Eastern Churches, Latin Territories: Ecclesial Catholicity and the Notion of Diaspora
Thursday, September 24, 2020
8:00 p.m. EDT
Join us at 7 p.m. CDT/8 p.m. EDT on Thursday, September 24th as we cosponsor a Zoom webinar with the Lumen Christi Institute in collaboration with the Godbearer Institute. Father Alexander M. Laschuk will present “Eastern Churches, Latin Territories: Ecclesial Catholicity and the Notion of Diaspora,” a lecture in the fall webinar series Eastern Catholic Theology in Action. The Saint Benedict Institute is a cosponsor of this event series.
This webinar is free and open to the public and no preparation is necessary. The event will be presented on Zoom (registration required), as well as through live-stream on YouTube. For more information and to register for this webinar, click here.
According to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, all Eastern Catholic Churches have same rights and obligations as the Latin Church and are equal in dignity. They also share the obligation to preach the Gospel to the whole world. At the same time, the jurisdiction of the Eastern Churches is circumscribed to the notion of canonical territory. Inside this territory, the hierarchy has certain rights, while outside this territory there are numerous limitations. The talk will first discuss the notion of the Church sui iuris and the understanding of the Catholic Church as a communion of Churches. Second, it will then examine the idea of canonical territory in the Catholic Church. Historical roots of the juridical concept will be examined before looking at the current theological and canonical expression. Finally, the notion of canonical territory as currently existing will be critically examined, with special attention to the conciliar teachings as well as ecumenical implications.
Father Alexander M. Laschuk (J.C.D./Ph.D. University of St. Paul Ottawa) is interim director of Sheptysky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto. He is also the Judicial Vicar of the Toronto Regional Tribunal moderated by His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins and parochial vicar at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church (Toronto). A member of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation, his research interests are ecclesiology, history of canon law, penal law, and sacramental law.