Category: Church Teaching

10 min read

Church Teaching

The Development of Doctrine

Brendan Murphy

August 24, 2021 7:54 am August 24, 2021

10 min read

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10 min read

Our Protestant brothers and sisters often wonder at the complexity of Catholic doctrine. In particular, they may find it difficult to reconcile what they view as the “simplicity” of Jesus’…

Our Protestant brothers and sisters often wonder at the complexity of Catholic doctrine. In particular, they may find it difficult to reconcile what they view as the “simplicity” of Jesus’ teachings with those of the Church today.

These Christians recognize — and Catholics acknowledge — that not all the Church’s teachings are explicitly found in Scripture or the preaching of the early Fathers. Some doctrines were not stated fully and clearly until much later in the life of the Church. As a result, many Protestants conclude that Catholic teaching is a corruption of the original Gospel message.

Catholics, on the other hand, see the doctrines of the Church as the necessary and logical development of the Gospel. Their growth in richness and complexity represents the change from an embryonic form into maturity. But how are we to demonstrate whether or not a particular doctrine (or body of doctrines) is a genuine development and not a corruption of the Christian faith?

One Catholic theologian who sought to provide an answer to this question was the eminent English convert Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890). Newman identified seven “notes” or characteristics of authentic developments, as opposed to doctrinal corruptions, in his famous work “Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine” (University of Notre Dame, 1989; page numbers below refer to citations from this edition). Let’s examine these characteristics one at a time.

Unity of Type

The first note of genuine development Newman calls unity of type. He considered this first criterion the most important of the seven.

What he means by type is the external expression of an idea. The unity or preservation of type refers to the continual presence of a main idea despite its changing external expression. When we see change in the teaching on a subject, can we discern nevertheless that the main idea remains unchanged? If so, we know that the change is a genuine development, not a corruption.

Newman warns that the presence of any alteration in the external expression of an idea shouldn’t lead us to conclude that it’s a corruption, instead of a development, of the essential idea. To illustrate this point, he uses the “analogy of physical growth, which is such that the parts and proportions of the developed form, however altered, correspond to those which belong to its rudiments” (p. 171).

In this sense, a full-grown bird is the development of an egg and not its corruption, even though they bear little physical resemblance to one another.

Newman offers the further caveat that many times “real perversions and corruptions are often not so unlike externally to the doctrine from which they come, as are changes which are consistent with it and true developments” (p. 176). In fact, according to Newman, a major source of religious corruption is clutching too tightly to doctrines at one stage of their development and refusing to allow their future growth.

He notes that some of the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ time illustrated this problem. Christ frequently condemned them for following the letter of the law, but not its spirit — that is, its development.

Continuity of Principles

The second note of genuine development is continuity of principles.

Newman insists that for a development to be faithful, it must preserve the principle with which it started. While doctrine may grow and develop, principles are permanent.

Newman identifies the Incarnation as the fundamental truth of the Gospel. Then he goes on to identify nine principles of the Christian religion: dogma, faith, theology, sacraments, Scripture and its mystical interpretation, grace, asceticism, the harm of sin, and the potential of matter to be sanctified.

In reference to these principles, Newman says:

“While the development of doctrine in the Church has been in accordance with, or in consequence of, these immemorial principles, the various heresies, which have from time to time arisen, have in one respect or other, as might be expected, violated those principles with which she rose into existence, and which she still retains” (p. 354).

The fifth-century theological movement known as Pelagianism provides an example of teaching that contradicted one of these principles. Pelagians denied the reality of original sin and, as a consequence, denied that our salvation required any grace beyond what is already given us in human nature.

As a result, the Church recognized the movement as a heretical corruption rather than a development of the Christian faith, and so condemned its teachings.

Power of Assimilation

The third note of genuine development is power of assimilation.

In introducing this criterion, Newman notes that in the physical world living things are characterized by growth, not stagnancy, and that this growth comes about by making use of external things. For example, as human beings we grow by taking into our bodies external realities such as food, water and air.

In Newman’s terminology, then, when we make use of these re-sources we are assimilating them. The food, water and air we consume don’t change who or what we are in any meaningful way. Rather, they serve a valuable function in that they ensure our continued growth and vitality.

