How to Approach the Study of Encyclicals and Canon Law

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What is the best approach to take in studying encyclicals and Canon law?

For the encyclicals, should I approach them by era or author?

Should I approach Canon law by topic?

Any recommendations of a good document to start with?

Do you know of any study guides?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
I have read the Code of Canon Law and the 4 constitutions of Vatican II. My plan is to read the rest of the VII documents this year.

I went the the Vatican website and bookmarked the pages Then every day, for about a half and hour or so, I read. The Church, in her genius, has set up her documents so that the are broken down into managable parts, and I found it very easy to read them carefully & prayerfully. I kept a notebook near by to jot down any toughts, ideas or questions as I am fortunate that my boss is a priest & canon lawyer, and that I have many friends who are priests, deacons, religious, who can answer questions when I have them.

Some of the shorter apostolic letters, encyclicals and such, can be prayerfully read & contemplated in an hour or so in my experience, so I would say go to what interests you most. More than likely, that document will lead you to others.
At least, that is how it worked for me! 😉

I have found that the reading of these documents has given me a much better appreciation of my faith and the Church.
 
Oneofthewomen said:
I have read the Code of Canon Law and the 4 constitutions of Vatican II. My plan is to read the rest of the VII documents this year.

I went the the Vatican website and bookmarked the pages Then every day, for about a half and hour or so, I read. The Church, in her genius, has set up her documents so that the are broken down into managable parts, and I found it very easy to read them carefully & prayerfully. I kept a notebook near by to jot down any toughts, ideas or questions as I am fortunate that my boss is a priest & canon lawyer, and that I have many friends who are priests, deacons, religious, who can answer questions when I have them.

Some of the shorter apostolic letters, encyclicals and such, can be prayerfully read & contemplated in an hour or so in my experience, so I would say go to what interests you most. More than likely, that document will lead you to others.
At least, that is how it worked for me! 😉

I have found that the reading of these documents has given me a much better appreciation of my faith and the Church.
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Thanks! So I can go on the Vatican website and peruse the documents and maybe see which one I’d like to start with.

I find that I comprehend better when I am not reading on a computer, so I’d probably find a Kindle version to download.

Ideally, I’d prefer to have the books so that I can underline, write notes in the margins etc, but they seem to cost hundreds of dollars!
 
TrueLight said:
Thanks! So I can go on the Vatican website and peruse the documents and maybe see which one I’d like to start with.

I find that I comprehend better when I am not reading on a computer, so I’d probably find a Kindle version to download.

Ideally, I’d prefer to have the books so that I can underline, write notes in the margins etc, but they seem to cost hundreds of dollars!
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I prefer books too, for the same reason, but as you said these books are very expensive. I have printed some of the stuff, just make sure you adjust your margins and headers & footers, that way you get more text per page.

Here is a link to the vatican website. If you click on “Resource Library” it will give you links to the VII documents, the Code of Canon Law, etc. If you click on “Supreme Pontiffs” you get a drop-down list with what available from past Popes. You can find a wealth of information, straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak! 😛

Have fun!! 😃
 
The book Surprised By Canon Law: 150 Questions Laypeople Ask About Canon Law might be helpful.
 
TrueLight said:
Thanks! So I can go on the Vatican website and peruse the documents and maybe see which one I’d like to start with.

I find that I comprehend better when I am not reading on a computer, so I’d probably find a Kindle version to download.

Ideally, I’d prefer to have the books so that I can underline, write notes in the margins etc, but they seem to cost hundreds of dollars!
Click to expand...
Hello TrueLight,

Regarding canon law, it is divided into topics so you can’t help but approach it in that way. Starting at the beginning might be a little difficult/dry so I would suggest you start with Sacraments–that’s the most relevant for day-to-day life.

As far as books, you can get a copy of the Latin-English code at www.clsa.org and go to the “browse and shop” section.

The cost is $15. Not bad. Not sure what shipping will cost, though.

Dan
 
For canon law, Professor Ken Pennington of the Catholic University of America has a lot of resources on his History of Canon Law webpage (see here), including videos of his class lectures.
 
Here is a great book about Canon Law. I read this book as part of a class I was taking, and it is what sparked my interest in Canon Law. This is a very well-written, fairly short introduction to the lay person’s rights & responsibilities under canon law.
 
I am not an expert in canon law (IANACL?). However, I have studied the law enough to know that I’m not competent to authoritatively interpret (many of (!)) its features. I just want to suggest to you that reading the text of the canons is not sufficient to allow one to formulate an accurate understanding of the law – rather, it is important to know the fundamentals of interpretation of canon law.

I wish I could offer a citation to a guide that would provide basic competency in the interpretation of canon law, but again… IANACL.

Please just treat this as an earnest warning that familiarity with the text of the canons isn’t sufficient to make one a reasonably accurate interpreter of the canons… 😉
 
dans0622 said:
Hello TrueLight,

Regarding canon law, it is divided into topics so you can’t help but approach it in that way. Starting at the beginning might be a little difficult/dry so I would suggest you start with Sacraments–that’s the most relevant for day-to-day life.

