Reception of the 1993 Ecumenical Directory in the Episcopal Conferences Documents Regarding Mixed Marriages
Reception of the 1993 Ecumenical Directory in the Episcopal Conferences Documents Regarding Mixed Marriages

Summary/Abstract: The subject of the author’s attention in the presented study was the problem of the reception of the 1993 Ecumenical Directory in the documents of Episcopal Conferences concerning the issue of mixed marriages. The conducted analyses suggest that, generally speaking, the influence of the Holy See on the process of making law by the Episcopal Conference is insignificant, since many Episcopal Conferences after 1993 did not issue any new documents that would touch upon this subject matter, whereas, among these which did issue such documents were instances of barely repeating the code provision regarding this matter. The author explained that a clear reception of the Ecumenical Directory regarding Canon 1125, no. 1—3 of CIC is present exclusively in Italian and German documents. According to the author, the regulations they include clearly adapt the provision of the Ecumenical Directory to the local conditions. He believes that the stimulus to undertake such legal steps was the denominational situation in the aforementioned countries. A separate group of legal acts are the documents of a great many Episcopal Conferences, in which the reasons of issuing dispensation from the canonical form, presented by ED 153—154, were explained in detail. According to the author such means of reception are correct and understandable, since the Episcopal Conferences know better the conditions in which local churches function.

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