The Latin Mass Society of New Zealand

Canonical Response from the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer

Conflicts and tensions between Religious Congregations and Diocesan Bishops are nothing new in the Catholic Church. Whilst a Bishop and the Diocese form the essential structure of the Church, it is not the exclusive way that the Church is organised or power is distributed. Religious Congregations like the FSSR are given what the canons refer to as a ‘just autonomy’. This just autonomy deliberately limits the rights a diocesan Bishop enjoys in his territory when it comes to the members of a religious congregation who are present there. An established house of a Congregation has an independent existence in canon law which a Bishop must also observe.