Main areas of research

Dr. Mykola Marksteiner-Mishchenko

Habilitation Project: Reform of the Roman Curia after the Second Vatican Council

Brief description

The reform process of the Roman Curia, which began after the Second Vatican Council, continues to this day. From then on the popes "reformed" the Roman Curia in one way or another. This raises the question why, since the Second Vatican Council, we have witnessed the third reform of the Roman Curia. Is this an indication that earlier reforms were unsuccessful or that the world is changing so fast that a revision must be constantly maintained? The question of what is reform and what exactly needs to be reformed in what way is certainly a question.
This habilitation project aims not only to focus on the main points of the development of the legislation of the Roman Curia, but also to explore the objectives and the reasons for such changes. To this end, it is important not only to analyse the changes in the legislative norms relating to the Roman Curia, but also to understand the theological foundations of these norms in the light of the Second Vatican Council. The Second Vatican Council proclaimed the renewal of the Church to be in harmony with the "needs of the times" (CD 9). This renewal should cover various areas of church life at all levels: from the pastoral life of the individual parish to the governance of the whole Church. It should be noted that, despite the importance of the Roman Curia, apart from partial discussions, this theme did not result in a complete document of the Council Fathers. This calls for a deeper analysis from a theological-canonical perspective of the question of the nature of the Roman Curia.
The problem of the reform of the Roman Curia is at the same time a question of the reform of the Pope's exercise of supreme, full and immediate power over the universal Church (CD 9). This prompts us to analyze the reform of the Roman Curia not only from the structural aspect of the distribution of functions within the Roman Curia, but more broadly from the perspective of the extent to which papal authority is or could be related to bishops, dioceses, Episcopal Conferences, Synod of Bishops, etc. In this regard, the so-called decentralization and the principle of subsidiarity are of particular concern.

Dr. Michael Karger

Pastoral care for people on the move: A canonical consideration of pastoral care structures for seafarers

Brief description

The research project concerns a canonical investigation of pastoral care structures for people on the move, especially seafarers. Due to their activity, during which they spend nine or more months of the year at sea by ship and only spend short periods in port, these people have no opportunity to benefit sufficiently from the proper pastoral care within the parish structure. It is therefore necessary to question how the Catholic Church responds to the right of pastoral care of these people, which can be derived from Jesus' missionary mandate "Go to all people" (Mt 28,19) and especially from Baptism. The norms with which the Catholic Church has provided pastoral care for seafarers since the founding of the "Apostolatus Maris" (Glasgow, 1922) are examined, and whether the structure, last revised in 1997, still allows pastoral care oriented to the needs of seafarers 13 years later. The aim of the research project is to contribute from the perspective of canon law to ensuring that pastoral care for seafarers is still organised today in consideration of their concerns and that approaches are created to provide pastoral care as close to reality as possible.

Dr. Eva Vybiralova

Underground church and secret consecrations. A canonical investigation of the situation in Czechoslovakia 1948-1989              

Brief description

The research project of Eva Vybiralova concerns the secret consecrations carried out in the communist period in Czechoslovakia, especially of married men. What was special about these consecrations was, on the one hand, that they were carried out in secret and, on the other hand, that the men were married, which was an obstacle to consecration. What was the legal situation and how was it dealt with in practice at the time of the ordination? After the fall of the Berlin Wall it had to be clarified what position these consecrated men now held in the Church. The exciting and at the same time complicated aspect of these questions is that the events took place against the background of different legal norms, since the 1917 Code of Law was replaced by a new one in 1983. The aim of the work is to trace which legal provisions existed, what legal possibilities and leeway resulted from them, and how the path chosen in practice is to be assessed against this background. The project belongs to the research topic of the Catholic Theological Faculty "Minority - Migration - Mission" and is carried out within the framework of the Interdisciplinary Forum Religion (IFR).