XII. SERVICE OF AUTHORITY IN THE PROVINCIAL COMMUNITY
"Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you guardians, to feed the church of the Lord which he obtained with his own blood." (Acts 20, 28)
156. It belongs to the Rector Major with the consent of his council, and after adequate consultation with the confreres concerned, to divide the Society into juridical circumscriptions, erect new ones, combine those already constituted, define them in a different way or suppress them.
Normally the circumscriptions of our Society are provinces and vice-provinces.
As regards other eventual juridical circumscriptions, their internal structure and representation at the general chapter will be defined in the decree of erection, in line with Salesian spirit and tradition.
157. The province unites the different local communities in one large community. It is canonically erected when the necessary and sufficient conditions exist for promoting in a specific juridical circumscription the life and mission of the Congregation with the autonomy that belongs to it according to the Constitutions.
Through its structures the province strengthens the bonds of communion between the members and the local communities and offers a specific service to the particular Church.
158. The vice-province is similar to the province. It is established when distance, number or other circumstances require that some houses be detached from one or more provinces, but the lack of personnel, of financial resources or some other reason does not warrant the establishment of a new province.
Its superior is appointed in the same way and with the same conditions as a provincial. He remains in office for six years and governs with ordinary vicarious power with the help of his council.
159. If within the confines of a province, distance or other reasons prevent the provincial from taking proper care of some local communities which, although having a certain unity among them do not have the requisites necessary for erection as a vice-province, the provincial with the consent of his council and the approval of the Rector Major, can set up a delegation.
Its superior is appointed by the provincial with the consent of his council and the approval of the Rector Major after due consultation among the confreres of the delegation. He exercises those powers the provincial sees fit to delegate to him.
Enrolment of members in a circumscription
160. By first profession a member is enrolled in the juridical circumscription for whose service he asked to be admitted.
He can be enrolled in another juridical circumscription by permanent or temporary transfer on the part of the competent authorities.
161. Each province is headed by a provincial. In union with the Rector Major and with love and pastoral zeal he carries out his service of building up a fraternal provincial community.
With the help of his council he animates the religious life and apostolic action of the provincial community, cares for the formation of the members, especially the novices and young confreres, and directs and controls the administration of the goods of the province and of each house.
162. The provincial is appointed by the Rector Major with the consent of his council after wide consultation in the province concerned.
He must be a priest and perpetually professed for at least ten years.
He exercises ordinary power over all the houses and members of the province in both the internal and the external forum, according to the norms of the Constitutions and of canon law.
He is the competent superior for granting permission to the confreres to publish writings of religious or moral content1 and to preach to the confreres in their churches or oratories.2
163. The provincial remains in office for six years. During this period the Rector Major with the consent of his council may transfer him elsewhere or appoint him to another office, if he judges such action necessary for the good of the Congregation. When he has completed his term of six years he will ordinarily not hold the office of provincial again for at least one year.
164.
The council assists the provincial in everything that concerns the animation and government of the province.It is convoked and presided over by the provincial and is made up of the vice-provincial, economer and ordinarily three or five other councillors.
165. The provincial promotes the active and responsible collaboration of his councillors.
In matters of greater importance he should always listen to his council.
The provincial must have the consent of his council in the following cases:
1. admissions to the novitiate, to profession, to ministries and to sacred ordinations [C.108];
2. appointment or transfer of a rector [C.177];
3. appointment of the director of novices [C.112];
4. setting up of provincial delegations and appointment of the delegates [C.159];
5. seeking from the Rector Major and his council authorization to open and close houses, to modify the scope of existing works, and to undertake works out of the ordinary [C.132];
6. convoking an extraordinary provincial chapter [C.172];
7. financial operations referred to in article 188 of the Constitutions;
8. deciding which sectors of the educative and pastoral activity of the communities are to be represented in local councils [C.180];
9. modifying the normal roles and structures within a community [C.182];
10. authorizing confreres to live outside a house of the Congregation [CIC, can. 665,1].
166. For a member to be a provincial councillor he must be perpetually professed for at least five years and no longer in the period of initial formation.
For the vice-provincial it is also required that he be a priest.
167. Provincial councillors are appointed by Rector Major with the consent of his council, on the proposal of the provincial, following a wide consultation among the confreres of the province.
R 154
They remain in office for three years and may be reappointed, or even relieved from office during that period.
168. The vice-provincial is the first collaborator of the provincial in everything that concerns the ordinary government of the province, as also in those matters specially entrusted to him.
He takes the place of the provincial whenever the latter is absent or impeded.
On the death of the provincial and until the Rector Major provides otherwise, the vice-provincial assumes and exercises the whole government of the province.
169. It is the duty of the provincial economer to administer the goods of the province, and to control and coordinate the economy of the individual houses, in agreement with the provincial and according to the established norms.
170.
The provincial chapter is the fraternal gathering in which the local communities strengthen their sense of belonging to the provincial community, through their common concern for its general problems.It is also the representative assembly of all the confreres and local communities.
It deliberates about matters which regard the province, with the exception of whatever is entrusted by the Constitutions and Regulations to other organs of government.
The deliberations of the provincial chapter have binding force after the approval of the Rector Major with the consent of his council, with the exception of what is prescribed by article 171,5 of the Constitutions.
171. It is the task of the provincial chapter:
1. to decide on what pertains to the good running of the province;
2. to inquire into suitable means for promoting the religious and pastoral life of the provincial community;
3. to study how the deliberations of the general chapter may be put into practice;
4. to formulate and revise the provincial directory in matters left to be decided at provincial level;
5. to elect one or two delegates to the general chapter and their substitutes, in accordance with the Regulations.
R 168
172. The provincial chapter shall ordinarily be called together by the provincial every three years and each time the general chapter is convoked; extraordinarily, whenever the provincial, with the consent of his council and after consulting the Rector Major, shall judge it to be for the benefit of the province.
173. The following take part in the provincial chapter with the right to vote:
1. the provincial, who presides;
2. the provincial councillors;
3. the superior of each provincial delegation;
4. the moderator of the provincial chapter;
5. the rector of each canonically erected house or, if he is seriously impeded, the vice-rector with the previous approval of the provincial;
6. the director of novices;
7. the delegates of the local communities and of the provincial community, elected from those perpetually professed according to the norms of the Regulations.
R 165
174. All the perpetually and temporarily professed confreres take part in the election of the delegates of the local and provincial communities.