Explainers
Canon law, explained
Plain-English guides to the law of the Church, written for lay Catholics and for people in hard situations who want to know what the law actually says, where it protects them, and where it does not. None of this is advice on your own case; all of it is meant to help you ask better questions.
Foundations
What the law is, and what it is for
What is canon law?
The Church’s own law: where it came from, what it governs, who makes it, and how an ordinary Catholic meets it. With the misconceptions cleared away.
Read → FoundationsCanon law and theology
Law is ordered to teaching, never the reverse. What the law can do, what it cannot, and why no tribunal judges a soul.
Read → FoundationsYour rights in the Church
The rights and duties of every baptized person, canons 208 to 223, in plain English, with an honest account of how they are exercised and where they run out.
Read →Marriage
Nullity and indissolubility
Marriage nullity, explained
What a declaration of nullity is and is not, the grounds in plain language, how the process works since 2015, and what the tribunal never decides.
Read → Teaching & lawIndissolubility
Why a consummated sacramental marriage cannot be dissolved, what the Church can dissolve and why those are not exceptions, and the hard situations named honestly.
Read →Discipline and decisions
Penalties and recourse
Canonical crimes and penalties
What a delict is and how it differs from a sin, the presumption of innocence, the kinds of penalties, the process, and the rights of the accused.
Read → Parishes, clergy & lay faithfulAdministrative recourse
How to challenge a Church decision: what a decree is, why the remedy exists, the steps and the short deadlines, and what recourse can and cannot win.
Read →Hard situations
When it is personal
When the system feels against you
A bad decision, a bad law, or a law you dislike: how to tell them apart, the principles in the Church’s own law that protect you, and the practical path.
Read → Parents, godparents, the divorced, the grievingThe sacraments and the law
Baptism of children, godparents, communion, confession, anointing, marriage after a civil ceremony, funerals: what the law presumes, and it presumes in your favour.
Read → Priests, deacons & religiousClergy and religious in difficulty
Faculties withdrawn, removal, administrative leave, precautionary measures, dispensation, leaving an institute: what each means in law and what you are owed.
Read →Still have a question?
A free, confidential consultation by phone or video. I will tell you where you stand and what your options are.