I heard someone quoting canon law the other day and it struck me as odd that church law has the same name as a piece of artillery.  Why would this be so?  Does it have anything to do with the wars of religion in the 16th century?

Your Friend,

Delia Watt

I have no idea why the guns are called canons, but I do know why the law is called Canon law.

The word canon comes from a Semitic word kanna meaning a rod or hollow stem.  We still use the term  “measuring rod.”  That is the sense of it, dragged through Greek and Latin into English.

A canon is a device for measuring. 

We have the canon of Scriptures, against which we measure our own private inspirations.  We canonize saints.  Their lives are measuring rods, living Bibles, and we measure our spiritual progress by looking at their lives. St. Paul said, “Imitate me as I imitate the Messiah.”  We have the canon of the Mass, that part which does not vary according to the different Sundays, and we have canon law which lays out the usual practices and obligation of Catholics. 

We measure local practices against a wider standard.  It is an amazing thing that, when canon law is observed, what is done in Manila or Oberhessen or Skokie all looks fairly familiar. 

In my last parish when I first arrived, I was not welcome to say the main Mass. They had their own priest.  He didn't wear a chasuble.  He had lay concelebrants.  He sat in the congregation.  A visitor who was finding his way back to the Lord came for four weeks before he realized it was a Catholic church.  Believe it or not, it took me three years to get it all straightened out. 

Canon Law allows 1,100,000,000 (1.1 billion) Catholics to respect their local traditions while maintaining unity.  You can go to a Catholic church anywhere in the world, and if they are obeying canon law, you will recognize Rome, sweet home. 

So, Delia, I hope I've been able to tell you what you wanted to know.

Rev. Know-It-All