The Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland and its Newsletter

1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (25) ◽  
pp. 284-285
Author(s):  
Robert Ombresop
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Pope John Paul Ii ◽  
Code Of Canon Law ◽  
John Paul Ii

The organisation now known as the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded in 1957, and its Newsletter was first published in 1969. The activities, publications and achievements of the Society within the Roman Catholic Church are manifold, and were acknowledged by Pope John Paul II when he granted an audience to participants of the 1992 annual conference held in Rome. This papal address is printed at the beginning of The Canon Law: Letter & Spirit (London 1995), the full commentary on the 1983 Code of Canon Law prepared by the Society.

Papal Primacy: An Anglican Perspective

2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (33) ◽  
pp. 112-126
Author(s):  
John Hind
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Code Of Canon Law ◽  
Ecclesiastical Law ◽  
The Church

I am grateful to the Ecclesiastical Law Society and the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland for their invitation to address this theme, although I have to confess, as a non-lawyer, I do feel rather a fraud standing here. I take comfort, however, first from the fact that, albeit welcome, your invitation was unsought, and second from my understanding that the purpose of canon law is to give legal expression to the theology of the church and that the purpose of the theology of the Church (in its positive and articulated aspects) is to explain the purposes and the work of God. In other words, the ultimate point of canon law is and must be pastoral, as is well expressed by the last canon, Canon 1752, of the 1983 Code of Canon Law for the Roman Catholic Church, with its reference to ‘the salvation of souls, which in the Church must always be the supreme law’.

A Question of Interpretation: The Roman Rota and the Theology of Marriage

2006 ◽  
Vol 8 (39) ◽  
pp. 425-437
Author(s):  
Aidan McGrath Ofm
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Code Of Canon Law ◽  
Complete Reversal ◽  
The Law ◽  
Roman Catholics ◽  
The Way

Judges need guidance if they are to apply the law in particular circumstances with an even hand. For Roman Catholics, Canon 19 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law provides this guidance by reference to the practice of the Roman Curia and by the constant opinion of learned authors. Useful as these supplementary sources are, they mean that judges have to trust that those responsible for making decisions in the Roman Curia and the learned authors have drawn their conclusions on a sound basis. This study considers what happened when a specific document was misunderstood in the Roman Catholic Church for almost four hundred years. The document, a letter from Pope Sixtus V to his Nuncio in Spain in 1587, responded to a specific query concerning the capacity for marriage of men who had been castrated. The interpretation of the letter defined the Roman Catholic Church's concept of marriage in general and its understanding of the impediment of impotence for four centuries. In the twentieth century, several Roman Catholic judges and canonists refused to take at face value the conclusions offered by other judges and learned authors, and decided to carry out their own analysis of the document in question. This resulted in a complete reversal of the way in which marriage cases were considered by the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota, and contributed to the emergence of a much richer and more integrated theology of marriage.

The Catholic Tribunal System in the British Isles

1991 ◽  
Vol 2 (9) ◽  
pp. 213-221
Author(s):  
Gordon Read
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Code Of Canon Law ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
Church Life ◽  
The Church

“The claim to have succeeded in covering every side of Church life at the conclusion of the herculean labour of codification on this scale would indeed be a bold one, and one very uncongenial to the spirit of English law”, comments the report entitled ‘The Canon Law of the Church of England’. Despite the production of a Code of Canon Law for the Church of England, the provisions of law as applying to the Church of England are much more complex, involving not only the provisions of the Code, but also Common Law, Statute Law, judicial decisions and occasional survivals from Mediaeval Canon Law. For this reason although the ecclesiastical courts of the Church of England and of the Roman Catholic Church have common origins and features, there are also many differences, not only in structure, but in the material that comes before them.

Visit of Pope John Paul II to the ICRC

1982 ◽  
Vol 22 (228) ◽  
pp. 157-158
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Pope John Paul Ii ◽  
John Paul Ii

Pope John Paul II visited the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva on 15 June 1982, the first visit by a sovereign pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church to the ICRC. He was accompanied by Cardinals A. Casaroli and B. Gantin and numerous other church dignitaries.

The Use of the Term ‘Pastoral’ in the 1983 Code of Canon Law with Reference to the 1917 Code

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-184
Author(s):  
James Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Code Of Canon Law ◽  
Ecclesiastical Law ◽  
The Law ◽  
Latin Church

This article compares the use of the term ‘pastoral’ in the canon law of the Western Latin Church as it occurred in the 1917 Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon Law and then in the revised Code of 1983. This is because the revised Code increased the use of the term ‘pastoral’ and I wish to see if its meaning had changed and, if so, in what way. Hence, the article considers how ‘pastoral’ occurred in the 1917 Code and then in the equivalent canons in the 1983 Code. There follows comparison with the earlier canons, which were sources for the 1983 canons to see if the term has changed in meaning and, if so, what that change is. I am interested to track the use of ‘pastoral’ because it has become ubiquitous in the churches and in society and has different meanings and expectations associated with it. As far as canon law and ecclesiastical law generally are concerned, it is interesting to consider how the term is used and this article is a contribution to an understanding of ‘pastoral’ in the law of the Roman Catholic Church.

