The Structures of Ecclesial Synodality the Deliberative Communal Subject
Dioceses and parishes are presented in the Code as juridic persons (cf. cann. 373 and 515 §3), clearly as types of universitates personarum (cf. can 115 §1). For this reason, both dioceses and parishes are to be considered as a “unit” and, at the same time, as being composed of a plurality of persons. We can therefore use the term “communal subject”. This subject acts by performing acts of the will in the context of apposite voting. We can therefore complete the aforementioned term
and use that of “deliberating communal subject”. Just as the communal subject is a unit but composed of several persons, in the same way the act performed by the deliberative communal subject is a single act but composed of the several acts of will performed by the persons making up the subject itself. Hence, the members of the subject perform, and each must perform, an act of will. There follows the evidence of the deliberative vote. The structures of ecclesial synodality at the diocesan and parish levels are nothing else than this, albeit in a smaller version. Thus, what has been said of the latter also applies to the relative structures of ecclesial synodality: a deliberative communal subject with a deliberative vote.
Keywords: dioceses; parishes; juridical persons; universitas personarum; deliberative communal subject; structures of ecclesial synodality.