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WHAT ARE
LAY TRUSTEES?
Institutes considering introducing non-member charity trustees often refer to taking on “lay trustees” but it is important to understand, at the outset, what is meant by the term “lay trustees”.
Under canon law, Canon 96 provides that “by baptism one is incorporated into the Church of Christ and is constituted a person in it with the duties and rights which are proper to Christians in keeping with their condition”. Canon 204§1
goes on to provide that such individuals form the “Christian faithful” and, in accordance with Canon 205 those who are in “full communion” with the Church are those who accept the three bonds of “the profession of faith, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical governance”.
The term “lay people” is introduced by Canon 207§1 which provides that “by divine institution, there are among the Christian faithful in the Church sacred ministers who in law are also called clerics; the other members of the Christian faithful are called lay persons”.
While this does not provide a de nition of the “laity” or “lay people”, it is clear that the term is widely understood within the Church as applying to individuals who are in full communion with the Church and, as a consequence, are bound by the provisions of canon law insofar as these apply to the Christian faithful.
However, when we talk about lay trustees, we need to make it clear that we are not necessarily referring to trustees who are appointed from amongst the laity. While there will be many good reasons for appointing individuals who are, at the very least, members of the Christian faithful, they do not need to be members of the laity (as understood in canon law).
We therefore de ne the term lay trustee as being a much wider group of individuals, in essence any individual who is not a member of the institute associated with the charity (i.e. outsiders to the institute). Our de nition of lay trustee could, therefore, actually include members of other religious institutes and clerics as well as non-Catholics.
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