On March 13, 2019, five years ago, Fr. Robert Kaslyn S.J., passed away. He was a dear friend, colleague, mentor and so much more to many. In honor of him, his colleagues, former students, and friends from the academy and beyond honor him and his legacy with a festschrift dedicated to him. Because his outreach went beyond the field of canon law, the contributions in this volume go also beyond the strict canon law and include contributions from other fields, such as law and social work. Each of the contributors have written an academic article on a topic of their choice in honor of their friend. The contributors are, in alphabetical order: Nancy Bauer, John Beal, Philip Brown, William Daniel, Zabrina Decker, Eileen Dombo, Sarah Duggin, Robert Geisinger, Eduard Giurgi, Mary Graw Leary, William King, John Chrysostom Kozlowski, Jeannine Marino, Kurt Martens, Rose McDermott, Robert Oliver, Ladislas Orsy, Roch Pagé, Kenneth Pennington, Sean Sheridan, Patrick Valdrini.

With the promulgation of the motu proprio Mitus iudex Dominus Jesus for the Latin Church and the motu proprio Mitis et misericors Jesus for the Eastern Catholic Churches, both dated August 15, 2015, Pope Francis addressed the calls during the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (October 5-19, 2014) for a simplified procedure for the declaration of the nullity of marriages. Pope Francis introduced a briefer process to be conducted by the diocesan bishop and he simplified the current ordinary nullity process. The new procedural norms went into effect on December 8, 2015.

New legislation always challenges first and foremost the practitioner: how is the new legislation to be understood and applied? Immediately after the new law was made public, a number of articles on this new legislation were published in The Jurist. The School of Canon Law of The Catholic University of America organized a March 2016 Workshop on the very topic of this important procedural reform.

These articles are now brought together in one volume to assist those who work with these norms in the various tribunals dealing with marriage cases. It is hoped that this volume will be of great service to all those who serve the people of God in the ministry of justice, and that these contributions will truly be a help in understanding and applying the new norms.