Esteemed canon lawyer, educator and writer James Coriden brings his more than forty years' experience to this book that offers a bold and refreshing vision of the role of law within the Catholic Church-not as an instrument of control but as a guide and guarantee of freedom for individual believers. Coriden argues that church law is primarily a ministry within the church, a ministry that ought to serve freedom first and good order second. He views church as a local community situated within specific cultural, economic and political circumstances. And a law that serves global order while ignoring the needs of the local church runs the risk of trampling on freedom and undermining the peace of the church. This informed and passionate argument for canon law as a ministry rather than as an instrument of control in today's church will be food for thought for: * canon lawyers and those who shape church law * all persons, inside and outside the church who are concerned about the role of law and institutional reform * interested persons in the pew