Canonical Sanctions and the Future of the Church in Africa

Sanctions are instituted in the church as a means to restrain or coerce erring members of the church whose contumacy has defied the use of other corrective measures. Sanctions are applied as last resort when all other means such as correction, rebuke, warning and penance have failed. The use of canonical sanctions when and where necessary must follow the procedural norms required by law. The process must take into cognizance the dignity and rights of all parties involved in the case, the right to privacy and good name, the right of defence, fair hearing and the right and opportunity for recourse either judicial or hierarchical. The accused must be presumed innocent until proven otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction. The freedom of the accused must be equally guaranteed such that there is no use of threat whether physical, psychological, real or imaginary to forcefully obtain depositions other than what is true. However, when convicted of the alleged offence the penalty is to be applied with canonical equity. The penalty is not meant to break the offender but to break the contumacy. Penalty is to target the reform of the offender, repair of scandal and restoration of justice. Canonical sanction must fulfil the general purpose of law in the church salus animarum which is the supreme law. The misapplications of canonical sanctions by some ecclesiastical authorities have been the reason for questioning the necessity of law in the Church as a community of grace, preacher of mercy and advocate of forgiveness. This scenario has forced some members of the church to find other alternatives to the Catholic Church. Unless this situation or state of affairs changes the future of the church is reasonably threatened.