CATHOLIC SOCIAL SERVICES WESTERN AUSTRALIA

A Catholic Association Operating in Western Australia
Under the Sponsorship of the Archdiocese of Perth

1.0 Preamble

While Catholic lay persons and clergy have the right to establish and direct associations for charitable or pious purposes, which foster the Christian vocation (Code of Canon Law 215), no organisation can legitimately claim the name ‘Catholic’ without the consent of the lawful Church authority (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 37; Apostolicam Actuositatem 24, 25; Code of Canon Law 216).

Associations are not ends unto themselves; rather they should serve the mission of the Church to the world. Their apostolic dynamism depends on their conformity with the goals of the Church as well as on the Christian witness and evangelical spirit of every member and of the whole association (Vatican II, Apostolicam Actuositatem 19).

Accordingly, all agencies and organisations that operate within a Diocese must have the approval of the Bishop of that Diocese to operate as a Catholic agency and this Constitution provides the basis for that approval and the parameters of that approval.

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