Surprised by Canon Law!
150 Questions Catholics Ask about Canon Law
by Pete Vere & Michael Trueman
Forward by Patrick Madrid
For centuries, canon law has been for most Catholics a mysterious and esoteric aspect of Catholicism, […] Not anymore. – Patrick Madrid, Envoy Magazine
Vere and Trueman have made canon law accessible to the average Catholic for the first time. – Karl Keating, Catholic Answers
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.
This volume is readable, interesting, pastoral and completely faithful to Church teaching and discipline. – Fr. Peter Stravinskas, The Catholic Response
I recommend it as a valuable starting point for anyone interested in becoming familiar with canon law. + Adam Cardinal Maida, Archbishop of Detroit
To order your copy today, please visit SurprisedbyCanonLaw.com or call 1-800-488-0488.
Author: Pete Vere
Is Kerry Catholic?
As one of Zell’s Angels (traditional Democrat supporting Bush), I find it laughable when certain people claim that Kerry has Bush beat on every social justice issue of interest to Catholics apart from abortion. So I’m happy to see the following website that shows where Kerry fails on a whole bunch of social justice issues of interest to Catholics.
It’s about Abortion, stupid!
Interesting. Even Newsweek is admitting that abortion is killing the Democrat Patry by driving Catholic voters — a traditional Democrat constituency — over to the GOP. Here are some interesting excerpts from the article in question:
The Democrats are likely to lose the Catholic vote in November—and John Kerry could well lose the election as a result. It’s about abortion, stupid. And “choice,” make no mistake, is killing the Democratic Party.
[cut]
It begins with the tale of Tom Ampleman, “a blue-collar union member who lives … just outside St. Louis, says he voted for Bill Clinton twice and then Al Gore, but … is now grappling with deep religious misgivings about the Democratic Party.” He says, “I’m not happy with the moral issues at all with the Democrats. The Republicans will hurt me in the long run in providing for my family, but it’s probably more important to watch out for the unborn and that kind of stuff.”
First, I find it wonderful that there are Tom Amplemans out there for whom voting is not only an economic calculation—a what’s-in-it-for-me? decision—but a moral exercise, a matter of trying to do the right thing.
But Democrats don’t seem to get that. And they don’t get Tom at all.
John Kerry – A Man of His Word
This whole unfortunate incident with [sic.] “Catholics for Free Choice” filing a complaint with the IRS against Catholic Answers’ voting guide has got me thinking. In the heat of the election campaign, I think we Catholics have to pay closer attention to the truthfulness of our statements. For example, many of my fellow Catholics have accused John Kerry of being a flip-flop and of never keeping his promises. Well, what do the facts say?
In a 1984 interview, Kerry promised to vote against “Any restrictions on age, consent, funding restrictions, or any law to limit access to abortion.” (John Kerry As Quoted In “Mass. Senate Candidates Quizzed On Women’s Issues,” Sojourner: The Women’s Forum, 6/30/84)
To the best of my knowledge, Kerry has never broken his word in this regard. For twenty years, Kerry has consistently voted against any legislation that would limit abortion. I have yet to see anyone expose or bring to light an exception. So rather than being a liar and a flip-flop, Kerry has kept his promise when it comes to supporting the barbaric butchery of our children in the womb.
Please pray God gives me patience to get through this…
Gee, and I thought I had it bad with my 2001 KIA Sportage. (I’m still waiting, almost seven weeks later, for their customer service support to fax me a letter they claim to have sent out six weeks’ ago. I need this before Friday to import the car if I wish to avoid a nasty fine.) This poor fellow allegedly hasn’t even racked up 30,000 miles and his KIA has been in the shop nine times! (Mine has only been in the shop three times over the past year. And the second time was shortly within the first, so I’m tempted to count them as one breakdown.)
Here are some other horror stories with KIA cars. To be honest, mine has performed quite well since the first two visits (mind you, the car is in the shop having its brakes looked at as I blog this), but the customer service in trying to have this car imported has been horrible. For example, when I called KIA Canada today to complain, George at Extention 5085 said there was nothing KIA Canada could do because the car was purchased in the US. He would neither forward my call to a manager nor provide me with a last name. “I don’t have a last name,” he snapped when I ask. “It is just George at Ext. 5085.”
Jason Cook at KIA USA was pretty polite this morning, but he couldn’t forward my call to the department allegedly looking after this or wouldn’t give me their phone number. But if I think he said some guy named Wayne Spencer was suppose to be looking after it, and Jason stated he would pass him along my name and phone number. I’m still waiting to hear back.