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62 Jurist 280 (2002)
The Latin Church Sui Iuris

handle is hein.journals/juristcu62 and id is 286 raw text is: THE JURIST 62 (2002) 280-293 THE LATIN CHURCH SUI IURIS JOHN D. FARIS* In September 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued an executive order, the Emancipation Proclamation, that on 1 January 1863 freed all slaves held in states or districts at that time in rebellion against the United States. In an analogous manner, Vatican Council II issued its own decla- ration of ecclesial emancipation:' ... this Council solemnly declares that the churches of the East and of the West have the right and duty to govern themselves ac- cording to their own special disciplines. For these are guaranteed by ancient tradition, and seem to be better suited to the customs of their faithful and to the good of their souls.2 This ecclesial emancipation is articulated in terms of the churches' right and duty to govern themselves. Such an affirmation is premised on the fact that these churches were actually under the control of another authority or that their self-governing authority was impeded or in some way threatened. It is therefore appropriate to ask, what power controlled or challenged the self-governing authority of these churches? From the context of the statement, it does not appear that the council is speaking of the rights of the churches in the face of secular authority: Therefore, the control or threat must be coming from within the Church itself. In the case of the Eastern Catholic Churches, the threat of incrimination was coming from the papacy and the Latin Church. With regard to the Eastern Catholic Churches,3 the declaration is gen- erally understood to mean that these churches have a certain degree of in- * Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn, Catholic Near East Welfare Association. Emancipation is defined as The act by which one who was unfree or under the power and control of another, is rendered free, or set at liberty and made his own master. See Black's Law Dictionary 6th edition (St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Co., 1990), s.v. Emancipation. 2 OE 5. Translation adapted from Austin Flannery (ed.), Vatican Council IH (North- port, NY: Costello Publishing Company, 1992). 3 A similar statement was made by Vatican II with reference to the Orthodox and Ori- ental Orthodox churches in UR 16: To remove all shadow of doubt, then, this holy Synod solemnly declares that the Churches of the East, while keeping in mind the necessary unity of the whole

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