Folia Canonica 12. (2009)
STUDIES - Péter Artner: The remuneration of diocesan clerics
10 PÉTER ARTNER Since the benefice system is not attached to the office, but to the diocesan fund for the support of the clerics, and the cleric is incardinated to the diocese with his ordination, according to the teaching of the Council, the incardination is the principal but not the exclusive basis of the clerics’ remuneration. The separation of the benefice and the office helps the old and disabled priests to receive support, through the social insurance, when they are already unable to fulfill their job. The regulation of the Vatican Council II appeared in the CIC ’83, as the basis of the remuneration of the clerics. III. The Code of Canon Law 1983 1. Remuneration or Sustentation In the Code we can find both the words “remuneratio” and “sustentatio”. It seems that the use of these words is inconsistent, but the difference between them can be recognized. The word “remuneratio”15 is used to express the payment for the work done, and the “sustentatio”16 is used for the supply of a person which originates from his personal dignity. This latter expression is used in the Code if it speaks about the provision of the Church itself or of some institutes'7 of the Church. According to the wording of the code and the meaning of these two expressions, the word “remuneration” is used to express the allowance given for a special work, service or profession, and “support” is used to express the benefice for the basic needs.18 In case of the retirement of a bishop the Code in §2 of canon 402 mentions “sustentatio digna” and not “sustentatio honesta”, which seems to express the dignity of the bishops by this way, too. 15 Cc. 191 §2; 230 §1; 231 §2; 263; 281; 418; 531. 16 Cc. 222 §1; 230 §1; 233; 263; 264; 269; 281; 282 §2; 295; 384; 402; 538; 640; 707; 800; 1154; 1254; 1274 §1; 1350 §1; 1650 §2; 1689. 17 Cc. 264 §2 (eleemosynis sustententur)-, 800 §2 (sustentandas). 18 It is to be noted that beside these two canons the Code uses the word “sustentatio” in two other cases, at the dismissal of the members of a religious institute “stubborn upholding or diffusion of doctrines condemned by the Magisterium of the Church - pertinax sustentatio vel diffusio doctrinarum ab Ecclesiae magisterio damnatarum" (c. 696 §1), and in connection with the devotion of saints, i.e. “whose example instructs the Christian faithful and whose intercession sustains them — quidem exemplo christifideles aedificantur et intercessione sustentantur ” (c. 1186).
