A Concise Guide to Canon Law: A Practical Handbook for Pastoral Ministers

By Kevin E. McKenna and Aldean B. Hendrickson

Book Overview

For more than twenty years, A Concise Guide to Canon Law has provided priests, deacons, and lay pastoral ministers with essential information about Church laws that regularly impact the lives of everyday Catholics.

This compact reference guide addresses topics such as who can receive the sacraments and when, the responsibilities of pastors and bishops; administration of parishes; and the role of finance and pastoral councils. The book also now includes the teachings of Popes Benedict XVI and Francis on issues such as marriage and annulment, as well as a new chapter on Catholic funerals.

Canon lawyer Aldean Hendrickson, director of the tribunal for the Diocese of New Ulm, also has updated this practical guide with additional material that includes:

a chapter on the Liturgy of the Hours;an updated section of frequently asked questions and answers at the end of each chapter;a revised and enhanced glossary of key terms; anda suggested reading list for deeper study.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0877939349
• ISBN13: 9780877939344
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Ave Maria Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Concise Guide to Canon Law:A Practical Handbook for Pastoral Ministers

This book makes reading about Canon Law very easy. It explains things in everyday language without loosing the relevance of the topic. I found it to be very helpful to a workshop I took.

Makes both a good introduction and a good course outline

I enjoyed this book. It makes a wonderful canon law primer for non-canonists, since it touches upon all the major areas where a pastoral minister will run into canon law in his day-to-day ministry. It is particularly strong with regards to the administration of the sacraments. For example, it lists the prerequisites for being a godparent, when a dispensation or special permission is needed for a wedding, and what to look for canonically when a non-Catholic desires to convert to the Catholic Faith. The book follows a simple format that is easy to read and easy to find what you're looking for. It also makes a wonderful lecture and course outline for canon lawyers looking to teach a basic canon law course to pastoral ministers within one's diocese. I definitely could have used it, rather than invent my lecture outline from scratch, when in my former diocese I was teaching canon law to permanent deacons and candidates to the permanent diaconate.

A wonderfully useful introductory guide.

Pastoral ministers are faced with questions and challenges every day and the answers aren't always easy to find. Canon law can provide the answers to some of the most complicated questions, but busy pastoral ministers are often too strapped for time for extensive original research. Kevin McKenna's A Concise Guide To Canon Law offers a clear, concise, easy-to-use reference guide to church law that puts the answers into a convenient, practical, "user friendly" format. This hand reference provides a compact overview of the most important canonical issues facing pastoral ministers today. Arranged by topic, it offers a thorough summary of church law and is complete with reference numbers to relevant canons in the Code of Canon Law. A Concise Guide To Canon Law is an invaluable addition to the pastoral ministry reference shelf and is wonderfully useful introductory guide for students of Canon Law.

A Whole System of Law made Easy

This book is not only excellent for its purpose, but it is a wonderful example of the way in which such manuals and guides should be done. The format is clear and concise. It has a Glossary which alone is worth the price of the book! There are indexes and sections on frequently asked questions which will also be of invaluable assistance. Canon Law, like any system of law, can be daunting to anyone not formally schooled in it. Father McKenna knows Canon Law. As a canon lawyer myself, this book makes me realize how extensive his knowledge is. He combines this with his God-given ability to teach and explain, and the reader is so much better for it.