For Newman, a true doctrinal development is capable of assimilating external realities (such as non-Christian philosophical concepts, customs or rites) without in any way violating its principles. In fact, in the process of assimilation it’s the external realities themselves that are transformed (once they are assimilated), not the doctrine.

In Newman’s view, the more powerful, independent and vigorous the idea, the greater its power to assimilate external ideas and concepts without losing its identity.

In the ancient Church, for example, Christian theology came to make use of philosophical terms and categories from contemporary Greek culture. These forms of thought were employed to refine the precision of doctrinal formulations, helping the Church to define more clearly what she believed.

Logical Sequence

The fourth note of genuine development is logical sequence.

By this Newman means that a doctrine that’s defined and professed by the Church at a point historically distant from its original founding can be considered a development, and not a corruption, if it can be shown to be the logical outcome of the original teaching.

Newman compares this process to the growth of a tree. Someone looking at an oak tree could very easily draw the conclusion that it has nothing at all in common with an acorn. Yet the mature oak tree is the logical development of the acorn.

Over time an acorn grows roots, bursts forth from the soil, begins to soar toward the sun, develops branches and grows leaves. Each step along the way is the logical development of the previous step. Thus it is with the authentic development of doctrines as well.

One example Newman gives of a development through logical sequence is the dogma of purgatory. The original teaching of Christ and the apostles included the insistence that perfection is necessary to enter heaven and enjoy God’s immediate presence. Yet the reality is that many who die in friendship with God, though ultimately destined for heaven, are far from perfect at that point. So the need for a purging process after death, before entrance into heaven, is logically implied.

Anticipation of Its Future

The fifth note of genuine development, which could be seen as a corollary of the previous one, is anticipation of its future.

Doctrines in some way imply or allude to their later development. So authentic developments will have some logical connection to the original deposit of faith, however vague the “embryonic” form might have been in the earliest days of the Church.

For example, the Church solemnly declared at the fourth-century Council of Nicaea that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was himself truly and fully God, one in substance (or being) with the Father. Such a declaration is nowhere found explicitly in Scripture. Yet it expounded a point of doctrine that was implied by Scripture and the ancient baptismal formula of the Church.

Conservative Action

The sixth note of genuine development is conservative action upon its past.

In other words, a development is not a corruption if the doctrine proposed builds upon the doctrinal developments that precede it, often clarifying and strengthening them. A corrupt doctrine, on the other hand, is one that contradicts or reverses a preceding doctrinal development.

The differences between the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed are a perfect illustration of this criterion. When we compare the two creeds we realize that, while the Nicene Creed is significantly longer, it in no way reverses the tenets of the Apostles’ Creed. In fact, the former strengthens and expounds upon the points of the latter.

Chronic Vigor

The seventh note of genuine development is chronic — that is, abiding — vigor.

As long as a doctrine maintains its life and vigor, its ongoing development is assured. However, once a corruption enters into the process, it leads, by its nature, to death and decay.

Corrupted doctrines fail to display much historical longevity and ultimately die off. As Newman says, “The course of heresies is always short; it is an intermediate state between life and death, or what is like death; or, if it does not result in death, it is resolved into some new, perhaps opposite, course of error, which lays no claim to be connected with it” (p. 204).

In other words, once the original burst of apparent vitality wears itself out, many times the only thing left of a heresy is its external form. This form, however, is more like a corpse than a living thing. To take Pelagianism once more as an example, this heresy thrived only briefly, quickly dying off within 150 years.

A final observation: In general, the seven notes are best applied to the entire process of doctrinal growth in the Church, though it’s certainly possible to apply some of the criteria to individual doctrines.

Necessary Change

When we talk with our Protestant friends about the development of doctrine, we should point out that nearly every Christian tradition accepts this reality in some form or another. For example, the Nicene Creed’s profession of the Blessed Trinity doesn’t appear explicitly in Scripture; instead, it’s a development of truths found in Scripture. Yet most Protestant denominations affirm this doctrine.

