During a recent event Pope Francis stressed the importance of prioritising the care of people and evangelisation in the application of the Catholic Church’s canon law. Francis spoke at a February 14-18 course sponsored by the Roman Rota, a Vatican tribunal that deals primarily with marriage cases. The pope challenged the idea that canon law Read more
A Swiss Catholic laywoman has allegedly concelebrated Mass to mark her retirement as a pastoral worker. Monika Schmid, who who has been de facto administrator at a parish in the Swiss Catholic diocese of Chur in German-speaking Switzerland “presided” at the August 28 farewell Mass, preached the homily and concelebrated the Eucharist. “As diocesan bishop, Read more
The end of summer means the end of a mainstay of American Catholic life — the summer Catholic conference season, in which Catholic universities aim to fill their dorms, proclaim the Gospel, and build some brand awareness by hosting days-long catechetical and evangelical events for Catholic young people and adults. While the Franciscan University of Read more
New Zealand canon lawyer Msgr Brendan Daly (pictured) says the Church needs more lay people in governance roles. Its episcopal appointment process could also be altered so it is more open – it could save a lot of unnecessary distress, he says. The clerical sexual abuse scandal shows the necessity for these changes, he wrote Read more
Four years after Pope Francis modified canon law around translating the Mass, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, 22 October, published an executive decree formalizing the new process. Key in the decree is an emphasis on one of the fundamentals of communication; that people need to be able to understand what is being Read more
Today the most common experience of church and Christian community is in a parish. In many dioceses and archdioceses, parishes are being clustered into pastoral areas,2 and often the number of Masses in these pastoral areas is being rationalised and timed so that it is easier for neighbouring priests to celebrate Masses in the other Read more
Even during a period when the bombs dropping on American Catholics fall with escalating and increasingly destructive frequency, the publication of an “investigation” of Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, the now-former general secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, blasts a crater worth crawling down into for a forensic examination. There are reasons to think Read more
The moon has its own Catholic bishop, who is currently John Noonan. The Catholic Church says the moon is a part of Florida — sort of. An obscure church law — the 1917 Code of Canon Law — says that when an expedition sets out to discover new territory, that new land becomes part of Read more
Now it is formally illegal to ordain a woman as a deacon. Or as a priest. Or as a bishop. On June 1, Pope Francis promulgated revisions to the Code of Canon Law detailing crimes and punishments. The new “Book VI: Penal Sanctions in the Church” takes effect on December 8. Most of the revisions Read more
New Zealand’s Catholic bishops have welcomed Pope Francis’ approval of changes to the Church’s Code of Canon Law which toughens and extends sanctions against sexual abuse. Bishop Stephen Lowe, secretary of the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference, says the new code makes it clear that bishops must take decisive action when abuse is reported to them. Read more