Every Parish, Congregation, or other such Cure of Souls of this Church or otherwise subject to the Authority of this Church shall be a constituent part of the Diocese or other such jurisdiction wherein it shall he situated, except as elsewhere provided in the Constitution of this Church and these Canons. It shall be the duty of the Dioceses and other such jurisdictions to promote the spread of the Kingdom of God by the foundation of Parishes, Congregations, or other such Cures, in every place within their respective jurisdictions.
Such Parishes, Congregations, or other such Cures aforesaid shall have and retain the ownership and title of any of their temporal lands and other possessions, which they may now have or may hereafter acquire. No Officer of this Church, acting as such officer, shall resort to any Civil Court for the purpose of depriving any Parish, congregation, or other such Cure of any property or right pertaining to it. Each and any Parish, Congregation, or other such Cure aforesaid may withdraw from the Diocese or other such jurisdiction wherein it shall be a constituent part and from this Church by a majority vote of its membership, or as otherwise specified in any Constitution or Canons, or both, of the Diocese or other such jurisdiction or of the Province concerned, said Parish, Congregation, or other such Cure retaining its property; provided that any lawful indebtedness of the said Congregation, Cure, or Parish to that Diocese or other such jurisdiction or that Province, or both, aforesaid, remains unaffected by such withdrawal and remains subject to litigation.
A non-dependent Congregation or other such Cure of Souls, often called a Parish, shall consist of the Rector, Incumbent, or Priest in Charge and the People thereof, of which number no fewer than twenty baptized members in good standing of this Church, of which number not fewer than ten shall be Communicants in good standing of this Church, and that such non-dependent Congregation or Cure aforesaid shall be self- supporting in its temporalities as well as its spiritualities and capable of supporting a full-time or part-time Clergyman.
A dependent Congregation or other such Cure of Souls, often called a Mission, is any Congregation or other such Cure of Souls of this Church which does not meet the criteria as set out in Section 1.03 above of this Canon.
Inasmuch as the Congregations as aforesaid retain the ownership and title of their temporal lands and other possessions except for any lawful indebtedness they may incur to that Diocese or other such jurisdiction or that Province, or both, concerned, no Congregation as aforesaid may bind said Diocese or other such jurisdiction to any debts such the Congregation may incur; no Diocese or other such jurisdiction may bind the Province concerned to any debts that Diocese or other such jurisdiction may incur; and no Province may bind the Holy Synod to any debts that Province concerned may incur.
In each Parish, Congregation, Mission, or other such Cure of this Church the Clergyman in charge, or, if the Cure be canonically vacant, then the Churchwardens, Vestrymen, or Trustees, shall be responsible for keeping and maintaining the following Records and transmitting yearly summaries of them to the appropriate official of that Diocese or other such jurisdiction concerned no later than Ash Wednesday of each year:
(a) A register of Baptized Members of the Parish, Congregation, Mission, or other such Cure, with a notation of transfers in or out, by Letters of Transfer or other canonical means deemed suitable in that jurisdiction concerned, whether the member is confirmed or a communicant, or both, and if the member is still active in the Parish, Congregation, Mission, or other such Cure.
(b) A Register of Communicants, with the date of their Confirmation or first Communion, or both, as nearly as it can be ascertained or from whence they were received, which Register shall be kept current, and shall indicate those who are still active in the Parish, Congregation, Mission, or other such Cure.
(c) A Parish Register of all Baptisms, Confirmations, Marriages, and Burials within the congregation or Charge, containing all information and witnesses' signatures (at Baptisms and Marriages) as may be required by custom, Canon of that Diocese or other such jurisdiction, or Civil Law, as well as the signature of the Bishop, Priest, or other Minister officiating at each service therein.
(d) A Register Book of Services, in which shall be recorded the date, time, and place of every Service of Public Worship together with the name of the officiating Minister, the preacher, the number in attendance, and the number of Communions made.
(e) An official Electoral Roll or roll of duly qualified Electors or such other official record whereon are enrolled alone the names of all adult members of this Church who are communicants in good standing of that congregation concerned and who are, in accordance with pertinent governing documents and the regulations set forth by that Diocese or other such jurisdiction concerned, otherwise entitled to vote in parish meetings or other such meetings on matters spiritual or ecclesiastical, or both, of that place as aforesaid.
The Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese, Missionary Diocese, Missionary District, or other such jurisdiction shall, at the time of his annual or Canonical Visitation td each congregation, and also before transferring the Clergyman in charge of any such congregation to any other Congregation or jurisdiction, examine the Registers described in Section 2.01 above of this Canon.
If any disorder, irregularity, or default in the records kept in the Registers is round by the Bishop Ordinary his Deputy, the Clergyman responsible for such records shall be liable, unless the default is remedied within three months, to presentment and trial. Furthermore, no Clergyman whose congregational records are disorderly, irregular, or not up to date may be transferred to any other- congregation or jurisdiction until such disorder, irregularity, or default in the records is remedied.
At the times of the Canonical Visitation of the Archdeacon or Rural or Regional Dean or other such Official of the Bishop, the aforesaid Records or Registers shall be exhibit-oh for their examination. Such Official shall forward to the Bishop Ordinary thereof any matter which to such Official seems expedient so to do.
It shall be left to the various Dioceses or other such jurisdictions of this Church to address the subjects following for proper enactment or other similar determination save wherein otherwise provided in the Constitution or Canons, or both, of this Church or of that Province concerned:
(a) of the incorporation and organization of parishes and congregations and the by-laws or regulations thereof, or both;
(b) of the various officers of the parishes and congregations, especially Churchwardens, Vestrymen or Trustees, and other similar officers, of their respective offices, of the terms of tenure of their respective offices and their admission thereto, of the mode and times of their respective elections, of the requirements and qualifications therefor, and of their respective duties, authority, and responsibilities;
(c) of Annual Parish Meetings (sometimes known as and designated 'Annual Vestry Meetings'), their tames of meeting, quorums, mode of conduct, and other related matters concerning the same;
(d) of Vestries or other similar bodies and the by-laws or regulations concerning the same, of their meetings, conduct thereof, and the rules therefor, of their authority, responsibilities, and duties, and other related matters; and
(e) other related parochial matters and concerns.
All persons who have received the Sacrament of Holy Baptism with water in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and whose Baptism has been duly recorded in this Church, are members thereof.
All Baptized members who shall for one year next preceding have fulfilled the requirements as set out in Section 2.02 of Canon 2 below of this Title. Of the Due Celebration of the Lord's Day, unless for good cause preventing, are members of this Church in good standing.
All members in good standing who have been confirmed by a Bishop of this Church or a Bishop of a Church in formal or canonical Communion with this Church or have been received into this Church by a Bishop of this Church, and who shall, unless for good cause prevented, have received Holy Communion at least at Christmastide, Eastertide, and Whitsuntide during the next preceding year, are communicants in good standing of this Church.
All members of the Lay Order and State who have received the Sacrament of Holy Baptism with water in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost and who subsequently have been confirmed by Clergy who are described in Section 2.02 of Canon 2 of Title XIV above of these Canons or who have been purportedly confirmed by rites other than those of the Book of Common Prayer, American edition, 1928, or Canada, 1962, in those Churches so concerned, shall be received into this Church by conditional Confirmation by the lawful and proper Bishop of the jurisdiction concerned, or by his Episcopal Deputy, or by conditional Chrismation as directed if so authorized by such Bishop Ordinary concerned.
All those from undoubted Catholic Churches, who are confirmed or chrismated therein, shall be received by submission to the Ordinary or any priest so deputized by him for that purpose.
It shall be the duty of every Baptized member of this Church to follow this Rule of Life:
To pray daily and read the Holy Scripture regularly;
To attend Divine Service regularly on the Lord's Day, and on other days of obligation, as a Christian Duty, and as an act of Worship and Witness, unless hindered by sickness or other unavoidable cause;
And when Confirmed:
To receive Holy Communion regularly; and always on the principal Festivals; and, if possible, on personal occasions; after due preparation through repentance and faith, and with thanksgiving;
To practice Christian self-discipline, in harmony with the teaching of the Book of Common Prayer.