Newman’s seven criteria help us see that some kinds of doctrinal change, resulting in greater complexity, are not only legitimate but also necessary. To borrow Newman’s analogy: An acorn that somehow changed into a walnut would be a mutation. But an acorn that never developed into an oak would be lifeless.

So it is with the “acorn” of the Gospel.

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4 min read

Church Teaching

Christology 101: The Humanity of Jesus

Father Harrison Ayre

July 30, 2021 9:45 am July 30, 2021

4 min read

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4 min read

It is too often the case that when people talk about the divinity of Jesus, they imply that his divinity either overwhelms, supplants or destroys his humanity. Often, in fact,…

It is too often the case that when people talk about the divinity of Jesus, they imply that his divinity either overwhelms, supplants or destroys his humanity. Often, in fact, people will defend their devotion to the saints because they are “not God like Jesus is.” Well intentioned, it is a way of speaking that too easily undermines a central tenant of the Christian faith: that being fully God, Jesus is also fully man.

This problem was the subject of many intense theological debates over the early centuries of the Church and still plague us in the context of certain modern questions. The issues surrounding this are: If God becomes man, what of man remains? Does the divinity in any way replace the human? Does the human in any way limit the divinity?

To answer this problem, the Fathers of the Church developed a principle that helped guide our understanding of Jesus: “That which is not assumed is not redeemed.” If there is anything of our humanity that Jesus does not possess, then that aspect is not redeemed. If he has no body, the body is not redeemed; no will, the will is not redeemed, etc. If there is an aspect of our humanity that is not redeemed, then Jesus did not really accomplish what he set out to accomplish. If Jesus has not accomplished our salvation, then we are still in our sin, and more pitiable because of it.

Perfect harmony and communion

It is for this reason the Church confidently affirms the full humanity of Jesus and applies the following principle when speaking about Jesus’ humanity and divinity: The humanity of Jesus in no way limits his divinity, and his divinity in no way overwhelms, destroys or sublimates his humanity. They are in a perfect harmony and communion. The divinity dwells in his humanity as the burning bush appeared to Moses: It was aflame but not consumed or destroyed. The divinity is always greater, but never in a competition with creation. No, God himself is always seeking to lift creation to its perfection.

Thus we must affirm that Jesus does have a humanity exactly like ours. He has a body, soul, mind, memory and will just like ours. If we believe that the divinity being united to humanity in some way makes us less human or less ourselves, then it betrays an unbiblical view of God. The biblical view, definitively revealed in Jesus, demonstrates that humanity is most itself when it is closest to and rooted in God.

There is one thing we have that Jesus lacked: sin. “For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin” (2 Cor 5: 21). We might respond to this by saying: “This makes him difficult to relate to” or “Then he really isn’t like us, then.” But instead of the earlier error of overemphasizing the divinity to the neglect of his humanity, we now fall into the opposite error of over emphasizing his humanity to the neglect of his divinity. It is because of sin that we are, in fact, less human!

Perfecting

Sin destroys the image of God in which we have been made, it makes us subject to corruption and death and it dulls our mind towards God. But if God is the source of our dignity, freedom and identity, it follows that the more God is present, the more human we are. In Jesus we find God most relatable because he is most human. When we buy into the idea that Jesus is difficult to relate to because he is without sin, we are giving power to the forces of sin and death and see God in a competitive, instead of perfecting, fashion. The humanity of Christ is of supreme importance because it shows us both what true humanity looks like and gives us a pattern and way to follow, but it also is in the humanity of Jesus that we are born into a redeemed humanity. Without this humanity, we have no hope of eternal life, because it is in the humanity of Jesus that we are truly alive.

Father Harrison Ayre is a priest of the Diocese of Victoria, British Columbia. Follow him on Twitter at @FrHarrison.

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6 min read

Church Teaching

Excommunication

Edward Peters

July 22, 2021 7:59 am July 22, 2021

6 min read

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6 min read

Most Catholics know that excommunication has played an important role in ecclesiastical life since ancient times. Many also assume that this controversial procedure was relegated to the history books after…

Excommunication remains an important part of canon law. In fact, there are signs that in the years to come it will play a larger role in Church life than we’ve been accustomed to seeing. To understand why, let’s look at three key questions frequently raised about excommunication.

