HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE TASKS OF CHANCELLOR
Canon 482, article 1, prescribes “in each curia a chancellor is to be appointed, whose principal office, unless particular law states otherwise, is to assure that the acts of the Curia are drawn up and dispatched, and that they are kept safe in the archive of the Curia.” He may be assisted by a vice-chancellor and both of them are automatically notaries and secretaries of the Curia.
The title of the chancellor is derived from the word “channel” which means the baluster or screen which sets off the platform of the bishop’s cathedra from which he presides both in liturgical and in other formal occasions. The chancellor communicates to the bishop the needed urgent matters brought by the clergy and people. The response and decision of the bishop are conveyed by the chancellor to the clergy and the people concerned by spoken word or written communication.
THE OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR
The spiritual good and pastoral welfare of the People of God necessitates that the Diocesan Curia assists the Bishop in the governance of the Diocese. The Curia has to make sure and permanently guarantees the discipline and the practice of governance and the administration in the local Church, regardless of who sits in the various offices and how a particular institution evolves.
Confused sometimes with the Curia is the Chancery. The office of the Chancellor is part of the Diocesan Curia, meaning the Chancellor, is one of the personnel of the Diocesan Curia. Specifically, he is the Secretary of the Curia. In order to distinguish from the Diocesan Curia, it is hereby proposed to refer to the CHANCERY as the Office of the Chancellor.
As an officer within the administrative structure of the diocese, the Chancellor, and when circumstance warrants a Vice-Chancellor may be appointed to assist him, is concerned with the orderly and systematic arrangement of the administrative works in the curia. The Chancellor functions as the secretary of the curia; thus he takes care of recording, filing, keeping and processing of documents. Moreover, the Chancellor is also envisioned by Canon Law as the principal Notary, whereby he authenticates documents by his signature, giving meaning and substance to them. As such, the functions of the Chancellor have additional demands on him. Aside from his proficiency in handling documents, he should also have command of language and orderliness in record management. If however, the Chancellor is given additional faculties, as in dispensations and censor of books, a basic knowledge of certain ecclesiastical fields is a must.
The existence of the office of the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and notaries are according to the discretion of the Bishop who appoints them and can freely remove them from office if he so wills it. The present manual for Chancery management in the Philippines aims to describe their various functions and responsibilities, offering a sample system of procedures, organizational set-up and staffing that may prove helpful in the proper management of chanceries in the dioceses in the Philippines
Basic Services Offered by the Archdiocesan Chancery of Cebu
Although Chancery offices in different Arch/dioceses across the country may vary in their specific tasks, the following basic services are generally offered by the Cebu Archdiocesan Chancery Office:
1. Authorizing partial changes in parish records, such as certificates of baptism, confirmation, and marriage
2. Authorizing full reconstruction of parish records
3. Dispensation for Mixed Marriage and Disparity of Cult
4. Issuance of clearance for marriage between a Filipino and a foreigner
5. Issuance of dispensation from the banns
6. Issuance of circulars for information dissemination, such as diocesan activities and new policies
7. Assisting foreign missionaries and religious in visa requirements, such as change of status from 9A (temporary visitor) to 9G (missionary visa)
8. Censorship of books, manuscripts, novenas, etc.
9. Conducting pre-nuptial interviews for couples getting married at the Archbishop’s Residence Chapel and at the Archdiocesan Shrine of San Pedro Calungsod within the Archbishop’s Residence compound
10. Processing and issuance of documents related to the clergy, such as:
- Request for publication of banns for ordination
- Faculties delegation or permission for ordination, confirmation, and others
- Rescripts
- Appointments of clergy
- Processing of application or renewal of registration and authority to solemnize marriage
- Issuance of diocesan IDs and Celebret
(Except for item 1.9, all the information stated above is taken in toto from the published “Manual for Chancery Management and Chancery Formularies” collaborated and published by the National Association of Diocesan Chancellors in 2014.)
THE STAFF
Msgr. Renato C. Beltran Jr Moderator Curiae, Archdiocesan Offices of the Curia
Fr. Ryan Cortes Vice Chancellor
Staff Members:
TEODORO CLAROS FABURADA Office Clerk
CRISTINA NARCISO LEPROZO Secretary
LYN MAGAPAN TIONGSON Receptionist
JERRY MURILLO ECARMA MARIA ELENA TORRALBA
Office Staff
