Catholic Review of: Surprised By Canon Law, Volume 2

What is excommunication?  Who is eligible to become a saint?  To what Vatican Office would I write if I have a complaint about the Church? Who owns Church property?  Can someone be denied a church funeral? 

Since the Catholic church is one body, it has to have rules to answer these questions and more.  Those rules, which deal with the nitty-gritty of people's rights and obligations and the relationships between them and the Church (as opposed to the somewhat more vague and idealistic standards of Scripture) are written down as the Code of Canon Law.  Surprised by Canon Law, Vol. 2 lists 100 questions which are answered by Canon Law and then answers them with citations to canon law.  After an introduction, the book is divided into 13 chapters including Parish Life, Offices of the Roman Curia, Cannonization of Saints and more.  The questions are in bold-faced type, making it easy to skim the book for topics of interest. 

So, what are the answers to those questions?

• Excommunication is a censure, and considered a medicinal penalty.  It is imposed not only to punish, but even more to persuade an individual to repent of his/her sins and return to full communion.  Canon 1331 prohibits an excommunicated person from having any ministerial functions in the liturgy. 
   
• God calls all of us to be saints.  However, the Church obesrves and acknowelges that from time to time people ask heroes of the faith to intercede for them and that those prayers seem to result in miraculous events only the Lord could bring about. 
   
• The Church operates on the principle of subsidiarity, meaning you have to follow the chain of command.  However, the book does list the appropriate office for problems that cannot be resolved locally.
   
• Canon 1273 gives the Pope the right to administer all the Church goods.  The diocesean bishop is the administrator of goods in his diocese.
   
• Canon 1184 lists those who can be, but the Church is reluctant to refuse funerals.  Those who can be refused are: 
  • Notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics
  • Those who for anti-Christian motives chose to have thier bodies cremated (but note that chosing cremation for other reasons does not deny you a Church burial).
  • Manifest sinners, where the funeral would give rise to public scandal. 
     

As noted above, this is a highly readable text, arranged in a manner as to make it a handy easy-to-skim reference.

This book can be purchased here.