Is excommunication the most severe penalty that the Church can apply, or is it a medicinal remedy intended to bring about personal repentance and conversion?

Is excommunication imposed in response to certain serious violations of canon law, or is it a consequence of mortal sins as determined by moral theology?

Is there a master list of actions for which one can be excommunicated, or is each bishop or priest allowed to formulate his own?

The answers to these three questions can help us understand better what excommunication means today and what it might mean tomorrow. Let’s see how.

A Medicinal Remedy

Admittedly the first question is sort of a trick question. The answer to whether excommunication is the most severe penalty the Church has, or whether it is a medicinal response intended to bring about personal repentance, is that excommunication is both. But because this double character of excommunication is precisely what so many people misunderstand about it, let’s talk more about it.

On the one hand, anyone who is excommunicated has ruptured the bonds of communion that should bind each believer to the community of the faithful. Excommunication blocks a person’s right to receive the sacraments and sacramentals, and it prohibits him or her from exercising leadership roles in the Church. Despite the bravado with which some excommunicated persons express their disdain for the penalty, there’s nothing pleasant about these kinds of consequences, and excommunicated people know that. History knows it, too.

At the same time, though, the Catholic Church makes it clear that excommunication is imposed with the express goal of motivating the person to cease the behavior that resulted in the excommunication in the first place.

Put another way, the Church is as loathe to impose excommunication as she is eager to lift it. Indeed, once an excommunicated person has a change of heart (known canonically as “withdrawal from contumacy”), he or she has the right to a prompt reconciliation with the Church and a speedy readmission to her sacramental life.

And why not? The excommunication fulfilled its purpose; it brought an errant sheep back to the fold. If someone remains in a state of excommunication for a long time, you can be sure it is because he or she, sadly, wants it that way, and not because Church officials are being vindictive.

Violation of Law or Immorality?

The question about whether excommunication should be viewed as a penalty for violating canon law or as a consequence of immoral behavior is not tricky, it’s downright tough. This is because excommunication operates precisely where law and morality come into the closest contact.

It’s a well-established principle that not every immoral action can or even should be made a crime. Therefore (notwithstanding some odd cases we might find in the yellowing pages of Church history), excommunication today is imposed only for actions that are, first, seriously sinful in themselves and, second, unable to be adequately addressed in any other way.

Before the canonical penalty of excommunication will be imposed, it must be clear that a person has offended against an important moral and doctrinal value. That explains why today we usually hear about excommunication only in regard to major public issues such as, say, heresy, abortion or faking the sacraments.

Even so, besides the requirement that the action itself must be seriously wrong for excommunication to be possible, the offense must also be one for which the Church sees no other adequate response except a canonical penalty.

Thus, even though, for example, embezzlement of Church property or adultery are serious wrongs (and need to be brought promptly to sacramental confession), the Church has other ways of responding publicly to them. For example, she may call in civil authorities for embezzlement cases or reiterate Church teaching on matrimonial morals and adultery. She does not resort first to the penalty of excommunication when faced with these sorts of serious wrongs. This makes good sense.

Unfortunately, though, some people point to the lack of excommunications for, say, anti-papal diatribes or even clergy sexual abuse of children and conclude that the Church does not take such offenses seriously. Such an accusation is unfair.

If the Church thinks that the most effective response to these wrongs is excommunication, she will take the steps necessary to impose it. But if there seems to be another way of dealing with them, she will try that first.

Experience, as always, is a good guide here, and certainly the list of excommunicable offenses has changed over time. Thus the list could change again, but as that point really brings us to our last question, let’s turn to it now.

A Master List?

For the first decade after the current Code of Canon Law took effect, the answer to our last question was rather clear: All excommunications could be found listed in the Code of Canon Law. It was, moreover, a rather short list.

But beginning in the 1990s, a few diocesan bishops began turning to excommunication as one way, among others, to respond to what they saw as serious affronts to the Faith in their dioceses.

