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March 24, 2023Bishop McManus announced to diocesan clergy this week that he has promulgated particular law in the Diocese of Worcester, supplementing the existing Ministerial Code of Conduct as it pertains to clergy and their dealings with any adult. The law is published below.
Particular law is one which applies within a diocese, also known as a particular Church that is overseen by an ordinary (a diocesan bishop).
The new law reminds the clerics to cultivate and preserve the virtue of chastity as well as the promise of celibacy for priests and single or widowed deacons. This particular law specifically references digital solicitation, grooming, pornography and/or sharing of such material on social media as ways of violating their lifelong commitment to the observance of chaste celibacy.
The law also cites that the universal law of the Church, Canon 1398 (revised in 2021), already addresses as grave offenses solicitation or pornography when involving a minor or vulnerable adult. This particular law includes any adult in these offenses.
The priests of the diocese gathered Monday to meet with Bishop McManus about the new law and to reflect on their promises made at their ordination.
According to Bishop McManus, this law was seen as a pro-active way to remind the clergy of the moral gravity of the issues addressed by this particular law, especially in light of recent news stories from other parts of the country in which priests and deacons were being removed from public ministry due to violations of the sixth commandment (regarding adultery and the vocation to chastity).
Decree
The priesthood of Jesus Christ is a precious gift bestowed upon men chosen by God and called and consecrated by the Church to serve His people with unselfish, generous, and loving hearts. It is a sacred and precious gift that requires deep faith, maturity, love of Christ’s Church, the People of God, and a burning desire to serve God with mind and soul devoted to the Lord. This commitment and service to the Lord and his people demands that a priest observe celibacy and perfect continence, as a powerful sign of the kingdom of God so that they can serve the Lord with undivided hearts.
The Code of Canon Law, in canon 277, addresses in a specific way the importance of this celibate commitment for priests. It states: “Clerics are obliged to observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and therefore are bound to celibacy which is a special gift of God by which sacred ministers can adhere more easily to Christ with an undivided heart and are able to dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and humanity.” (Paragraph one)
Ҥ2. Clerics are to behave with due prudence towards persons whose company can endanger their obligation to observe continence or give rise to scandal among the faithful.
§3. The diocesan bishop is competent to establish more specific norms concerning this matter and to pass judgment in particular cases concerning the observance of this obligation.”
Accordingly, as Bishop of this local Church, and in accord with canons 375 and 381, I hereby promulgate the following as particular law for the Diocese of Worcester. It is to be considered personal, in accord with canon 13, §1 and binds all incardinated clerics of the Diocese of Worcester wherever they are and those clerics ministering in the Diocese of Worcester who are incardinated in other dioceses or members of religious congregations:
It is the policy of the Diocese of Worcester that a cleric who creates an account, makes use of an account created by another person, or engages in any activity on any means of social communication specifically designed to facilitate violations of the sixth commandment of the Decalogue with an adult is to be punished with a just penalty according to the gravity of the offense.
It is the policy of the Diocese of Worcester that a cleric who creates an account, makes use of an account created by another person, or engages in any activity on any other means of social communication, with the goal of establishing contact for the purpose of violating the sixth commandment of the Decalogue with an adult, often referred to as grooming, is to be punished with a just penalty, according to the gravity of the offense.
It is the policy of the Diocese of Worcester that a cleric who sends, intentionally receives, or solicits sexually explicit material (pornography) from another party, whether words or images of adults, including himself, by any means of social communication, whether in analog or digital format or in print media, is to be punished with a just penalty, according to the gravity of the offense.
The universal law of the Church (canon 1398) states that a cleric is to be punished with deprivation of office and with other just penalties, not excluding, where the case calls for it, dismissal from the clerical state, if he:
1° commits an offence against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue with a minor or with a person who habitually has an imperfect use of reason or with one to whom the law recognizes equal protection;
2 ° grooms or induces a minor or a person who habitually has an imperfect use of reason or one to whom the law recognizes equal protection to expose himself or herself pornographically or to take part in pornographic exhibitions, whether real or simulated;
3° immorally acquires, retains, exhibits or distributes, in whatever manner and by whatever technology, pornographic images of minors or of persons who habitually have an imperfect use of reason.
This particular law will become effective at 12:01 AM, March 24, 2023.
Given on this the twenty-first day of March, in the Year of Our Lord, two thousand twenty-three, in the Halls of the Chancery of the Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts.
Most Reverend Robert J. McManus, D.D., S.T.D.
Bishop of Worcester
Mr. Raymond L. Delisle
Chancellor
