Aims

Making students grasp the place and role of Canon Law in the life and practice of the Church. Making them acquire methods allowing them to use the Canon Law Code correctly in the concrete circumstances they will encounter and have the means to resolve - at least partially - the canonical questions they may confront in the area of study of the sacraments.

Main themes

The course is principally dedicated to studying Book IV of the Canon Law Code, the function of sanctification of the Church.
The canons dealing with the sacraments of Christian initiation are the object of a simple reading (their study relating to the sacramental theology course ); for the sacrament of penance, we particularly notice questions of jurisdiction and some aspects of penal law are mentioned. While studying the sacrament of Holy orders, the regulations of book II relating to the status of clerics (c. 232 to 293) are examined. A great part of the course is dedicated to matrimonial law.

Content and teaching methods

The sacraments of marriage and order will be studied in a comparative approach from the specific point of view of canon law. They will be examined from theoretical and procedural point of view with a special awareness to the contemporary debates within the Catholic Church and the society as well.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Prerequisite : the Marriage course, family ethics.