The Canon Law Society of America Podcast

Reverend Monsignor Kenneth Boccafola: "When in Rome..."

This episode is an interview of Monsignor Boccafola conducted in January 2021.

Each year the Canon Law Society of America presents its distinguished Role of Law Award to an individual considered to be outstanding in the field of canonical science. The By-Laws of the Society directs the Board of Governors to select a person who demonstrates in his or her life and legal practice the following characteristics: Embodiment of pastoral attitude, commitment to research and study, participation in the development of law, response to needs or practical assistance, facilitation of dialogue and the interchange of ideas within the Society and with other groups.

These  qualifications  are  a  concise  re-statement  of  the  constitutionally-expressed purposes of the Society.

The person to whom this award is given is viewed by us as one who embodies all that we, as members of the Society hold dear, as one to whom we can look for guidance and inspiration. Such an official statement alone is perhaps the greatest honor that can be bestowed on anyone – to be selected by one’s friends and peers as outstanding among them.

The  canonist  we  honor  today  has  been  a  good  and  faithful  servant  of  the Church and of the Law for many years. Born and educated in the Empire State, our recipient was ordained to the priesthood in 1963.

Having received his doctorate in Canon Law from the Gregorian University in 1975 – his thesis was “The Requirement of Perpetuity for the Impediment of Impotence”. He has been an active member of our Society since 1976.

Although  many  know  of  our  recipient’s  canonical  expertise,  few  here  are aware of his affection for golf. One of his friends relates the story of playing one day and his bragging to the opponent how well he was playing. The opponent told our friend “not to count his money before the match was over.” Our awardee announced, “I am not counting my money, I’m counting yours!”

After a variety of pastoral assignments in his diocese, our recipient was named by Blessed John Paul II as a Judge of the Roman Rota on April 3, 1986 where he served for twenty-six years, becoming a Prelate Emeritus on October 9, 2012.

Through the years our distinguished colleague has authored numerous articles such as The Special Penal Norms of the United States and Their Application,; Deceit  and  Induced  Error  about  a  Personal  Quality;  Invalid  Convalidation: A Legitimate Autonomous Ground of Marriage Nullity?

While serving in the Rota, he also worked with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on the Commission for Ratum et  Non  Consummatum  cases,  and  on  the  Commission  for  dispensations  from the obligations of the priesthood. He is a Consultor of the Congregation of the Clergy, and was a member of the Disciplinary Commission of the Roman Curia until he became a Judge of the Court of Appeal of Vatican City State in 2004. During his time in Rome, he was an invited Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University and at the University of the Santa Croce.

By now I am certain that everyone here knows the identity of our honored recipient  and  undoubtedly  many  are  familiar  with  his  many  sentences  coram Boccafola. Please join me in thanking this eminent canonist for the work he has done for our Society and for the universal Church. As president of the Canon Law Society of America, it is my honor to present the 2013 Role of Law Award, on this our 75th anniversary, to Monsignor Kenneth Everett Boccafola.

Eileen Jaramillo on Authenticum Charismatis

Dr. Eileen Jaramillo on Authenticum Charismatis

Dr. Eileen Jaramillo shares her thoughts on the recent Apostolic Letter from Pope Francis, Authenticum charismatis. This document modifies canon 579 and makes permission from the Holy See a requirement before a bishop can erect a religious institute or society of apostolic life of diocesan right.  

Interview with Rev. John Paul Kimes on the CDF's Recent Vademecum

The recent Vademecum released by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been much read and discussed in the latter half of July 2020. We asked an expert to give us some initial insights into the document. John Paul Kimes is a priest of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles and an Associate Professor of the Practice at Notre Dame Law School. For more than a decade he served as an Official of the Discipline Section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He has taught the norms of Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela and the praxis of the CDF for nearly a decade and has multiple publications on the modifications made to SST, various aspects of the delicts described therein, the praxis of the CDF in cases of sexual abuse of minors and, most recently, the jurisprudence of the College for recourses instituted by Pope Francis in 2014 and that of the Supreme Apostolic Tribunal of the CDF. 