To undertake personal service in congregation and community; and in the faithful fulfillment of daily work to serve the Lord Jesus Christ;
To express the principle of stewardship by generous and systematic giving of money, and especially by the discipline of tithing except when unable, for the work of the Church at home and abroad, and for relief of the needy, and by the generous giving of alms for other good works;
To study the Christian Faith and its principles of personal and social conduct, and thus to be able to bear convincing witness in the fellowship of the Church;
To preserve and strengthen Christian home and family life, by upholding the Church's teachings on marriage, and by training children to love and serve the Lord; and
To promote harmony and good will in the relationships of daily life, as opportunity offers as a faithful disciple of Christ.
All members of this Church shall celebrate and keep the Lord's Day, commonly called Sunday, and other days of obligation by regular public worship in the Church, by hearing the Word of God read and taught, by resorting to the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ when the same may be had, and by other acts of devotion and works of charity, using all godly and sober conversation.
The Holy Communion is the chief act of Christian worship. On the Lord's Day and on every other day for which a Collect, Epistle, and Gospel are provided in the Book of Common Prayer, it shall be the duty of every priest in charge of a congregation to see that this Sacrament is administered at the time and place at which the greater part of the congregation may conveniently attend.
Men or women wishing to live the Religious Life shall apply to the Bishop of the Diocese, Missionary Diocese, or Missionary District, or other such jurisdiction of this church wherein they are canonically resident for his guidance, and for his approval of a Rule or Constitution in keeping with the intention of said Order, Community, or Institute to live the Contemplative, Active, or Mixed Religious Life, as the case may be.
Should the persons belong to different Dioceses, Missionary Dioceses, Missionary Districts, or other such jurisdictions, they shall apply to the Bishop having jurisdiction In the place where they intend, by God's guidance and will, to establish the Mother House of said Order, Community, or Institute and obtain canonical residence therein.
Only such Bishop having jurisdiction in the place chosen for the Mother House may approve the establishment of such 'Order, Community, or Institute or the Rule or Constitution thereof, but nothing in this or the- foregoing Sections above of this Canon shall preclude, prevent, or otherwise restrain the right of any such Petitioners from appealing to the Metropolitan of that Province concerned if such consent and approval be alleged to have been unreasonably withheld by the Bishop having jurisdiction in the place aforesaid. Such Metropolitan may direct the said Bishop to approve the establishment of the Order, Community, or Institute concerned and its Rule or Constitution if its Faith, Order, Morals, and Discipline accord with those of this Church, and if the Metropolitan upon due investigation find that approval was unreasonably withheld.
Nothing in such Rule or Constitution shall be changed or altered, once approved by the said Bishop, without his express consent and approval, or that of his Successor, given in writing upon due Petition of the Chapter or similar Body of that Order, Community, or Institute concerned, which Petition and Approval shall both be kept amongst the records or archives, or both, of that Diocese or other applicable jurisdiction and of that Order, Community, or Institute itself.
No Religious Order, Community, or Institute shall be In new work in any Diocese, Missionary Diocese, Missionary District, or other such jurisdiction of this Church, without the written consent of the Bishop Ordinary holding jurisdiction within such Diocese, Missionary Diocese, Missionary District, or other such jurisdiction concerned.
The Rule or Constitution of any Religious Order, Community, or Institute shall provide for the selection of an Episcopal Visitor who shall be a member of the College of Bishops of this Church, whose duty it shall be to approve and receive the Solemn Vows or Life Profession of Religious, to visit, enquire, and investigate that Order, Community, or Institute concerned to see that the Rule or Constitution, as approved, is duly observed and all its requirements fulfilled, and to hear and receive appeals, either from the said Order, Community, or Institute, or any House thereof, or from any individual Religious thereof, whether professed or not, as to any and all transgressions of the said Rule or Constitution.
