Canon law is the rules and regulations of a Church. It contains procedures, rights and obligations of the Church’s members and other laws that support the Church’s structure. This post, gives particular attention to the canon law of the Catholic Church. The canon law of the Catholic Church binds all Catholics around the world. In other words, all persons baptised in the Catholic Church are bound to conform with canon law.
The Main Categories of Canon Law
More specifically, canon law includes the following categories:
- General Norms of the Church discusses decrees, customs, dispensations, statutes, and juridic persons, among other things
- The People of God reviews the rights and obligations of Christians, the hierarchy in the Church and the religious
- The Teaching Office of the Church focuses on the ministry of the Word of God, such as preaching and catechesis, missionary action, the profession of faith, and more.
- The Function of the Church delves into the sacraments, sacramentals, funerals, veneration of saints, and sacred places such as churches, altars, and cemeteries, to name a few.
- The Temporal Goods of the Church mainly discusses the acquisition, administration, retention and alienation of Church goods; it also discusses pious wills and foundations – donations given to the Church.
- The Penal Sanctions in the Church explain the types of offences in the Church and their respective sanctions, such as interdicts and excommunication.
- The Processes in the Church lays out the trials in the Church, such as contentious trials, marriage annulment processes, penal processes and hierarchical recourse.
These seven categories form the Code of Canon Law of 1983. Canon law as we know it today is in the form of a codex, a bound book. Initially, canon law was a collection of papal documents and jurist commentaries. Eventually, in 1917, the first code of canon law was promulgated. It is called the Pio-Benedictine Code. Today, we find two codes, one for the Latin Church and one for the Oriental Church. The one for the Latin Church, published in 1983, is known as the Code of Canon Law of 1983 (i.e. 1983 Code). The one for the Oriental Church, published in 1990, is called the Code of Canon Law of the Oriental Churches (i.e. 1990 Code).
Why does Canon Law Exist?
Like any other institution, the Church needs rules to reflect her mission and motives. Canon law exists to cater for delicate situations and emergencies. For example, it deals with what happens when there is a damaged church building or collapses. Canon law offers solutions to parishes when there is a lack of priests or if parish priests need assistance in structuring their parishes. It explains what happens when the position (the see) of the pope or bishop, is vacant.
We also find what happens when a spouse dies during a marriage annulment process, what happens if a cleric wants to leave his ministry (e.g. to marry) and how to deal with donations when the donor intent is unclear. These are some of the numerous situations the Church’s law deals with. Most importantly, canon law does not exist in isolation. Pastoral care and theology must always be its core foundations to serve its true purpose in the Church. Moreover, canon law alone does not encompass all the rules in the Catholic Church. It often happens that new laws are promulgated outside of the codex, either to reform the law or to add to or delete from it. In one of my blog posts, for instance, I discuss the new reforms in the matrimonial section.
What is a Canon Lawyer?
A canon lawyer can be a layman, laywoman, cleric, or religious person. A canon lawyer is a Church lawyer holding at least a licentiate in canon law, also known as the Juris Canonici Licentiatus or JCL. It is a canonical decree, which means that a tertiary-level institution needs approval from the Vatican to award such a qualification. In secular terms, a JCL is equivalent to an Advanced Master’s Degree. A canon lawyer’s highest qualification is the Doctorate in Canon Law, also known as Juris Canonici Doctor or JCD for short. Again, this qualification is also a canonical degree and needs special approval from Rome.
Who do Canon Lawyers help?
Canon lawyers, sometimes also called canonists, help anyone facing difficulty in relation to the Church. They can assist in most parts of the marriage annulment cases as lawyers, procurators, defenders of the bond, and judges. They can help put individuals in contact with the ecclesiastical tribunals or by helping people write their petitions to the tribunals to start any process. A canon lawyer can offer consultations to anyone in the Church context: lay people, clerics, bishops, parish priests, church administrators, and more. They can help, for example, to organise the parish structure and draft statutes for church associations, to name a few.
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