Governance & Canon Law

Curriculum Objectives

This unit provides opportunities for students to develop a foundational knowledge and understanding of governance in Catholic Church organisations. Theoretical insights from selected organisational research will be explored for their relevance to the variety of ways in which governance is exercised in the Church’s different contexts and organisational arrangements.  In particular it will focus on the relationship between governance, mission, ministry and work.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• demonstrate specialised knowledge of the organisational and theoretical aspects of Catholic Church governance and its relationship to the wider field of the governance
  of non-profit organisations
• demonstrate specialised knowledge of the relationship between Mission and Governance, how work or ministry is organised to fulfil the Mission, and the capacity to apply such knowledge in specific professional contexts
• demonstrate an ability to analyse and critically evaluate the governance arrangements of the Catholic Church and its various organisational forms, and
• demonstrate skills in deploying imagination and creativity in solving problems related to governance in mission and ministry contexts.

Assumed Knowledge 

Not applicable

Study hours   

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of

• At least one hour per week for online lectures
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

This unit provides opportunities for students to develop a foundational knowledge and understanding of canon law. The fundamental principles of canon law, as well as its application, are studied in various Catholic Church organisations and contexts. Students have the opportunity to consider the particular context in which they work, or have a particular interest, while analysing their understanding of Church governance in a canonical framework.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit, students will be able to:

• demonstrate specialised knowledge of canonical terminology and the ability to apply this knowledge in the context of Church organisations
• demonstrate specialised knowledge and understanding of the history, nature and sources of the Code of Canon Law (Latin or Eastern), and its relationship with theology and the mission of the Church, as well as the capacity to analyse, consolidate, and synthesise such knowledge, and
• undertake a detailed analysis and application of those General Norms relevant to the students’ work or interest, demonstrating specialised knowledge in so doing, as well as the capacities for problem solving and application of knowledge in a professional or ministry context.

Assumed Knowledge 

Not applicable

Study hours    

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of

• At least one hour per week for online lectures
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

This unit will provide detailed analysis of the organisational structure of Church, with reference to relevant codes of canon law. Initial attention is given to the obligations and rights of all the Christian faithful as described by canon law. An understanding of the theological and canonical characteristics of the diocese, as an organisational unit of the Catholic Church, is developed. The concept of a public juridic person is studied, in relation to a wide range of Church organisations. Students are given the opportunity to analyse a specific Church organisation through this framework, including:

• Dioceses, diocesan agencies and parishes
• Religious Institutes
• Associations of the Faithful
• Ministerial Juridic Persons and other ecclesial organisations

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit, students will:

• demonstrate specialised knowledge of the relationship between theology and ecclesial structures
• demonstrate specialised knowledge of the relationship between theology and canon law in regard to ecclesial structures, and
• demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of all aspects of ecclesial structures relevant to a diocese including its juridical personality.

Assumed Knowledge 

P8160 & P8169

Study hours    

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of

• At least one hour per week for online lectures
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Unit overview and content

This unit examines the practice of stewardship as it occurs through the bishops’ participation in the threefold munera of sanctifying, teaching and governing.

The biblical foundation of stewardship arises out of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church – Lumen Gentium. The unit opens with an examination of the relationship between the key elements of stewardship and the role of bishop, as prescribed by the Second Vatican Council. Students will consider ways in which ecclesial change in the post-conciliar Church resulted in a move towards a decentralised Church.

The impact on the bishop’s role of governance as vicar of Christ is considered, with particular reference to power and autonomy in decision-making.  This will involve study of The Directory on the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops. The depiction of bishop as shepherd will lead students to consider how the guiding principles of the Directory help shape the bishop’s role in administering the particular Church through acts of governance that are undertaken in direct response to stewardship.

Finally, the study of relevant aspects of Book V of the Code of Canon Law will assist students to understand the concept of ecclesiastical goods and how they are regulated in Church law. The principals of the effective stewardship of temporal goods are considered, with particular focus given to the canonical action of alienation of ecclesiastical property (canons 1290-1298). Students are given the opportunity to explore methods of best practice through a case study of a diocese or religious institute.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of the biblical notion of stewardship as incorporated into key relevant documents of the Second Vatican Council.
• demonstrate an understanding of the ways in which decentralisation has impact on the bishop’s role of governance, and how this helps define the essential virtues and principles found in the exercise of stewardship. This includes discernment of ways in which care for the Particular Church is divested through the bishop, to local Church, in ways that encourage lay participation in the bishop’s work of stewardship.
• explain the concept of ‘ecclesiastical goods’ and their regulation in canon law within the different structures of the Church, in dioceses and religious institutes, with a particular focus on canons 113-123, 634-640 and 1254-1310. This includes examination of statutory requirements of accountability, delegation and reserved powers in the governance of temporal goods of a public juridic person, with particular reference to canons 113-123, and c. 1303.
• undertake the completion of a specific case study illustrating ways in which dioceses are structured through Vatican II and canon law to assist bishops to enable the exercise of stewardship in the local Church.

Unit content

• • Stewardship – what are we talking about? Stewardship and its relationship to Governance
  • Scriptural and Theological basis of Stewardship
  • Virtues and Principles of Pastoral Governance
  • Structures of Participation of the Lay Faithful
  • Juridic Persons and Juridic Acts
  • Pastoral Stewardship
  • Financial Stewardship
  • Other Temporal Goods Issues

Assumed Knowledge 

P8160 Introduction to Governance for Mission, Ministry and Work in the Church
P8169 Introduction to Canon Law and General Norms

Study hours    

11 hours per week for 11 week session, comprised of

• At least 1 hour per week for online lectures
• At least 4 hours per week of reading.
• At least 6 hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

This graduate course unit provides students with demonstrated initiative and creativity an opportunity to focus at an advanced level in a particular area of Leadership, under the tutelage and guidance of a specialist in the field. The unit is designed to refine the skills of independent study by allowing the student to define their own study, and to set their own goals by means of an extended guided reading program.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit, students will be able to:

• develop a focused topic for independent scholarly investigation
• conduct independent research, under supervision, in terms of locating, utilizing and referencing a wide range of appropriate primary and secondary sources
• analyse and evaluate with critical empathy a range of disparate scholarly positions
• defend an independent perspective on the topic of the investigation, and
• produce a cogent set of researched findings in an extended piece of academic writing.

Assumed Knowledge 

For Governance and Canon Law students: P8160 & P8169, and for Leadership students: P8155, M8161 & P9264

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of

• At least 10 hour per week of directed study, including reading, research, consultation with tutor and writing up of assessment tasks.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.