Trustees and canon law. An increasingly lay leadership in Catholic health care must remember its responsibilities to the church.

S ome 17 years ago, shortly after the 1983 Code of Canon Law was promulgated, CHA asked me to prepare a brief study of the administration of ecclesiastical goods; the resulting article, "Canonical Duties, Liabilities of Trustees and Administrators," appeared in Health Progress in 1985.' Although many of the points made in that article remain valid today, some do not because, in the intervening years, the canons have been applied and interpreted so as to adapt the law to new situations. 1 would, therefore, like to address a number of the newer issues, especially those that apply to members of boards of trustees, who must make decisions affecting the future of the health care apostolatc. In canonical literature, such persons are usually referred to as "canonical stewards." In this article, I will limit my remarks to the temporal dimension of the trustee's role, leaving the spiritual dimension, which is equally important, for another occasion.