Sacramental Sharing in Roman Catholic Canon Law: A Comparison of Approaches in Great Britain, Ireland and Canada

2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 264-287
Author(s):  
Eithne D'Auria
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church

Faced with difficulties of communication between separated churches, the Roman Catholic Church has attempted to provide a framework for sacramental sharing between Christians genuinely prevented from receiving the sacraments in their respective churches and ecclesial communities. This paper first considers the Roman Catholic canonical requirements for sacramental sharing. It then addresses the approach taken in the ecclesiastical jurisdictions in Great Britain and Ireland, and compares it with that of Canada. Finally, suggestions for reform are considered.

Address by the President of the ICRC on the occasion of the visit of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, on 15 June 1982

1982 ◽  
Vol 22 (229) ◽  
pp. 195-198
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Spiritual Values ◽  
Pope John Paul Ii ◽  
John Paul Ii ◽  
To Receive

To receive Your Holiness in the headquarters of our Committee is not merely an honour and a privilege, it is above all a great comfort. In fact, this is a unique opportunity to welcome the Head of a State founded on spiritual strength rather than on military might.In a world too often ruled by the force of arms, You, as Sovereign Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, embody the spiritual values without which no enterprise can be truly described as human.

‘Anglicanism’ and the Origins of the Church of England

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-334
Author(s):  
Peter McCullough
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Historical Sketch ◽  
Formative Years

This article aims to provide an introductory historical sketch of the origins of the Church of England as a background for canon law in the present-day Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church. Written by a specialist for non-specialists, it summarises the widely held view among ecclesiastical historians that if the Church of England could ever be said to have had a ‘normative’ period, it is not to be found in its formative years in the middle decades of the sixteenth century, and that, in particular, the origins of the Church of England and of what we now call ‘Anglicanism’ are not the same thing.

The Never-Ending Story? Or, Does the Roman Catholic Church Remain Vulnerable to Charges of Improper Handling of Clergy Child Sex Abuse?

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick S Nash
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Sex Abuse ◽  
Organizational Settings ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Child Sex Abuse

Abstract This article explores whether the Roman Catholic Church’s response to the clergy child sex abuse scandal shields it from further charges of improper handling of cases. It begins by noting the current topicality of institutionalized abuse and how several high-profile public inquiries have recently been established to investigate child sex abuse across a range of secular and religious organizational settings. Although numerous religious institutions have become embroiled in clergy child abuse crises, the Catholic Church has come in for particular scrutiny and condemnation on account of its distinctive institutional characteristics which have exacerbated its own abuse scandal in a uniquely severe way. The Church’s own understanding of this issue is that a culture of antinomianism has taken root within the clerical hierarchy and that, were canon law to be applied properly, the crisis would be resolved. This contrasts quite dramatically with the typical external understanding of the crisis which sees the canonical legal system as part of the problem, namely the Church’s refusal to cooperate fully with the secular criminal justice system and effective assumption of a criminal jurisdiction of its own. The article concludes with a final prognosis of the prospects of fundamental legal and cultural change.

scholarly journals Ritual Void or Ritual Muddle? Deconsecration Rites of Roman Catholic Church Buildings

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 517
Author(s):  
Kim de Wildt
Keyword(s):  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Sacred Space ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Church Building ◽  
Subject Orientation ◽  
Church Buildings

The decrease in people who regularly celebrate liturgy in western Europe has led to the question of what to do with so-called obsolete church buildings. This question not only refers to whether or not a church building will be converted, reused or demolished, but also to the question of whether or not such a building needs to be deconsecrated, and if so, what does deconsecration of a church building actually entail? In this contribution, I will consider the role deconsecration rites play in the Roman Catholic church when a church building is taken out of liturgical use. In Roman Catholic liturgy, there are no prescribed, official deconsecration rites that are mandatory for a church building that is to be taken out of liturgical use. The actual deconsecration of a church building is, according to canon law, established by a decree that is issued by the responsible diocesan bishop. In the case of a church being taken out of liturgical use, however, there seems to be a shift from having a ritual void with regard to deconsecration rites, and also a focus on the “legitimate” way (in the sense of canon law) to deconsecrate a church building (object orientation), towards, in recent decades, paying more attention to a growing pastoral need (subject orientation) for deconsecration rites. These new ritual initiatives can be regarded as forms of pastoral care intended to help parishioners cope with the loss of their church building. I will show that different interpretations of canon law articles complicate straightforward answers to the question of which arguments are legitimate to deconsecrate a church. Furthermore, I will address the “ritual muddle”, the mixture of the actual deconsecration act in the sense of canon law and deconsecration rites that, from the perspective of canon law, do not effect church deconsecration. I will also address the differentiation between desecration and deconsecration, address historical forms of deconsecration rites and pay attention to the making and unmaking of sacred space. Finally, I will focus on contemporary deconsecration rites against the background of the complex reality in which such rites are situated.

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