Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests (Ascension)

GOFP 312

Guide to Ongoing Formation for Priests

with individuals also need careful consideration. 224 Pastors need to give thought to clearly setting expectations about guests in rectories and about access to the private living quarters of individual priests. PROFESSIONAL AND FINANCIAL BOUNDARIES 312 While the form varies from state to state, most US parishes have some kind of corporate structure in civil law. Canon law provides a similar juridical status as well as certain structures of consultation and approval for administrative and pastoral purposes. In the current environment of intensified scrutiny of the administration of parishes, dioceses, and eparchies, pastors must have proper formation in the expectations of civil law and canon law for consultation and accountability in administering the parish. Important considerations also relate to finance. Programming for ongoing formation needs to address the boundaries between the personal finances of the priest or pastor and the funds intended for the parish or related ministries. 225 When hiring or selecting contractors, pastors need ethical guidance concerning conflicts of interest for themselves and any other parish leaders. In the Internet age, when fundraising may be as simple as posting a crowdsourcing request, the clergy need ongoing formation in how money may or should be raised for worthy causes, including the accountability necessary to the process. 226 This education will be more effective if a diocese or eparchy considers developing written protocols for fundraising. BOUNDARIES IN COMMUNICATIONS 313 This area is fairly broad, in that it includes concerns related to preaching, print publications (including the parish bulletin), interactions with traditional media, and engagement with social 224 See USCCB, “Complementary Norm to Canon 964 §2—The Confessional,” October 20, 2000. 225 See, for example, CIC, cc. 531 and 1267. 226 See, for example, CIC, c. 1262, and USCCB, “Complementary Norm to Canon 1262—Fundraising Appeals,” June 8, 2007.

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