Inculturating Canon Law

Chapter 5 focuses on global canon law as a subject of inculturation, in relation to global lawmaking and the reception of these laws in the local churches. Lawmaking is organised in a centralised way with little involvement of decentralised agents. Relying on the inculturation approach of translation, the transfer of law into the local churches is structured as the monodirectional transplantation of legislation. Decentralised authorities, such as diocesan bishops, are obliged to enforce the transplanted rules locally. With remonstration, they only have a weak instrument at their disposal to protect their churches from the harmful effects of such rules. Reception is imposed, leaving local agents with limited means of preventing global rules from taking effect in the local churches. Although canonical jurisprudence upholds the doctrine of receptio legis , which attributes a vital role to the receiving community for the law to become and remain valid, this idea is not reflected in current legal practice. Instead, the law obliges Catholics to embrace global legislation, following the concept of command and obedience. The local generation of customs contrary to the law is limited, so there are few options for establishing alternative local regulations. These factors make the inculturation of canon law challenging.