Nothing in the foregoing Section 1.06 above of this Canon shall infringe or otherwise limit the Ordinary Jurisdiction of the Bishop or of the Metropolitan to Visit any House of Holy Religion, whether Abbey, Priory, Monastery, Convent, or other, lying situate within his jurisdiction, as set forth respectively in Sections 5.05 and 5.09 of Canon S of Title VI and Canon 3 of Title IV of these Canons, to see to the keeping of the Faith, Order, Discipline, and all laws, Constitutions, or Canons of the Holy Synod or the Provincial or other Synod concerned, nor shall the foregoing Section of this Canon or any other Constitution, Canon, Law, or Law Ecclesiastical or Custom be admitted and pleaded as establishing any Religious Order, Community, Institute, or House, whether Abbey, Priory, Monastery, Convent, or other, as in any way Exempt from the Jurisdiction of the Bishop, Missionary Bishop, Metropolitan, or any other Episcopal Ordinary, or, if the See be vacant, the Guardian of the Spiritualities thereof or their awful Episcopal Visitor to such vacant See, or in any way not subject to his lawful pastoral concern and needful correction, except that matters affecting only the Rule or Constitution of the said Order, Community, Institute, or House, whether Abbey, Priory, Monastery, Convent, or other, shall be Exempt.
Nothing in any foregoing Section of this Canon or elsewhere shall in any way restrain appeals from the Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese, Missionary Diocese, Missionary District, or other such jurisdiction, or other Episcopal Ordinary, or Guardians of the Spiritualities or the Episcopal Visitor thereof in sede vacante, to the Metropolitan of the Province concerned, or restrict any of his lawful and Canonical Metropolitical Visitorial Authority, rights, powers or duties; provided always, that when the Ordinary or other usual Visitor be himself the Metropolitan, appeals to the Metropolitan In that instance shall be made by right to the next senior Bishop Ordinary of that Province concerned.
Religious Orders, Communities, or Institutes shall be free to appoint liturgical Uses not inconsistent with the Constitution and Canons of this Church and of that Province concerned within which the Mother House shall lie situate, provided always, that the Bishop Ordinary having jurisdiction in that place may allow such other forms of the Divine Office as the edification of that Order, Community, or Institute concerned may so require, in place of, or in addition to, or augmentation of, the Order for Morning Prayer or the Order for Evening Prayer or Compline or the Litany as set forth In the Book of Common Prayer. Such approval once given shalt not be withdrawn by any Successor of or to the Bishop granted such approval.
No Religious Order, Community, or Institute, or any House thereof, once established, in accordance with this Canon and the Constitution of this Church or the Constitution or Canons, or both, of any Province concerned shall or may be suppressed, except by Canon of the Holy Synod or of that Provincial Synod concerned, whichever is applicable in that instance, and by a vote of three-fourths of the whole number of each of the constituent authorities of such Synod as provided by Article XIX of the Constitution of this Church, and no Bishop or Metropolitan whatsoever shall have power to withdraw the official recognition once granted to an Order, Community, or institute, or any House thereof, except for repeated and wilful violation of the Constitution and Canons of the Holy Synod, or of the Constitution or Canons, or both, of the Provincial Synod concerned or of the Synod of the Diocese or other such jurisdiction concerned, or of the Faith, Order, Morals, or Discipline of this Church, or of the Rule or Constitution of that Order, Community, or Institute concerned, or of the other laws ecclesiastical of this Church applicable to the same, and such withdrawal of recognition shall only be made after consultation with the College of Bishops of that Province concerned.
No fully Professed Member of any Order, Community, or Institute may be dismissed therefrom without said Member's right of appeal to the Episcopal Visitor of that order, Community, or Institute concerned, with further appeal to the Metropolitan of that Province concerned, unless said Member by written and signed Declaration, given of his or her respective own free will and volition, waive his or her respective right of appeal, and no fully Professed Member or any other Member under Vows, subject to the authority of this Church, shall be released from his or her respective obligation to or under such Vows or Profession without written Dispensation of the Episcopal Visitor of that Order, Community, or Institute concerned.
Any Religious Order, Community, or Institute may elect or otherwise choose a Chaplain or Chaplains, as the case may be, in such manner as may be according to or provided by that Rule or Constitution concerned, but if he be a Priest not canonically resident with License in that jurisdiction wherein such Order, Community, or Institute, or any House thereof, be situate, he must obtain a License or Faculty from the Bishop Ordinary of that jurisdiction concerned.
Any person previously set apart or Professed as a Religious may, upon providing satisfactory evidence of such status, be received into the Diocese or other such jurisdiction by the Bishop Ordinary thereof, and into such Order, Community, or Institute, or any House thereof, or House as will receive the said Religious, in accordance with its Rule or constitution.
