The Elements of Canon Law

WE all do err at times, and by God's grace may be raised up again and restored to newness of life. Yet is the Body of Christ Holy, and the aim of all its institutions is that its members may be sanctified through the truth. Thus even that machinery, which at first sight seems to have least to do with personal holiness, is found to be really most designed to promote that holiness. For as it is ever difficult in this world to fathom the heart and to gauge the moral guilt of sin in each particular case, so to do this generally (so far as that is possible) from a public or Church point of view is the hardest task of all. And this is the business of Canon Law, which not only seeks to regulate the organisation and the several duties of office within the Church, but also aims at controlling the administration thereof by distinguishing what is due to the individual and what is due to the Body as a whole. For as "we being many members are one Body and everyone members one of another, H so "if one member suffer, all the members suffer together," and if one member wilfully indulge in sin the type of holiness is lowered for all Moreover, sin is sometimes the outcome of general weakness in face of strong temptation, and requires the kindly help of others to be successfully overcome; whilst in other cases sin is wilful, and to tolerate it is to do harm to all the rest. Canon Law, which is the code of rules elaborated by the collective wisdom of the past under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, endeavours to show within the range of cases which come under its cognisance how truth may be elicited from the observed facts, and how justice may be combined with mercy, so that what is right and equal may be done between each individual member and the whole Body of the Church This work was written prior to the codification of Canon Law in 1917. It is valuable to the student of Canon Law, because Canon Law was not changed in 1917, but codified and brought into an organic whole. The interpretation and understanding of law relies on the traditional understanding throughout history.