Pope John Paul II enacted a special excommunication outside of the Code of Canon Law against those who would violate the secrecy of a papal conclave. And in just the last few years, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith used its authority to apply legitimately an excommunication in some cases of attempted women’s “ordinations,” even though that penalty for the simulated conferral of holy orders is not expressly contained in the 1983 Code.

We can see, of course, that these more recent excommunications have been implemented only by those at the highest levels of diocesan or universal Church leadership. Thus if we hear of a parish priest threatening or imposing excommunications on his own authority, something somewhere is wrong.

Moreover, even though these examples seem few in number, they are enough to indicate that excommunication is an evolving institution that can and will be used in response to more serious threats against the teachings, life and mission of the Church.

The distinctions highlighted in answering these three questions should go a long way toward minimizing the current confusion about excommunication.

Dr. Edward Peters teaches canon law at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He is the author of “Excommunication and the Catholic Church”(Ascension Press, 2006). Dr. Peters’ canon law website and blog can be accessed at www.canonlaw.info.

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2 min read

Church Teaching

The Creed: I believe in the Holy Spirit

Father Harrison Ayre

July 12, 2021 10:17 am July 12, 2021

2 min read

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2 min read

The Holy Spirit is called “the Lord and the Giver of Life” in the Creed. By assigning him the title “Lord,” he is given the same honor and glory as…

The Holy Spirit is called “the Lord and the Giver of Life” in the Creed. By assigning him the title “Lord,” he is given the same honor and glory as the Father and the Son. In fact, the Creed goes on to say that he is “adored and glorified” with the Son and the Father. Thus, the Holy Spirit has the fullness of the one divine essence. Since we only worship God, the Creed makes clear that the Holy Spirit receives the same worship due to the Father and the Son.

He is given the title “Giver of Life” as his role is always to bring life. The Holy Spirit is the one who is breathed into the dust of the earth to create man and hovers over the waters at the beginning of creation. By bringing life, the Holy Spirit brings God’s life in touch with God’s creation. Most definitively he overshadows the Virgin Mary to help bring about the incarnation of Jesus Christ. We see yet again these actions of God drawing his creation into relationship with him.

One special way the Holy Spirit draws creation into a relationship with God is his inspiration through the prophets. This phrase in the Creed feels almost tacked on. After focusing on the glories of his role in God’s plan, we hear and almost miss this fact that he inspires. This inspiration of the prophets is to look forward to the coming of the Son and, more broadly, he inspires the Scriptures through which we read about Jesus, both the foretelling of his coming in the Old Testament and his life and ministry in the New. By inspiring the Bible, the Holy Spirit is always vivifies and makes it an encounter with the Word of God, who is the Son. Thereby he draws us more deeply into communion with God.

Father Harrison Ayre is a priest of the Diocese of Victoria, British Columbia. Follow him on Twitter at @FrHarrison. Read the series of articles on The Creed here.

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5 min read

Church Teaching

Introduction to Liturgical Theology

Father Harrison Ayre

July 11, 2021 12:51 pm July 11, 2021

5 min read

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5 min read

From the Church’s earliest days, the way we worship God has been one of the most vital aspects of our common life. Given its centrality, then, even the way we…

From the Church’s earliest days, the way we worship God has been one of the most vital aspects of our common life. Given its centrality, then, even the way we celebrate liturgy is a topic of heated debate in the Church. And so the Church has grappled with such questions often throughout the centuries. It is, in fact, at the heart of the true meaning of the term orthodoxy. Ortho-doxa means “right praise” of God. How we praise God reflects what we believe about him.

The discipline known as “liturgical theology” deals with the importance of worship in the life of the Church. It can deal with seemingly mundane items such as the history of various liturgical items, such as a corporal (the cloth on which the paten and chalice are placed during the celebration of the Eucharist). But it also treats what is most essential in our worship, such as the meaning and importance of signs and symbols in liturgy, and the significance of liturgical participation of the laity and the related role of the clergy. Perhaps the most important question in liturgical theology is a rather simple one: What exactly constitutes liturgy?

