Juridic status: canonical provisions, possible applications

The 1983 Code of Canon Law presents the basic legislation regarding juridic persons, which are entities brought into existence to assist in carrying out the Church's mission. Juridic persons by nature are perpetual and are not directly identified with their members. The private juridic person, a concept introduced in the 1983 code, operates collegially on behalf of its members or noncollegially on behalf of the things that constitute it. A ministry that receives private juridic status does not share as integrally in the Church's name. The latter therefore has more duties to fulfill in regard to observance of Church law, particularly that concerning the administration of temporal goods. The goods of a private juridic person, in contrast, are not ecclesiastical and thus are not subject to canon law. Instead, the private juridic persons' statutes provide norms for their administration. Canon law in establishing juridic persons enables the ministries they represent to last beyond the lives of those who initiated the ministries. Juridic persons offer both security and possibilities for concerted apostolic activity in the Church.