As far as books, you can get a copy of the Latin-English code at www.clsa.org and go to the “browse and shop” section.

The cost is $15. Not bad. Not sure what shipping will cost, though.

Dan
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Hi Dan,

You don’t happen to have a direct link do you? Thanks.
Just_Lurking said:
For canon law, Professor Ken Pennington of the Catholic University of America has a lot of resources on his History of Canon Law webpage (see here), including videos of his class lectures.
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Cool. Thanks.
Oneofthewomen said:
Here is a great book about Canon Law. I read this book as part of a class I was taking, and it is what sparked my interest in Canon Law. This is a very well-written, fairly short introduction to the lay person’s rights & responsibilities under canon law.
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This seems like a good introduction.
Gorgias said:
IPlease just treat this as an earnest warning that familiarity with the text of the canons isn’t sufficient to make one a reasonably accurate interpreter of the canons… 😉
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Warning noted. 🙂
 
TrueLight said:
Hi Dan,

You don’t happen to have a direct link do you? Thanks. …
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Hello,

You can try this: clsa.site-ym.com/store/view_product.asp?id=311313

Regarding the comprehensibility of canon law–yes, there can be some difficulties there since it does use a particular, legal vocabulary. But, it’s not as though every canon has lingo in it that only a canon lawyer could decipher. Books II (People of God) and IV (Sanctifying function of the Church) are not too obscure…usually.

Dan
 
dans0622 said:
Hello,

You can try this: clsa.site-ym.com/store/view_product.asp?id=311313

Regarding the comprehensibility of canon law–yes, there can be some difficulties there since it does use a particular, legal vocabulary. But, it’s not as though every canon has lingo in it that only a canon lawyer could decipher. Books II (People of God) and IV (Sanctifying function of the Church) are not too obscure…usually.

Dan
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Thanks.

I noticed that book has over 700 pages. The pricing is pretty good. Does that cover all the Canons or is it an overview? I noticed you mentioned other books.
 
TrueLight said:
Thanks.

I noticed that book has over 700 pages. The pricing is pretty good. Does that cover all the Canons or is it an overview? I noticed you mentioned other books.
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It is the whole Code, all 1752 canons, with the Latin and English text. It also has a few other Papal, legal documents, all the sources for the canons in footnotes, an index, tables of correspondence to the Eastern Code and the 1917 Code, and maybe other features. It is a good book, hardcover, good quality. It does not have any commentary whatsoever.

The Code itself is divided up into 7 “books” and I was referring to two of those “books” that are easier to follow.

Dan
 
dans0622 said:
It is the whole Code, all 1752 canons, with the Latin and English text. It also has a few other Papal, legal documents, all the sources for the canons in footnotes, an index, tables of correspondence to the Eastern Code and the 1917 Code, and maybe other features. It is a good book, hardcover, good quality. It does not have any commentary whatsoever.

The Code itself is divided up into 7 “books” and I was referring to two of those “books” that are easier to follow.

Dan
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Thank you Dan. I will get this book. Your help is much appreciated.
 
dans0622 said:
Regarding the comprehensibility of canon law–yes, there can be some difficulties there since it does use a particular, legal vocabulary.
Click to expand...
It’s not so much that the lingo obscures the meaning, but that you have to read the text and also know how to apply the law – the way to approach it varies, by the kind of thing it’s saying. You also have to know what other law is out there (outside the canon) which helps interpret it…
 
You may be interested in this translation of the 1917 code of canon law which preceded the current (1983) code. The original Latin, if you need it, is available online here and here. There is also an extensive but incomplete translation of the 1917 code available here sometimes - the link was working when I started this post, but not now].

One cautionary note: it is not safe to assume that everything you see in the 1917 code remained in effect until 1983. The law on fasting and abstinence was changed by Pope Paul VI in 1966, for example.
 
Gorgias said:
It’s not so much that the lingo obscures the meaning, but that you have to read the text and also know how to apply the law – the way to approach it varies, by the kind of thing it’s saying. You also have to know what other law is out there (outside the canon) which helps interpret it…
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I would defer to an actual Canon Lawyer with regard to application and interpretation. While it’s interesting to know it, I would never attempt to apply it by myself, nor critique anyone else’s (non)application of it without direct assistance from a qualified human being - there are so many exceptions and nuances to consider.

With regard to Encyclicals, I would group them by subject and start with the ones most pertinent to my state of life (female, married). 🙂
 
Truelight,

Excellent post!

I don’t know if this link was given prior (I didn’t see it though I might have missed it), but, this website is great:

papalencyclicals.net/

You can just copy/paste/print if you want hard copies.
 
If you are ever looking for a statement of Catholic teaching on a particular topic, along with a reference to where it was taught, Henry Denziger’s Enchiridion Symbolorum is handy (translated into English by Roy Deferrari with the title The Sources of Catholic Dogma).
 
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