Liturgy is a ritualistic act which, in some way, makes Christ present to his Church through signs and symbols, and which brings about the reality they symbolize. Thus the Church’s liturgy is often connected with the sacraments. But is not reducible to the sacraments alone. There are a variety of other types of liturgy: a separate, stand-alone Liturgy of the Word or the Liturgy of the Hours, for example. In all the Church’s liturgical forms, Christ is acting. His action comes through the whole Church, which is his body, gathered in his name.

As to how and why Christ is active in liturgy raises deeper theological questions treated within the discipline. For example, it has been argued by some that because bread isn’t important in some cultures, other elements might be presented as the Eucharistic species. Liturgical theology, in investigating such questions, will take into account the revelation of Christ and the tradition of the Church, and then apply it to the idea being considered. In the previous example, the discipline would say that bread is required because it is what Christ intended to be used in the Eucharist, since it is what he used when he instituted it, and what he asked be done in memory of him.

This helps us arrive at a very important aspect of the discipline. We often think of signs and symbols as given meaning only by us, as if we are the sole creators of the meaning of things. This thinking takes us to believe, then, that all signs and symbols are malleable and can change according to culture and what we think they mean. The problem with this idea is that it places the concepts of sign and symbol in a purely subjective approach without any real connection to history or tradition.

The task of liturgical theology, then, is to determine what is essential from the tradition and what is not, what is malleable and what isn’t. Even some things that are malleable — such as gestures in liturgy (as exemplified by different traditions according to different rites) — are not so easily changed because they express a deep meaning in the history of a particular ritual tradition and thereby need to be approached with care and reverence.

Words and gestures also are investigated by this discipline. They have a vital role to play not only in the liturgical life of the Church, but more specifically in her sacramental practice. Words matter, and following Jesus’ words are vital to ensuring that sacraments are validly and properly celebrated by the Church’s ministers.

If our starting point is truly that Christ is the main figure of the Church’s liturgy — the one who acts above all else — then we can begin to appreciate the need for unity in the use of words at the liturgy, especially the words Christ himself gave us. The words we use in liturgy matter because, in the end, it is Christ speaking them through the ministers of his Church. It is Christ who speaks the words of institution at each Mass, who baptizes, who confirms, who ordains, who absolves, who anoints, etc. This unity of the liturgical action becomes the unifying force for all Christian living. Our unified lived expression of faith feeds and grows from our unified liturgical life. As the ancient saying goes: lex orandi, lex credendi (the law of prayer is the law of belief). Thus liturgical theology really is an important linchpin for the Church’s unity.

In the end, our liturgical unity is expressive of the unity and universality of the Church, whereby it is Christ himself who speaks and acts through the ministers of the Church and all the members of his body gathered in his name. Our reverence toward the words, and our obedience to the Church’s instruction regarding liturgy, are rooted in respect and honor of Jesus Christ our Lord, the one who performs saving acts through ritual form.

Father Harrison Ayre is a priest of the Diocese of Victoria, British Columbia. Follow him on Twitter at @FrHarrison. Read the full series here.

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6 min read

Church Teaching

Why Is Canon Law Needed?

Edward Peters

June 15, 2021 8:00 am June 15, 2021

6 min read

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6 min read

Growing up American means growing up aware of how deeply society is influenced by laws. We know, without even having to think about it, that law has something to say…

Growing up American means growing up aware of how deeply society is influenced by laws. We know, without even having to think about it, that law has something to say about almost everything we do.

As children we’re taught about the various branches of government — legislative, executive, judicial — that pass, enforce and interpret the laws at various levels — federal, state and local. So we recognize how important it is to understand the different rules and regulations that affect so many daily activities.

Most of the time, of course, we carry on our activities without consciously thinking about how many laws impact us. We can do this, in part, because most of the civil laws we live under make sense and contribute to the smooth operation of society.

But in the back of our mind, especially when something goes significantly wrong, we are aware that, to one degree or another, civil law might have something to say. And we have at least a basic idea of where to turn for help in learning more about legal issues.

The Law of the Church

Growing up Catholic, on the other hand, means growing up with almost no appreciation of how extensively canon law, the internal legal system of the Catholic Church, affects our daily life of faith. It means not knowing that canon law lies behind many things that we as Catholics take for granted. And it means not knowing that, in too many cases, important ecclesiastical rights and obligations might be going unrecognized in our lives.

