Research at the Cattedra Eugenio Corecco
The Chair promotes research and scientific publications related to Bishop Eugenio Corecco and awards research grants to support this scope.
In addition to the main established topics of Corecco’s scholarship, such as synodality, epistemology, theology, and methodology of Canon Law, communio, the Chair aims to serve as a meeting point for scholars interested in Corecco’s theory and works. New research has also been initiated at the Cattedra Eugenio Corecco.
Among these, particularly noteworthy are:
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"The American" Eugenio Corecco
This research originates from Corecco’s deep fascination with the United States of America since his childhood, when some of his relatives emigrated from the valleys of the Leventina (Ticino – Switzerland) to the United States (esp. in Montana, Nevada, and California). This fascination matured developing a specific scientific and academic focus, as evidenced by Corecco’s PhD thesis, discussed under the mentorship of Klaus Mörsdorf in Munich in 1962. The thesis was devoted to the synodal activity of the US Episcopal Conference at the end of the 19th century. Another notable work is the anthology of Corecco’s writings titled The Theology of Canon Law. A Methodological Question, published with Duquesne University Press (Pittsburgh) in 1993.
Starting in the 1990s, this original fascination found correspondence in the growing reception of Corecco's thought in North American scholarship and then in the English-speaking world.
Among these scholars should be mentioned James A. Brundage (Kansas), Ladislas Örsy (Washington), Myriam Wijlens (Erfurt), Felix Wilfred (Chennai), John J. Coughlin (New York–Abu Dhabi), and Judith Hahn (Bonn)."The American" Eugenio Corecco - Eugenio Corecco "l'americano" 4-6.12.2025 - FTL (youtube)
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Ontology of Faith and Communio
This second line of research builds on studies related to the so-called “The Ontological in Canon Law” (notably, Örsy [1992] and Coughlin [2012]) and explores the ontological concepts and structures Corecco employs in his general theory of Canon Law, ranging from Trinitarian ontology to the ontologies of communio and synodality. Although Corecco had resolutely asserted since his postdoctoral years in Munich that it is not possible to “explain the unity and plurality of the Church by simply arguing with philosophical or historical reasons” (1968), he nevertheless uses metaphysical models to explain the type of immanence that forms the foundation of his theory of communio and ontological participation. His original reuse of the theory of universals is also noteworthy. Corecco distinguished these into universalia ante res, universalia post res, and universalia in rebus in a “classical” manner.
