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SSPX Podcast

Why the Church Needs Laws; and When They Don’t Bind – Questions with Father #59

SSPX Podcast

SSPX / Angelus Press

Christianity, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy

4.9 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2026

⏱️ 112 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today on Questions with Father, we step into a topic many Catholics hear about but rarely understand: the law of the Church. Why does the Church have laws at all? How are those laws made, interpreted, and applied—and what role do they play in the life of the faithful? Fr. Ian Andrew Palko explains the foundations of Canon Law, the difference between doctrine and discipline, and why the Church—like any visible society—must be governed by clear rules. Along the way, we’ll explore key principles from St. Thomas Aquinas, the purpose of penalties and mercy, and why the ultimate goal of every law in the Church remains the same: the salvation of souls.

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What is the SSPX Podcast?

The SSPX Podcast is produced by Angelus Press, which has as its mission the fortification of traditional Catholics so that they can defend the Faith, and reaching out to those who have not yet found Tradition.  – – – – – –

What is the SSPX?

The main goal of the Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic Faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues, especially through the Roman Catholic priesthood. Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls. Although the traditional Latin Mass is the most visible and public expression of the work of the Society, we are committed to defending Catholic Tradition in its entirety: all of Catholic doctrine and morals as the Church has always defended them. What people need is the Catholic Faith, without compromise, with all the truth and beauty which accompanies it. https://sspx.org

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Today, on Questions with Father, we step into a topic many Catholics hear about, but rarely understand,

0:13.0

the laws of the Church. Why does the Church have laws at all? How are those laws made, interpreted,

0:18.3

and applied? And what role do they play in the life of the faithful?

0:22.7

Father Ian Andrew Palco explains the foundations of canon law,

0:26.3

the difference between doctrine and discipline,

0:28.6

and why the church, like any visible society,

0:31.5

must be governed by clear rules.

0:33.5

Along the way, we explore key principles from St. Thomas Aquinas,

0:36.7

the purpose of penalties and mercy,

0:39.2

and why the ultimate goal of every law in the church remains the same, the salvation of souls.

0:44.9

This is free to listen to and always will be, but if you can help with a one-time or a small monthly recurring donation on SSPXpodcast.com,

0:52.3

you'll be making sure that we can continue this work

0:54.4

of producing good Catholic content on a regular basis.

0:58.1

So now let's join Father Palco for Questions with Father number 59,

1:02.1

why the church needs laws and when they don't bind.

1:08.2

Father Palco, great to have you back for another questions with Father. How has your week been so far?

1:12.6

So far. I've refilled on coffee after spilling it a bit earlier, which not only with some technical things delayed the opening of this, because that's, we're going to talk about the church's law. We're going to need lots of coffee.

1:26.6

We're going to need lots of coffee. Yeah. So we're going to be talking about law. And this is a big topic that comes up in a lot of different places because, well, we're humans. We need laws. We need to know what we're doing right and wrong. But this is kind of a more broad overview, sort of in light of an upcoming series that we're going to be doing at some point here in the next few weeks or so about the consecrations.

1:51.8

And so this is a good primer.

1:53.6

This question with Father is just a bunch of questions about church law to kind of give us a good primer, a good foundation on how should we view the church

2:01.7

and laws and just laws and code of canon law and how that all works, right?

2:06.7

Yeah, that was the idea behind it. So we are, as we're preparing those things, and, you know,

...

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