 

Reverend John Beal: The Church's Crisis of Legitimacy and the Need for Accountability and Transparency

Role of Law Introduction 2008
by Reverend Paul Counce

 

The nominee for the annual Role of Law award is usually introduced only gradually, beginning with early glimpses in infancy and childhood, when none of us – including the awardee – knew that a canonical future was waiting to blossom. The hints then thrown out are crafted to keep the ultimate revelation of the honoree’s identity a mystery until the last moment.

 

I am going to do this in similar manner, yet still a bit differently. It seems to me that we can begin instead with the honoree’s mysterious present, and work backwards. At the present time, this year’s recipient of the Role of Law award proudly represents an institution of higher learning in this country as the official Faculty Representative to the NCAA – the National Collegiate Athletic Association. This has helped our honoree to be unofficial “mascot” of the field hockey and women’s basketball teams. I think you’d agree with me that this is unusual for a canonist!

 

Also unusual is the recipient’s lifestyle: in a dormitory with almost three score undergraduates, as a faculty resident there. This seems a far cry from the quiet, placid environment one normally associates with canonical research among the dusty stacks of the library, doesn’t it?

 

Yet our honoree this evening is scholar in the best sense of the word. The recipient of our award has done more than a lion’s share of research while authoring over 50 major canonical articles and commentaries. The university setting has seen this professor supervise numerous dissertations and theses, too, as well as do editing work for journals and commentaries with which we are all familiar. Of course, the core of any professorial job is teaching, and some 2 undergraduate and 14 graduate courses in canon law taught have marked our awardee’s academic career over the better part of the past two decades.

 

In these critical times as a result of the clergy sex abuse scandals, particular mention must be made of the four-weekend training courses our nominee offered to bishops already in 1995 – with others – on how to make use of the heretofore underused penal law of the Church in addressing situations of clerical misconduct and so remove those unsuitable from ministry. One of the university courses taught by our recipient was entitled Special Issues in Clergy Law, and dealt with dealing with and prosecuting abuse cases. These teaching moments have been supplemented by personal involvement in many a canonical process. In fact we can hardly call it an occasional sidelight, given the honoree’s work in this area, and the voluminous advice offered to bishops, major superiors, diocesan officials, canonical colleagues, and accused clerics over the years.

 

As we continue to work backwards, we see that other involvement with the Church also has been a hallmark of our recipient’s canonical service as well. A familiar face and voice at national CLSA and regional canonical meetings, our honoree served in Tribunal ministry and as assistant chancellor. In fact, in 1983, the advent of the revised Code of Canon Law had found our recipient already hard at work studying for the licentiate and then the doctorate in canon law at The Catholic University of America. Before embarking on a canonical career path, our honoree served as high school assistant principal and before that as a high school teacher.

 

Even earlier, this year’s awardee returned to this country from graduate theological studies at The Catholic University of Louvain in Leuven, Belgium, to be ordained a priest for his home diocese in 1974. It’s a safe conclusion to make that his college, high school, elementary school, and even kindergarten years prepared him well for all that was to come.

 

At the end of this reverse biography, then, we meet at birth the bouncing baby, destined one day to stand in our midst and to know of our esteem as one of our most distinguished colleagues in the craft of canon law. And he proudly has more hair today than he did at the beginning!

 

My friends, it is my pleasure and privilege to announce that the 2008 Role of Law award of the Canon Law Society of America is given to a priest of the Diocese of Erie and professor of canon law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC: the Reverend John P. Beal, III.

Reverend John Beal: Role of Law Response 2008

Role of Law Introduction 2008
by Reverend Paul Counce

 

The nominee for the annual Role of Law award is usually introduced only gradually, beginning with early glimpses in infancy and childhood, when none of us – including the awardee – knew that a canonical future was waiting to blossom. The hints then thrown out are crafted to keep the ultimate revelation of the honoree’s identity a mystery until the last moment.

