Transfer Between Churches sui iuris
Transfer Between Churches sui iuris is the formal canonical change by which a Catholic already ascribed to one Church sui iuris becomes ascribed to another under the consent, declaration, and recording rules of Eastern canon law.[1]
Consent and freedom
Transfer is not produced simply by adopting another liturgical spirituality or habitually worshipping in another Catholic parish. Canon 31 also forbids anyone from presuming to induce a member of the faithful to transfer. The law protects both personal freedom and the continued life of each Church's proper liturgical, theological, spiritual, and disciplinary patrimony.[2]
Canon 32 ordinarily requires the consent of the Apostolic See for validity. That consent is presumed when a member of an eparchy requests transfer to another Church sui iuris that has its own eparchy in the same territory and both eparchial bishops consent in writing. The presumption does not dispense with those stated territorial and documentary conditions.
Marriage and children
Canon 33 gives a wife the option of transferring to her husband's Church sui iuris when the marriage is celebrated or during the marriage; if the marriage is dissolved, she may freely return to her former Church. Marriage therefore provides a lawful option in the stated case, not an automatic transfer merely because spouses belong to different Churches.
Canon 34 regulates children below fourteen when parents transfer. If both parents transfer, or the Catholic spouse transfers in a mixed marriage, children below that age follow by law; if only one parent in a marriage between Catholics transfers, the children transfer only with both parents' consent. After completing fourteen years, they may return to the Church in which they were previously enrolled.
Declaration, effectiveness, and record
Under canon 36 a transfer takes effect when the person makes the required declaration before the local Hierarch of the receiving Church, the proper pastor, or a priest delegated by either, together with two witnesses, unless an Apostolic See rescript provides otherwise. Permission alone and private intention should therefore not be confused with the juridical moment at which enrollment changes.
The transfer must be annotated in the baptismal register or preserved through the alternative record allowed by canon 37. It changes canonical ascription, not the fact or validity of baptism and not communion in the one Catholic Church. Conversely, pastoral care by another Church's clergy leaves the original ascription intact under canon 38 unless the actual transfer requirements are fulfilled.
References
- Back to citation Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches — Official text governing Churches sui iuris, patriarchal and metropolitan structures, hierarchs, enrollment, and inter-Church transfer.
- Back to citation Orientalium Ecclesiarum — Vatican II on the equal dignity, proper patrimony, government, synods, and inter-Church relations of the Eastern Catholic Churches.