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Featured Term (selected at random):APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS Collection of ecclesiastical laws from the fourth century. Their most important part is the set of eighty-five canons, attributed to the Apostles, dealing with ordinations, official responsibilities, and the moral behavior of bishops and priests. They eventually became the basis for canon law in the West. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

>My former canon law professor, Dr. Ed Peters—who also has a degree in civil law (yeah, he's pretty smart)—has been taken to task by the brilliant scholars and intellectual lights of "The View". Ken Shepherd of Newsbusters writes: Discussing how Catholic canon law advisor Dr. Edward Peters has declared that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) committed an "objectively sacrilegious" act that "produces grave scandal" by receiving Communion on January 2, almost every panelist on ABC gabfest "The View" today rebuked the scholar for his pronouncement. ..."What would Jesus do?" View moderator Whoopi Goldberg asked, answering her own question by...

FILE - This Jan. 2, 2011 file photo shows New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, with his girlfriend, Sandra Lee, and Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy, center, in front of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, in Albany, N.Y., after attending Sunday services. The father, the son and the question of whether to grant communion to Catholics who openly flout canon law has once again reared up in New York where a Vatican consultant is calling to deny the host to Gov. Cuomo while he is living with his girlfriend. More than 25 years ago, Cuomo's father, Gov. Mario Cuomo, ran...

Q: There was a lecture at our parish and the guest-speaker said something in passing about the Pope making infallible decisions. He claimed that it has only happened twice in history! Do you know what he was talking about? I don’t know if this is even a canon-law question or not… –Kay A: This is indeed a canon-law question, since canon law (as we have seen numerous times before in this space) is driven by theology. Whenever an issue arises about who in the Church has the authority to do what, it’s generally safe to assume that canon law is...

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: 1857 For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent." What if a sin has been committed that has grave matter but lacks the knowledge and consent needed to make it mortal? How might one refer to such a sin? Since it has grave matter, one might refer to it--logically--as a grave sin. That would seem pretty straightforward: Sin with grave matter is grave sin. Add the needed knowledge and...

In a couple of recent threads, I was defending the action of my local bishop and the policy set forth by the USCCB that politicians are under the canonical jurisdiction of the Ordinary in their home diocese. I have been corrected on that issue (elsewhere, not on FR). Somebody pointed out Canon 102 to me: Can. 102 §1. Domicile is acquired by that residence within the territory of a certain parish or at least of a diocese, which either is joined with the intention of remaining there permanently unless called away or has been protracted for five complete years. §2....

President Obama's nominee to head the agency that guides federal abortion policy is the latest Roman Catholic politician to find herself torn between her political beliefs and her faith. Already admonished against receiving Communion because of stands she has taken on abortion as governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius now faces even closer scrutiny from the church since she was nominated to serve as secretary of health and human services earlier this month. What began as a local matter between Mrs. Sebelius and Archbishop Joseph Naumann, the archbishop of Kansas City, Kan., has taken on larger dimensions with the prospect that...

QUEBEC CITY, SEPT. 9, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Canon law is more than just regulations, but is active living out of our Catholic tradition, says author Pete Vere. Vere co-authored with Michael Trueman "Surprised by Canon Law: 150 Questions Laypeople Ask About Canon Law," and "Surprised by Canon Law, Volume 2: More Questions Catholics Ask About Canon Law," both published by Servant Books. In Part 1 of this interview with ZENIT, Vere discusses the role canon law plays in the life of the average Catholic as well as in the difficult issues of giving Communion to pro-abortion politicians and the sexual abuse...

June 26, 2008 STATEMENT REGARDING THE CANONICAL DISCIPLINE OF SISTER LOUISE LEARS, S.C. After a canonical process of several months, Archbishop Raymond Burke has, today, decided the case of Sister Louise Lears, S.C., a member of the “pastoral team” at Saint Cronan Parish, who was accused of four delicts, all connected with her encouragement of, promotion of and participation in the attempted ordination of two women to the Sacred Priesthood at a local synagogue in November of last year. Delicts, which must be published in the Church, are grave and external violations against the Catholic faith or moral teaching. A...

Publishing Whatever One Wants To: Rome's Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, and Current Trends in Catholic Apologetics05/30/2008 - James Swan    Over the last few years I've focused on current popular Catholic apologists, that is, those whose names you may hear on Catholic Answers, or find on The Journey Home. In order to be familiar with Catholic argumentation, the best way to do so is to actually hear them make their own arguments and interpretations of Catholic doctrine.    I purchase their books as well. I buy these books because not only am I interested in how they argue, I like to see...

As I pointed out some time ago (scroll to 6 July 2005), the 1983 Code does not levy excommunication on those who simulate the conferral and reception of holy orders on women. Canon 1378 excommunicates non-priests who simulate Eucharist and confession, and Canon 1379 imposes "a just penalty" on those who simulate the other sacraments (such as holy Orders), but neither canon directly excommunicates those who simulate holy Orders. The excommunications that have been applied in some cases of female 'ordination' have been imposed in virtue of a combination of other canons (e.g., Abp. Burke's model action in March...

