OFFICIAL
Diocese of Davenport
Bishop’s Office
Davenport, Iowa 52804
GENERAL DECREE
I, Most Reverend Dennis G. Walsh, having examined the issue regarding the level at which an act of administration for persons subject to me is to be considered extraordinary, without prejudice to their statutes, and, having heard the Presbyteral Council on April 23, 2026, and, in accordance with canon 1281 §2, having heard the Diocesan Finance Council on August 7, 2026, do hereby issue this GENERAL DECREE (c. 29) and decree that it be duly promulgated to the Presbyterate of the Diocese of Davenport on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, via email. The previous law, contained in number 32 of the Particular Legislation of the Diocese of Davenport being derogated, and the vacatio leges (c. 8 §2) will last until September 30, 2026, at which point the law will go into effect, being:
Each parish or diocesan institution is to have formal approval by corporate resolution of its Board of Directors for the entering of contracts, borrowing of money, purchase or sale of property, encumbrance of property by lease or mortgage, or the expenditure of parish funds in excess of $15,000. (Canons 1290 and 1291)
As in accordance with canon 1281 §1, any acts placed by administrators after September 30, 2026, which exceed this amount, that have not gotten written faculty from the ordinary, are to be considered INVALID, and, in accordance with canon 1281 §3, that juridic person is not to be held accountable for those acts, but rather the administrator that placed them invalidly.
Given at the Chancery on August 12, 2026.
Dennis Walsh
Bishop of Davenport
Deacon David Montgomery
Chancellor
