TITLE III

THE DUTY OF CHARITY TOWARD THE DECEASED

96- §1. Since it is good and a holy thought to pray for the dead, so that they may be released from their sins, the brothers should exercise the greatest concern and charity toward our confreres, parents, relatives and benefactors who have left this world. The souls of the brothers and all the faithful departed for whom the brothers are bound to pray according to the precept of the Rule should be assisted by devout suffrages.

§2. Every month a Mass is to be celebrated in each friary for our deceased brothers, parents, relatives and benefactors. The brothers should participate in it; if they are unable to do so, they should attend another Mass or recite Vespers from the Office of the Dead.

§3. On the day after All Souls Day suffrages shall be offered as prescribed in the preceding article. All brother-priests, however, shall offer the sacrifice of the Mass for the deceased.

§4. Other suffrages for the deceased are to be determined more precisely in the General Statutes.

TITLE IV

THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOODS IN COMMON

97- §1. The principal responsibility for the administration of the goods of the fraternity resides with and is exercised by both the Friary Chapter and General Chapters. With due precautions the General Chapter may expressly authorize the Minister General with his Council to handle acts of extraordinary administration. A report is to provided to the Bishop of Birmingham for his review every year.

§2. Ordinary and daily administration is the responsibility of the officials who are elected by written ballots in the Friary Chapter and General Chapter. They are dependent on the superiors whose duty it is to see to the correct administration of the goods.

§3. For the validity of any alienation, exchange, or lease of goods the written permission is required, according to the General Statutes. If it is a matter of an act of administration which exceeds the amount established by the Holy See, and also of items given to the Church in virtue of a vow, or items of precious art, or of historical value, besides the written approval of the Minister General and his Council and the Local Diocesan Bishop, the permission of the Holy See is required.

98- Friaries and the entire Congregation itself, as well as other juridical persons of the Congregation, are to be civilly incorporated according to the General Statutes. Respective legal representatives of these juridical persons are to be appointed who, either personally or through delegates, under the dependence of the superiors, are empowered to carry out acts of administration valid under civil law. Should this become impossible other appropriate arrangements should be made.

99- §1. In each friary and throughout the entire Congregation there should be one central administration which respectively shall unite all the subadministrations of various offices, institutional activities, offerings and the like.

§2. The entire administration of a friary and the Congregation should be entrusted to the exactor and the econome by the respective chapter. The exactor shall receive all receipts, assist the econome and with him oversee the account books. The econome shall make all expenditures within the limits of his competence and procure whatever is necessary for the temporal sustenance of the community. The assignments of exactor and econome can be joined, if the General Statutes so permit.

100- §1. The Office of Minister General is incompatible with the assignment of both exactor and of econome.

§2. The Local Minister may not exercise the assignment of exactor and econome of a friary unless necessity requires it and he is approved by the Minister General with the consent of his Council. Permission is to be given in writing and recorded in the account book.

101- §1. The Friary Chapter shall determine what acts of administration the Local Minister and other officials are authorized to carry out habitually.

§2. The General Chapter shall decide what goods and administrative responsibilities belong to the entire Congregation. Likewise, it shall define the competence of both the Minister General alone as well as with his Council, that of the Friary Chapter and also the amount and frequency of the assessments to be levied on the friaries in order to meet the needs of the entire Congregation and of the poor friaries.

102- §1. The brothers, especially those assigned as administrators, should beware of any unlawful activities and illicit acts of administration as well as of every semblance of the amassing of goods and trade.

§2. Agreements entered into by officials should be duly honored and the price of purchases paid exactly on time.

§3. Debts should not be contracted unless it is certain that the capital and interest on the debt can be repaid with certainty and within a reasonable time from regular income or from other legitimate sources.

103- §1. In any official acts in the name of and by mandate of a chapter or the Minister General with the consent of his Council, the respective juridical person is responsible and not the higher juridical person.

§2. No brother can participate in any way in the administration of goods of a physical or juridical person outside the Congregation unless by way of exception and with the written permission of the Minister General.

§3. Should a brother violate the law or cause damage through his own malice or fault, he alone will be responsible.

104- §1. It is the responsibility of chapters to adopt uniform account books and to regulate the insurance of goods and of the brothers as well as the safe deposit of money or other securities. These and other like matters are to be defined more precisely in the General Statutes.

§2. Under the careful supervision of the superiors the officials are to record precisely and faithfully all receipts and expenditures, all condition in the account books, so that the financial status and statements of the entire administration and of each subadministration will be clearly and distinctly evident.

§3. Before accounts and statements are rendered, the books recording receipts and expenditures are to be signed by the superiors and officials and made available conveniently and without undue delay for the inspection of the perpetually professed brothers of the community. They are also to be given for examination to the General Visitator.

105- §1. Since the community itself is responsible, reports, receipts and expenditures of any administration are to be submitted to the chapter and to the judgment of its members. Each year, however, a financial report of the friary administration is to be sent to the Minister General, unless the General Statutes determine otherwise.

§2. In a friary where there are fewer than three brothers de familia the Local Minister himself according to the General Statutes shall submit a written report to the Minister General, countersigned by the other brother, concerning the entire administration of the friary.

§3. In matters that would require the consent of the Friary Chapter the Local Minister, after consultation with the other brother, must obtain the prior written consent of the Minister General.

106- The financial administration of our Congregation is to be dealt with in the General Council and in the General Chapter.

TITLE V

SAFEGUARDING FRATERNAL LIFE

107- §1. The brothers in difficulty should be suitably helped by the other Brothers, especially by the superiors, even by discreet admonition or fraternal correction should this be necessary and charity so dictate.

§2. All the brothers should practice fraternal charity toward those who have left our Fraternity, remembering them to God in their prayers.

108- §1. The following lack active and passive voice:

a) those who are temporarily professed;
b) one who has been exclaustrated, no matter for what reason, until six months after his return to the cloister;
c) one who has requested reduction to the lay state or an indult of exclaustration or secularization from the Minister General, during the time his request is pending with the competent ecclesiastic superiors;
d) one who has been received back into our Congregation after having departed from it unlawfully, for three years from the time of his return.

§2. The universal law of the Church is to be observed with regard to the imposition of other canonical penalties.

109- §1. The right to dismiss a novice belongs to the Minister General. Should there be danger in delay the Local Minister with the consent of the Friary Chapter may dismiss him.

§2. The universal law of the Church is to be observed in what pertains to absence from a religious house, exclaustration, permission to depart from our Congregation, dispensation from vows, and the dismissal of brothers both in temporary and perpetual vows (cann. 665, 686, §§1-3, 688, §2; 691; 695-702). Reference also Constitutions number 42, §1.

§3. In each case of dismissal the reason for it must be made known to the brother and he should be given full liberty to defend himself both to our Congregation and to the Bishop of Birmingham. Before the decree of dismissal is issued, the brother should be granted, with due observance of the law, the option of leaving the Congregation of his own accord.