Occasionally a canon law issue comes directly into our personal world, as might happen, say, in an annulment case. Or canon law may gain our attention when it makes the headlines, as might happen, say, when a public figure is excommunicated.

But even then, most Catholics don’t realize that what they see is only a small part of a complete legal system, a legal system that goes back to the ancient Church — in short, a legal system about which they might want to, and need to, know more.

Like every large and complex society, the Catholic Church long ago discovered that reasonable, written rules were important for the smooth functioning of the disparate people and projects being under-taken in so many different lands and conditions. Over the centuries, the accumulated pastoral and administrative wisdom of Church leaders was recorded, organized, tested and commented upon by legal experts.

Over time, however, these collections of regulations and “canons,” as they were called to distinguish them from civil laws, became increasingly hard to use. (The word canon comes from a Greek term meaning “a rule.”) Rules that made sense in one context were sometimes mistakenly applied in other contexts. Norms that worked at one time in history might be misapplied in other historical periods.

Integrated Codes

To remedy these problems, in 1917 the Catholic Church published its first integrated Code of Canon Law. At last, in one place, clear provisions on the work of priests and bishops, administration of Church property, celebration of sacraments, issues in education and so on were set forth (albeit in Latin!) for the consultation of anyone in the Church.

This Pio-Benedictine Code (so-called because of the two pontiffs, Popes Pius X and Benedict XV, involved in its creation and promulgation) was immediately hailed as a juridical and pastoral work of genius.

But while Roman (Latin-rite) Catholics benefited enormously by having a single Code of Canon Law, Eastern Catholics still did not have their own code (although work toward one had been going on for several decades).

Moreover, as the 20th century unfolded, it became increasingly clear that many of the canons in the 1917 code would need updating. This became quite apparent after the Second Vatican Council, which helped the Church confront better an increasingly secular civil society.

After a long, worldwide consultation process, Pope John Paul II promulgated, in 1983, a revised Code of Canon Law for the Roman Catholic Church, and in 1990 he issued the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. These two documents, both of which are available in modern language translations, represent the primary current legislation of the Catholic Church.

Looking only at the 1983 code, its 1,752 canons are spread over seven chapters, or “books.” Book I offers general canonical definitions and sets out the ground rules for applying law in the Church. Book II presents the basic rights and obligations of various persons in the Church.

Book III contains the norms that apply to the Church’s teaching ministry. Book IV gives the most important rules on sacraments (though there are not as many rules on liturgy in the code as some might think).

Book V regulates Church property. Book VI deals with ecclesiastical offenses and penalties. And, finally, Book VII is a procedural book with rules for canonical trials.

Yes, you read that last line correctly: The Catholic Church conducts legal trials in courts (called tribunals), which in turn play an important role in the canonical system. For that matter, canon law has lawyers (called advocates), law schools to train its specialists (called pontifical faculties), law reviews and commentaries, and indeed, in one way or another, just about everything that we might expect to find in a modern legal system.

Civil Law vs. Canon Law

There are, however, some important differences between canon law and civil law. For starters, canon law does not take its “marching orders” from secular or political concerns, but rather from the theological principles of the Catholic Church.

Canon law, moreover, approaches many technical legal issues in a way that more resembles the “continental law” or “civil law” legal tradition. This approach differs in many ways from the “common law” process with which Americans and people in other nations legally influenced by England are familiar.

Also, there are far fewer canon lawyers than there are civil lawyers. So finding answers to canonical questions, whether they are simple or complex, can take a bit longer than some might wish.

More and more, though, dioceses and seminaries are offering survey courses in canon law to the wider public. Websites dedicated to canon law are beginning to appear, and affordable commentaries — that is, private explanations by experts — on canon law are available through Catholic and secular booksellers.

Best of all, the 1983 Code of Canon Law is available online and in hard copy. While canon law is, to be sure, a technical discipline, it was nevertheless meant to be read and applied by the faithful at all levels in the Church. There is no better way to begin acquiring some familiarity with our fascinating Catholic legal system than by simply picking up and reading passages of the current Code of Canon Law.

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