Background
Canon 1280 requires that every juridic person should have its own finance council, or at least two counsellors, who are to assist in the performance of the administrator’s duties, in accordance with the statutes. The following guidelines are provided to assist administrators at various levels.
Role of the Finance Council
It is the competence of the head of the Organization to administer the goods and represent the Organization in all legal matters and not that of the Finance Council itself. The Finance Council does not have the task of administering the finance, but it only collaborates with the concerned Organization in the administrative management of its finances in accordance with the law. Thus, the Finance Council shall not be considered the legal owner of Organization’s assets.
But the Finance Council is meant to assist the Organization in the administration of its financial resources. An active, well-formed Finance Council is a key element for promoting the financial health of the Organization, assuring accountability, and assisting the Organization with its temporal responsibilities.
Canon 537 makes the Parish Finance Council a mandated body having an advisory and consultative role with the pastor:
“Each parish is to have a finance council which is regulated by universal law as well as by norms issued by the diocesan bishop; in this council the Christian faithful, selected according to the same norms, aid the pastor in the administration of parish goods with due regard for the prescription of canon 532.”
Applying the same principle, every Catholic Organization is required to have its Finance Council, both by adherence to the Code of Canon Law and by local norms issued by every diocese or religious congregation.
Fr Alex G., SJ
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