Work of canon lawyers varies

During a typical workday, Rev. Peter Sullivan might get a call from a family hoping their nine-year-old son can serve as godfather to his baby brother...a divorced couple looking into the annulment process...or a pastor checking on marriage preparation requirements for a Catholic/Muslim couple in his parish.

Father Sullivan is a canon lawyer, one of a half-dozen or so in the Albany Diocese. The lawyers, four of whom actively work for the diocesan Tribunal, interpret Church law to help Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, clergy and diocesan staff make decisions about the welfare of the Diocese and its parishes. They also work with couples seeking to have their marriages annulled and answer questions for laypersons about the laws of the Church.

This week, 75 canon lawyers gathered in Albany for the Eastern Regional Conference of Canonists. Father Sullivan called the conference the tribunal's "way of celebrating the Sesquicentennial" of the Albany Diocese.

'Refresher course'

For three days, the participants in the conference attended talks on specific aspects of the Code of Canon Law, the set of rules by which the Church makes decisions.

Father Sullivan called the conference "a refresher course" for lawyers hoping to update their skills. Since Vatican II, he explained, the Church has begun to be more sensitive to what were once ticklish situations in terms of canon law.

For example, if a Catholic decided to become Lutheran and subsequently married a Lutheran in the Lutheran church, the Catholic Church would have once said the marriage was invalid. Today, however, "we say that if a person in all good conscience marries a person in another religious group, then our codes are put aside," Father Sullivan said.

Marriage at core

Father Sullivan jokingly referred to his job as that of a "referee" who provides a framework to settle various issues in the Church.

"Sixty percent of what we are doing has to do with marriages that have not been successful," he explained. "We try to be faithful to the Gospel. Most of the people we work with are in their 20s or 30s, and we look at [whether they have met] the requirements for marriage -- maturity, for example."

In addition to working on declarations of nullity, the canon lawyers on the Tribunal sit in on decisions made by the diocesan Presbyteral Council and Council of Consultors, who help the Bishop govern the Diocese. They advise him on decisions ranging from the sale of Church property to the closing of a parish.

Referrals

Often, calls from laypersons who have a disagreement with the Church are transferred to the Tribunal.

"A couple may say, `The priest in this parish won't marry us,'" Father Sullivan said. The Tribunal's job is to determine whether the pastor's reasoning is correct; for example, the couple may have refused to take the required marriage preparation course.

The Tribunal also responds to requests for dispensations, such as when a priest asks to leave the priesthood. Father Sullivan remarked that most lay Catholics in the Diocese believe that the Tribunal deals only with annulments, but its work is much more far-reaching.

"If in any legal system it was possible to use the law as printed, we wouldn't need judges," he said. "No law can think of every possible variation."

Advances

In the field of canon law, the Church looks ahead in another way: Both men and women can be canon lawyers. In the Albany Diocese, Sister Mary Ann Hayes, CSJ, is a part of the Tribunal -- and since 1983, women have been allowed as judges for marriage tribunals.

"This is one of the areas where women are being invited to be a part of the official Church -- on a formal basis, with authority," said Father Sullivan. "That's new, and that's great."

Another feather in the cap for local canon lawyers was the attendance at this week's Conference of Canonists of Judge Joseph Bellacosa of the New York State Court of Appeals. He gave the closing address on "Canon Law Meets Civil Law" along with Rev. Francis Morrissey, OMI, of St. Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario.

With the growth of such legal headaches as Catholic hospitals' response to civil laws (e.g., refusal to provide abortions), canon law and civil law are "becoming more of an interesting sphere," said Father Sullivan. "It's a rare occasion when we get anyone of the prestige of Judge Bellacosa."

(To contact the diocesan Tribunal, call 453-6620.)

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