Page:Pastoral letter of the first National Council of the United States - held in Baltimore in May, 1852 (IA PastoralLetter1852).pdf/8

Rh of the temporalities belonging to her, principles and rules foreign to her spirit and irreconcilable with the authority of her Pastors. The result was such as might have been expected. Peace and harmony were disturbed, the progress of religion checked or entirely impeded, and the Church reproached with the misconduct of her unworthy children. For the purpose of guarding against the recurrence of such evils; we deem it necessary to make a public and authentic declaration of Catholic principles on this important subject. Whatever is offered to God, and solemnly consecrated to His service, whether it be the material temple in which His worshippers assemble; or the ground set apart for the interment of those who repose in God's-field awaiting the promised resurrection, or property, real or personal, intended for the purposes of Divine service, or for the education, support and maintenance of the clergy,—every such thing is sacred and belongs to the Church, and cannot be with drawn from the service of God without the guilt of sacrilege. The donor or donors of such gifts can exercise no right of ownership over them. With these temporal things, thus separated from common purposes and set apart for the service of the sanctuary, the Church cannot allow any interference that is not subordinate to her authority. The Bishop of each diocess is the representative and organ of that authority, and, without his sanction, no arrangement, howsoever in itself of a purely temporal nature, that has reference to religious worship, has, or can have, force or validity. Whenever the Bishop deems it advisable to acquiesce in arrangements for the administration of Church temporalities which have not originated with the ecclesiastical authority, or which may have arisen from ignorance of its rights, or from a spirit of opposition to them, we declare that such arrangements have force and effect in the Catholic Church, in consequence of such acquiescence, and not from any other cause or principle whatever. And we furthermore declare, that whenever the Bishop of a diocess recognises such arrangements, or acquiesces in them, those charged with the care of church temporalities, whether laymen or clergymen, are bound to render an annual account of their administration to the Bishop, agreeably to the rule prescribed in such cases by the Holy Council of Trent.