Letter 35

From: Desiderius of Cahors, bishop To: [Unknown recipient] Date: ~645 AD Context: Desiderius of Cahors, letter 35; on questions of church governance and conciliar authority. To my dear brother bishop, The question of conciliar authority — specifically, whether the canons of a regional council bind bishops who were not present at the council — is one that has both a technical answer and a pastoral one, and I want to give you both. The technical answer: the canons of properly convened provincial or national councils bind all bishops within the relevant territory, whether they were present or not. This is the established canonical tradition, and it makes sense: if canons bound only those who explicitly consented to them, the whole system of conciliar governance would be unworkable. The pastoral answer: a bishop who was not present and who has genuine concerns about a canon ought to have a way to raise those concerns and to seek clarification or modification. The canonical system is not a mechanism for silencing legitimate dissent; it is a mechanism for ensuring that the church speaks with one voice on the matters that require it. When a canon is passed without adequate debate or without the input of affected parties, the proper response is to raise the concern at the next council, not to simply ignore the canon. What is not acceptable: ignoring canons because they are inconvenient, or claiming that absence from the council is a sufficient reason not to comply. Your brother in the faith, Desiderius