POST ONE: Pope Benedict XVI is believed to be mulling over the possibility of expelling a bishop, Fernando Lugo, from the clerical state. That would certainly be a first under the 1983 Code (the Jacques Gaillot case in 1995 was not a precedent; Gaillot was removed from office, but not from the clerical state), and I'm pretty sure it never happened under the 1917 Code. Lugo, though suspended and removed from ecclesiastical office, remains a cleric, but his election under a reformist banner to Paraguay's presidency upped the ante. Clergy are forbidden to assume civil governing offices (see 1983...

Vatican City, Jan 22, 2008 / 11:25 am (CNA).- The Vatican held a press conference today to present the upcoming congress theme: “Canon Law in the Life of the Church, research and perspectives in the context of recent Pontifical Magisterium.”  Archbishop Francesco Coccopalmerio and Msgr. Juan Ignacio Arrieta, respectively president and secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, participated in the press conference regarding the congress, organized to mark the 25th anniversary of the Code of Canon Law.Msgr. Arrieta noted that the goal of the congress is “to undertake a purposeful study ... into the progress of the application...

Romney, WV – 8 Jan 2008)  A time capsule was placed under a bronze medallion bearing the inscription “CANON 915,” at the center of a Millstone which is part of a Memorial to the Unborn at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Romney, West Virginia.  The time capsule was sealed with the bronze medallion on January 7th, 2008, the Feast of Saint Raymond of Pennafort, Patron of Canon Lawyers. The capsule contains Church Documents, the Code of Canon Law, Bishop’s statements, various articles and other items connected to contemporary news regarding Canon 915. The marker and capsule are especially...

Should the Sisters of Indulgence be banned from Roman Catholic Churches? The conditions are for Masses/Sacraments [Baptisms, Confirmations, Holy Orders, Funerals, Marriages]. Under Canon Law the Pastor of a Roman Catholic Church has the authority to run his Church as he sees fit. For example, I was able to discuss with Father John Corapi, SOLT, this topic. The case I mentioned was of a Pastor of a Church in the Ohio/Kentucky area who was asked by his bishop to remove the communion rail and the statues in the Church. The following is the basic flow of the discussion: The response...

Q. Why did you write the article? During the election campaign of 2004, some bishops found themselves under question regarding the application of canon 915. Canon 915 addresses the responsibility of priests and other Eucharistic ministers when it comes to administering Holy Communion. I wrote the article for a scholarly international canon law journal published in Rome, Periodica De Re Canonica. You can read the entire article at www.archstl.org. The article was published in April of this year, but the secular media has just now started covering it. Q. What does the article mean to priests and Eucharistic ministers? The...

HONDURAS, May 17, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In an interview with Time magazine, Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, has contradicted Pope Benedict XXVI on the issue of Holy Communion for pro-abortion Catholic politicians. Speaking in response to reporters in the plane en route to Brazil last week, Pope Benedict XVI supported the actions of the Bishops of Mexico in denying communion to pro-abortion politicians.  However commenting on the incident, Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga told Time magazine that a bishop may not deny communion to anyone no matter how grave a sinner. Cardinal Rodriguez was asked, "Do you agree with...

The Pontifical Commission for Legislative Texts has just issued a "Notification" that makes it more difficult to conclude that a given person has "defected by a formal act" from the Catholic Church. The Notification raises some thorny questions for canonists which need to be, and will be, addressed elsewhere; here, I only point to a strength in the Notification that rank-and-file Catholics are likely to overlook. The Notification (para. 2) rejects an understanding of "formal defection" that would accept as proof of formal defection those curious documents that dioceses around the world get from time to time (in my...

According to published reports, Bp. Olmstead of the Diocese of Phoenix has stated a 10-year-old, moderately-to-severely autistic boy should not be given Communion until it is demonstrated that the boy can receive the Host (which he apparently does reverently for some seconds) without then spitting it out (due to its texture which the boy's condition makes intolerable for him). Other shapes and sizes of Hosts have been tried without success, as has offering him the Eucharist under the appearance of Wine. Till now, the boy's father has been taking his son's Host and consuming it himself, an obviously loving...

Like many people, I was disturbed by news of Michael Schiavo’s recent wedding to his fiancée Jody Centonze. As Gudrun Schultz reported on Life Site News, “Michael Schiavo, who had his disabled wife Terri killed last March by refusing her food and water, was re-married last Saturday in the Roman Catholic Church of Espiritu Santo in Florida. Schiavo married Jodi Centonze. He had two children with her during the years he worked towards achieving Terri’s death.” Yes, you read that right. After bringing about the death of his first wife, a Catholic church allowed Michael to attempt a second marriage...