Members of Religious Orders, Communities, or Institutes who are in any of the Holy Orders of the Church shall be and are subject to all Constitutions, Canons, Laws, and laws ecclesiastical of this Church concerning the Clergy and are in no wise exempted therefrom on account of their Religious Profession or other such standing, except where the approved Rule or Constitution concerned permits otherwise, they shall not be required to leave the enclosure of that Order, Community, or Institute concerned in compliance to canonical duties or obligations of that Holy Order concerned as may be otherwise applicable outside the confines of said cloister.
It shall be provided in the Rule or Constitution of every Order, Community, or Institute that real estate, endowments, and any other property belonging to or held for the said Order, Community, or Institute shall be held in trust for that Order, Community, or Institute aforesaid shall be held to the profit of any Member or Members thereof or in any other way which does not accord with the secular Law of the Civil Government or Governments of that place, particularly any applicable regulations or laws controlling or governing any tax-exempt status which may apply.
Religious Orders, Communities, and Institutes or their currently chosen and approved trustees, or his or their successor, shall have and retain the ownership and title of any of their temporal lands and other possessions, which they may now have or hereafter acquire. No Officer of this Church, acting as such Officer, shall resort to any civil court for the purpose of depriving any such Religious Order, Community, or Institute of any property or right pertaining to it. In this regard Religious Orders, Communities, and Institutes shall have exactly the same rights as any Congregation of this Church as set forth respectively in Article XXI of the Constitution of this Church and Section 1.02 of Canon 2 of Title XVII of these Canons.
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(a) Clerical Authority over Music and Musicians.
It shall be the duty of every Clergyman having a Charge or Cure of Souls to see that music is used as an offering for the glory of God and as a help to the devotions of the people in accordance with the Book of Common Prayer and as authorized by the Rubrics or by the Holy Synod or any Provincial Synod of this Church. To this end, every Clergyman in charge of any congregation, parish, or mission shall have authority in the administration of matters pertaining to music. He shall have the appointment, direction, and power of removal of the organist and choirmaster and of any other person or persons who may be required to assist them
(b) Clerical Suppression of Certain Music.
It shall be the especial duty of such Clergymen to suppress all light and unseemly music, and all irreverence in the rendition of all music in any congregation, parish, or mission, as the case may be, subject to this Charge or Cure.
(a) Plainsong Service Music.
In accordance with historic Anglican practice and the customs of the several Western Catholic Churches, this Church allows and recommends to its Clergy and Laity the continued use of such traditional modest and distinct plainsong in sung parts of the Common Prayers in the Church that the same may be as plainly understood as if it were read without singing.
(b) Sung Lessons Permitted.
In choral or sung services, the Lessons also may be sung in a plainsong tune, and likewise the Epistle and Gospel.
(c) Encouragement of Use, Publication, and Study of Plainsong.
This Church encourages the continuance and further revival of plainsong, including the study, publication, and use of such texts from the manuscripts and other sources as may suitably be employed in this Church and not in conflict with its liturgical law, and to those ends the Church encourages the establishment of scholae cantorum and other similar choirs and schools
(d) Other Chanting Permitted.
This Church moreover encourages retention of and use of the distinctive Catholic heritage of its Anglican chant in any choral or sung services.
(e) Polyphonic Music Permitted.
Nothing in the foregoing subsections shall be construed as forbidding such polyphonic compositions as have been heretofore used in the Church for parts of -the service other than those sung by the Clergyman or other Officiant, or as may come to be written and are permitted by such Committee or Commission as the College of Bishops shall appoint, and through which they shall normally exercise their jus liturgicum in respect to music.
Any congregations, institutions, foundations, or
societies received from any other Eastern or Western Church which
shall have placed itself under the oversight of a Bishop of this
Church, may retain the forms of service they have customarily
used provided that the Metropolitan and the College of bishops
of that Province concerned shall have previously examined such
forms of service and shall have been satisfied that the same is
in accordance with the Faith and Doctrine of this Church, approving
such forms of service for use only In such congregations, institutions,
foundations, or societies.