CATHOLIC ASSOCIATIONS. - Under this name, certainly a very generic one, one may include all societies of the faithful having a purpose conforming to Catholic doctrine or at least not at variance with it. In this entirely broad sense, there are Catholic associations of mutual aid, of charity, of insurance, etc.
In a stricter sense, under this appellation come only those societies of the faithful which, while not being religious institutes, pursue a purpose that is more of charity or religion or the like, with the approval or at least the recommendation of the ecclesiastical authority. The CIC recommends all of them, urging the faithful to belong to them, and putting them on guard against secret, condemned, seditious, suspect associations or those which in any way seek to escape the legitimate vigilance of the Church (can. 684).
In an even stricter sense the same Code legislates on the associations of the faithful canonically erected or at least approved by the Church (can. 686, § 1), which are all also called ecclesiastical associations, as opposed to those merely recommended, which are called lay associations (but this is imprecise terminology).
We thus have a threefold class of Catholic associations understood in the strict sense: recommended associations, approved associations, canonically erected associations. The CIC, while exhorting the faithful to belong to such associations, deals only with those that enter the last two classes and distinguishes them (can. 700 ff.) into Third Orders, Confraternities, Pious Unions (v. CONFRATERNITY; THIRD ORDER; PIOUS UNION), allowing that those belonging to the last two categories may rise to the dignity of Archconfraternities or Primary Unions. We are concerned with all three classes.
Special mention is deserved by the Associations of Catholic Action, which, according to some, would constitute a fourth category of associations erected or approved by the Church, besides the three aforementioned (v. CATHOLIC ACTION).
From the historical-juridical point of view, it is useful to recall that the Church expressed from its origin in concrete forms its native right to group the faithful into special associations or fraternities, with the intent of better achieving the essential purpose of the sanctification and salvation of souls, or of attaining more immediate purposes dependent on and connected with that one, or in any case of using the means most appropriate to the attainment of those same purposes.
If there was an evolution in this activity of the Church, we find it in the progressively tighter organization of its associations, under the stimulus of self-preservation and of perfection or of the different circumstances of time and place or of the new necessities of social life. Thus it is that from the primitive pious associations of charity, suggested by contingent motives, one passed, also through the impulse of religious institutes, to associations for worship (Confraternities), to associations for moral and spiritual perfection (Third Orders), to associations for cooperation in the apostolate and for social assistance (Catholic Action).
The juridical activity of the Church intervened at first, preferably, only to approve or authorize the initiatives of private individuals; with the 13th century and more with the Council of Trent a more direct legislative action gained momentum, aimed at imparting norms, at settling questions, at promoting new forms of associations, at regulating their foundation, development, and works. Ample documentation on this is provided by the sources annotated at the foot of can. 684 ff.
The CIC, at least for the associations of the faithful more strictly understood, gives precise norms for their erection or approval and aggregation, for their governance, for the admission and dismissal of members, for the administration of goods (can. 686 ff.). Such norms are not in themselves applicable to merely recommended associations.
The Concordat between the Holy See and Italy sanctions the dependence of Catholic associations on the ecclesiastical authority (art. 29 c, 30, 43), and also provides for their recognition for civil purposes (art. 31), which entails the capacity to acquire and possess (art. 30). The laws, regulations, instructions, etc. issued by the two High Parties for the application of the Concordat further determine the aforementioned points.
For associations of arts and crafts, v. CORPORATION.
Bibliography2 works
Agatangelo da Langasco