perpetually professed religious is not to seek an indult to leave the institute, except for the gravest of reasons, weighed before the Lord. The petition is to be presented to the supreme Moderator of the institute, who will forward it to the competent authority with his or her own opinion and that of the council.” “A member in perpetual vows is not to request an indult to leave an order or congregation and to return to secular life except for the most grave causes. The religious is to present his or her petition to the superior general, who is to send it, along with a personal opinion and the opinion of his or her council to the competent authority” (CIC c. 691§1; CCEO c. 549§1).
The wording in the canons is in superlative degree emphasizing the seriousness of the act. Hence a purely subjective judgment by an individual is not sufficient. It can be requested only for most grave reasons weighed before the Lord. The gravest reasons could be genuine inability to observe the obligations of religious life; absence of religious vocation; the incapacity, not merely difficulty, to live community life; or repeated violations of the vows. Hence before applying, the member is to seek counsel from qualified persons like spiritual director, confessor or superiors.
The petition is to be addressed to the Holy See/Patriarch/Diocesan Bishop through the mediation of the superior general. The personal opinion of the superior general and that of the council are to be forwarded along with the petition. Even when the opinion is not favourable to the petitioner,it can still be forwarded. In certain cases, the superiors may propose this alternative in order to avoid the process of dismissal. The request is subsequently, not necessarily, granted through a rescript. The one petitioning for an indult does not have absolute right for it. Therefore, it is granted as a ‘concession’ of the competent authority.
The rescript is made known to the member by the superior general. If there is a practical difficulty for the superior general to communicate, they may delegate the provincial to do so. Upon the notification of the rescript and acceptance by the religious, the member is automatically dispensed from the obligation of keeping the three vows and the membership of the member in the institute ceases. The incident that took place in the congregation, who raised the above questions, is a rare occurrence. However, it is right because the canon law gives the right and freedom to the petitioner to accept or reject the indult at the time of intimation. If during the interval between the petition and the rescript, the cause has changed or there was a change of heart, the individual mayreject the indult. However, the rejection has to be expressed in some public form, either in writing or in the presence of at least one reliable witness. In case the religious concerned reject the rescript, the indult becomes inoperative and has to be sent back to the conceding/granting authority with the annotation/explanation of the refusal by the petitioner. (CIC c. 692; CCEO c. 493§1).If the petitioner is a cleric, the indult is not granted before he finds a Bishop who agrees to accept him in his jurisdiction permanently or at least experimentally for a period of five years (CIC c. 693; CCEO c. 494).
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