Category Archives: Other Canonical Questions

Leaving a Novice in Limbo

Q: Hello, I am a novice in [a religious institute in Rome]….  I have been a novice for ten years, and keep waiting for the novice master to decide that I can take my vows, but the time always gets … Continue reading

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Canon Law and Making Private Vows

Q1: I was hoping you could answer a burning question of mine regarding vows and promises. Background info: I’m a young guy with OCD [obsessive-compulsive disorder], I have a nasty habit of doing things I think are good and then … Continue reading

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What Are the Church’s Current Rules on Indulgences? (Repost)

(On Easter Sunday, Pope Francis will give the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing in St. Peter’s Square, and under the proper conditions Catholics can gain a plenary indulgence.  So it seems appropriate to repost the Church’s rules on indulgences at … Continue reading

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Founding New Religious Institutes: Pope Francis Changes the Law (Episcopal Authority, Part II)

Q: A group of us Catholics in our diocese have a lawfully erected lay institute that’s now almost 15 years old … [and] from the beginning it was our understanding that if it prospers, it might later be formed into … Continue reading

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Retranslating the Liturgy: Pope Francis Changes the Law (Episcopal Authority, Part I)

Q: Some ladies at our parish are all aflutter because they read somewhere that the Vatican has changed the rules on translation of liturgical rites into the vernacular.  Specifically, bishops are now permitted to translate the Mass and other rites … Continue reading

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