Whether Fraternal Correction Belongs Only to Prelates?
Objection 1: It would seem that fraternal correction belongs to
prelates alone. For Jerome [*Origen, Hom. vii in Joan.] says: "Let
priests endeavor to fulfil this saying of the Gospel: 'If thy brother
sin against thee,'" etc. Now prelates having charge of others were
usually designated under the name of priests. Therefore it seems that
fraternal correction belongs to prelates alone.
Obj. 2: Further, fraternal correction is a spiritual alms. Now
corporal almsgiving belongs to those who are placed above others in
temporal matters, i.e. to the rich. Therefore fraternal correction
belongs to those who are placed above others in spiritual matters,
i.e. to prelates.
Obj. 3: Further, when one man reproves another he moves him by his
rebuke to something better. Now in the physical order the inferior is
moved by the superior. Therefore in the order of virtue also, which
follows the order of nature, it belongs to prelates alone to correct
inferiors.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Dist. xxiv, qu. 3, Can. Tam
Sacerdotes): "Both priests and all the rest of the faithful should be
most solicitous for those who perish, so that their reproof may
either correct their sinful ways, or, if they be incorrigible, cut
them off from the Church."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 1), correction is twofold. One
is an act of charity, which seeks in a special way the recovery of an
erring brother by means of a simple warning: such like correction
belongs to anyone who has charity, be he subject or prelate.
But there is another correction which is an act of justice purposing
the common good, which is procured not only by warning one's brother,
but also, sometimes, by punishing him, that others may, through fear,
desist from sin. Such a correction belongs only to prelates, whose
business it is not only to admonish, but also to correct by means of
punishments.
Reply Obj. 1: Even as regards that fraternal correction which is
common to all, prelates have a grave responsibility, as Augustine
says (De Civ. Dei i, 9): "for just as a man ought to bestow temporal
favors on those especially of whom he has temporal care, so too ought
he to confer spiritual favors, such as correction, teaching and the
like, on those who are entrusted to his spiritual care." Therefore
Jerome does not mean that the precept of fraternal correction
concerns priests only, but that it concerns them chiefly.
Reply Obj. 2: Just as he who has the means wherewith to give corporal
assistance is rich in this respect, so he whose reason is gifted with
a sane judgment, so as to be able to correct another's wrong-doing,
is, in this respect, to be looked on as a superior.
Reply Obj. 3: Even in the physical order certain things act mutually
on one another, through being in some respect higher than one
another, in so far as each is somewhat in act, and somewhat in
potentiality with regard to another. In like manner one man can
correct another in so far as he has a sane judgment in a matter
wherein the other sins, though he is not his superior simply.
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