From time to time, all Catholics have them: nagging questions about church life, often prompted by some personal encounter or challenging situation: Is a layperson allowed to preach a homily? Is a pastor required to report to someone regarding parish finances, or is he on his own? It seems like the parish council is running your parish. Does it have the authority to do so? Must a child be baptized in a church, or may the baptism take place at home? Surprised by Canon Law tackles these and many other questions, all of which have been formally addressed by the Roman Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law. The Code—the internal legal system that governs the church’s day-to-day workings—deals with far-flung concerns of interest to the person-in-the-pew. This practical guide to the Code provides answers to a range of questions, from “Can the pope resign?” to the more sensitive query “Do you have the right to tell your bishop what the diocese needs?” In straightforward language the authors discuss the nuts-and-bolts of church life, making canon law accessible to the everyday Catholic. A Servant Book.

This handy reference provides a compact overview of the most important canonical issues facing pastoral ministers today. Arranged by topic, this resource offers a thorough summary of church law along with helpful sections of frequently asked questions at the end of the chapters.

This is a clear, readable introduction to the basic structures and areas of church rules from one of the nation's most respected canonists. It is now revised, considering the most recent changes to church law, including those initiated by Pope Francis.

This highly useful book provides quick reference and accessibility to the current canon law of both churches. The entry for every canonical term presents its definition and the law relating to it in each canon. There are cross-references throughout to help the reader make further significant connections. Also included are terms not easily translated across the two canons, and some common terms from the Eastern Catholic Church. The appendices contain changes to the Universal law of the Roman Catholic Church which are outside the 1983 Code of Canon law. At a time when Christians are increasingly working side by side, this is an essential resource for pastoral workers, scholars and clergy in all the churches. For this new edition the content has been significantly updated and revised. Of the now 466 entries in this book 80 have been updated or added newly

An examination of the contribution that could be made by the Catholic historical tradition to Christian social reconciliation. The authors hope that their work will result in fruitful Christian peacebuilding.

Look out for a new book from Garry Wills, What The Qur'an Meant, coming fall 2017. "The truth, we are told, will make us free. It is time to free Catholics, lay as well as clerical, from the structures of deceit that are our subtle modern form of papal sin. Paler, subtler, less dramatic than the sins castigated by Orcagna or Dante, these are the quiet sins of intellectual betrayal." --from the Introduction From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Garry Wills comes an assured, acutely insightful--and occasionally stinging--critique of the Catholic Church and its hierarchy from the nineteenth century to the present. Papal Sin in the past was blatant, as Catholics themselves realized when they painted popes roasting in hell on their own church walls. Surely, the great abuses of the past--the nepotism, murders, and wars of conquest--no longer prevail; yet, the sin of the modern papacy, as revealed by Garry Wills in his penetrating new book, is every bit as real, though less obvious than the old sins. Wills describes a papacy that seems steadfastly unwilling to face the truth about itself, its past, and its relations with others. The refusal of the authorities of the Church to be honest about its teachings has needlessly exacerbated original mistakes. Even when the Vatican has tried to tell the truth--e.g., about Catholics and the Holocaust--it has ended up resorting to historical distortions and evasions. The same is true when the papacy has attempted to deal with its record of discrimination against women, or with its unbelievable assertion that "natural law" dictates its sexual code. Though the blithe disregard of some Catholics for papal directives has occasionally been attributed to mere hedonism or willfulness, it actually reflects a failure, after long trying on their part, to find a credible level of honesty in the official positions adopted by modern popes. On many issues outside the realm of revealed doctrine, the papacy has made itself unbelievable even to the well-disposed laity. The resulting distrust is in fact a neglected reason for the shortage of priests. Entirely aside from the public uproar over celibacy, potential clergy have proven unwilling to put themselves in a position that supports dishonest teachings. Wills traces the rise of the papacy's stubborn resistance to the truth, beginning with the challenges posed in the nineteenth century by science, democracy, scriptural scholarship, and rigorous history. The legacy of that resistance, despite the brief flare of John XXIII's papacy and some good initiatives in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council (later baffled), is still strong in the Vatican. Finally Wills reminds the reader of the positive potential of the Church by turning to some great truth tellers of the Catholic tradition--St. Augustine, John Henry Newman, John Acton, and John XXIII. In them, Wills shows that the righteous path can still be taken, if only the Vatican will muster the courage to speak even embarrassing truths in the name of Truth itself.

In this book one of the world's foremost legal historians draws upon the evidence of the canon law, court records and the English common-law system to demonstrate the extent to which, contrary to received wisdom, Roman canon law survived in England after the upheavals of the Protestant Reformation. R. H. Helmholz provides an extensive examination of the manuscript records of the ecclesiastical courts and professional literature of the English civilians. Rebutting the views of Maitland and others, he shows how English looked to the Continent for guidance and authority in administering the system of justice they had inherited from the Middle Ages. Intellectual links between England and the Continent are shown to have survived the Reformation and the abolition of papal jurisdiction. The extent to which papal material was still used in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries will interest all readers and surprise many.