Administration in church
Z Encyklopedia Administracji Publicznej
ADMINISTRATION IN CHURCH – in secular religious law, history and social sciences, the term “church” (Greek ekklesia) means organised Christian denomination (e.g., Catholic Church, Orthodox Ch., Eastern Ch.). The administration in ch. means: 1. all activities consisting in carrying out tasks belonging to a given ch.; 2. a group of church bodies of one-person and collegial character that deal with management. An example of the Catholic Church’s (C.ch.) administration will be discussed, which is a global organisation, has a hierarchical structure and a multi-levelled territorial and administrative structure (church provinces, church regions, dioceses, deacons, parishes). Basic authority bodies in C.ch. are bishops who exercise legislative, executive and judicial power: the bishop of Rome (pope) in the universal church, bishops in the particular churches (dioceses). Specialised auxiliary bodies, equipped with ordinary substitute authority and appropriate administrative competences, assist the Pope and the bishops in carrying out administrative tasks. The Pope’s auxiliary bodies are the Roman Curia and papal legates. For the diocesan bishops, the auxiliary bodies include: vicar general, vicar bishop, diocesan economist, moderator of the curia. These are the one-person bodies that are part of the diocesan curia. The collegial bodies include, inter alia, a college of chancellors, presbyterian council. Deacons and parsons are the one-person auxiliary entities of the diocesan bishop in the organisational units entrusted to them (deaneries, parishes). The conduct of the church administrative bodies is defined by the general administrative procedure (the making of administrative acts) and the special procedure concerning the management of the church property, removal and transfer of parsons, transfer of clerics to secular status, removal of members of monastic congregations, matrimonial matters, imposing penalties in administrative mode [ B. Górowska ].
Literature: Kodeks Prawa Kanonicznego [z 1983 r.], przekład polski zatwierdzony przez Konferencję Episkopatu Polski [Code of Canon Law [from 1983], Polish translation approved by the Polish Episcopate Conference], Poznań 1984 ■ J. Krukowski, Prawo administracyjne w Kościele [Administrative law in Church], Warszawa 2011.