Abstract
All baptized persons possess a natural and constitutive right to associate in their efforts to promote the mission of the Church ( PO 8, AA 8, c. 298 §1). Some of these associations eventually become religious institutes or societies of apostolic life. Canon 302 addresses clerical associations, anomalies among associations. The members exercise sacred ministry, a function belonging within the hierarchial structure of the Church. Likewise, clerical associations differ significantly from canon 278 assuring clerics the right to associate. Because the moderators of clerical associations cannot issue dimissorial letters (c. 1019), nor the associations incardinate members (c. 266), these associations place weighty responsibility on diocesan bishops. The article reviews the process for an association to become a religious institute or society of apostolic life, while raising significant issues around canon 302.
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