Monsignor Patrick Lagges: Combining the Law of Love with the Love of Law

ROLE OF LAW AWARD CITATION
Dr. Zabrina R. Decker

Our Role of Law recipient was born in the previous millennium, and lived in the same city up until retirement. The public school system educated our recipient for elementary school and then he attended four diocesan seminaries, three of which are now closed. He did not have an outstanding academic career, but managed to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, before Mastering Divinity and being ordained a diocesan priest in 1977.

Early in his career as a parish priest, he became involved in the newly-established ministry to the separated and divorced, which led him to ask the Tribunal if it needed any assistance. He did not envision that lasting 27 years. After a two year internship at the diocesan tribunal, during which time he became a member of the Canon Law Society of America, he pursued canon law studies at St. Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario, where he obtained his Doctorate of Canon Law in 1987, under the guidance of Frank Morrisey, with Dean Jean Thorn occasionally having to scrape him off the ceiling.

After the completion of his degree, he returned to the diocesan tribunal, where he served at various times as Advocate, Promoter of Justice, Defender of the Bond, Adjutant Judicial Vicar, and Judicial Vicar. He also had several terms on the Interdiocesan Court of Appeals. For the last ten years, the job of Vicar for Canonical Services was added to his duties, during which time he had to learn the ins and outs of penal law, often with the help of Bill Woestman’s books. He also served in parochial ministry at two different parishes, mostly in intercultural settings, and participated in various types of canonical education throughout the diocese, as well as on the presbyteral council and college of consultors.

After leaving full-time canonical ministry, he was appointed chaplain to the Catholic students in a university setting, where he served until his retirement in 2017. From 1996 to 2009, he was an adjunct professor at the only diocesan seminary he has not closed. Since 2005, he has taught canon law at Catholic Theological Union and, since 2009, in the Catholic University of America’s summer program. He has given several pre-convention workshops for the CLSA, as well as a number of seminars and major addresses. His articles have appeared in The Jurist and Studia canonica, among other publications.

I am honored to present this year’s Role of Law Award to Monsignor Patrick Lagges.