
Why Canon Law?
The purpose of this Blog is to talk about law, canon law, and Catholic things from my perspective of law and canon law. If you are a canon lawyer, you probably will not like it. I am gearing this to the folks in the pews and maybe a few who are interested in getting into one in a Catholic Church. I have never held any job or office or position in the Catholic Church that actually pays. I found the best part of that is that the Church could never fire me and so never had a financial leverage over me. That was always important to me. I have done a lot of work on cases for different bishops, religious orders, dioceses and individuals, but never drew down a salary in any diocese. I hung up my shingle the day I passed the PA Bar exam, on the first try! So, in my civil practice, where I have also never worked for anyone but my clients, I have found that professional non-affiliation works just fine for me. I hope it does for you too.
Canon Law 101 Blog
Clericalism and Preaching
Last week I dealt with an Instruction on Parishes. (At another time I will talk about how that belittles lay people with faint praise.) An Instruction is a document from the Holy See that talks about how to implement law.
CLSA Conference Goes On
The Canon Law Society of America is making plans to stage a virtual Annual Conference from October 12 through October 16. That sounds good but the fees could be a problem for many members.
Holy See Hope for Parishes?
There is a positive, coming out of the Holy See on the closing of parishes. It is no longer easy for a Bishop to close a parish because it is getting poorer every week, or because of the priest shortage, or because there just are not enough parishioners to form a true community.

The Irish Queen
Outside of the Irish, not many know much about Our Lady of Knock. She appeared on a rainy night, in the small village of Knock in the wild West of Ireland.