 

I am going to do this in similar manner, yet still a bit differently. It seems to me that we can begin instead with the honoree’s mysterious present, and work backwards. At the present time, this year’s recipient of the Role of Law award proudly represents an institution of higher learning in this country as the official Faculty Representative to the NCAA – the National Collegiate Athletic Association. This has helped our honoree to be unofficial “mascot” of the field hockey and women’s basketball teams. I think you’d agree with me that this is unusual for a canonist!

 

Also unusual is the recipient’s lifestyle: in a dormitory with almost three score undergraduates, as a faculty resident there. This seems a far cry from the quiet, placid environment one normally associates with canonical research among the dusty stacks of the library, doesn’t it?

 

Yet our honoree this evening is scholar in the best sense of the word. The recipient of our award has done more than a lion’s share of research while authoring over 50 major canonical articles and commentaries. The university setting has seen this professor supervise numerous dissertations and theses, too, as well as do editing work for journals and commentaries with which we are all familiar. Of course, the core of any professorial job is teaching, and some 2 undergraduate and 14 graduate courses in canon law taught have marked our awardee’s academic career over the better part of the past two decades.

 

In these critical times as a result of the clergy sex abuse scandals, particular mention must be made of the four-weekend training courses our nominee offered to bishops already in 1995 – with others – on how to make use of the heretofore underused penal law of the Church in addressing situations of clerical misconduct and so remove those unsuitable from ministry. One of the university courses taught by our recipient was entitled Special Issues in Clergy Law, and dealt with dealing with and prosecuting abuse cases. These teaching moments have been supplemented by personal involvement in many a canonical process. In fact we can hardly call it an occasional sidelight, given the honoree’s work in this area, and the voluminous advice offered to bishops, major superiors, diocesan officials, canonical colleagues, and accused clerics over the years.

 

As we continue to work backwards, we see that other involvement with the Church also has been a hallmark of our recipient’s canonical service as well. A familiar face and voice at national CLSA and regional canonical meetings, our honoree served in Tribunal ministry and as assistant chancellor. In fact, in 1983, the advent of the revised Code of Canon Law had found our recipient already hard at work studying for the licentiate and then the doctorate in canon law at The Catholic University of America. Before embarking on a canonical career path, our honoree served as high school assistant principal and before that as a high school teacher.

 

Even earlier, this year’s awardee returned to this country from graduate theological studies at The Catholic University of Louvain in Leuven, Belgium, to be ordained a priest for his home diocese in 1974. It’s a safe conclusion to make that his college, high school, elementary school, and even kindergarten years prepared him well for all that was to come.

 

At the end of this reverse biography, then, we meet at birth the bouncing baby, destined one day to stand in our midst and to know of our esteem as one of our most distinguished colleagues in the craft of canon law. And he proudly has more hair today than he did at the beginning!

 

My friends, it is my pleasure and privilege to announce that the 2008 Role of Law award of the Canon Law Society of America is given to a priest of the Diocese of Erie and professor of canon law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC: the Reverend John P. Beal, III.

Dr. Barbara Anne Cusack: Role of Law Response 2006

2006 Role of Law Citation

Presented by Msgr. Daniel Hoye

 

Since 1971, our Society has presented the Role of Law Award to a distinguished canonist.

 

The Board of Governors is asked to select someone who has the following characteristics in the practice of canon law:

 

Embodiment of pastoral attitude, commitment to research and study, participation in the development of law, response to needs or practical assistance, facilitation of dialogue and the interchange of ideas within the Society and other groups.

 

The recipient of this year’s Role of Law is a person who loves to play golf. Not a Tiger or a Tigress Woods perhaps, but, weather permitting, our recipient is a weekly golfer. No word on what the handicap is.

 

Ireland is a favorite vacation spot and every February the plane leaves for some warm spot where golf is the major attraction.

 

More ad rem, our recipient has been involved in many CLSA committees. Projects involving Lay Ministry, Diocesan Pastoral Councils and convention planning benefitted from this person’s expertise.

 

A graduate of the Catholic University of America, our recipient was awarded a JCD in 1988. Many regional meetings have benefitted from presentations made by this person. At our national conventions we have heard a major address and several seminars have been given.

 

As one member of the Board remarked, “This person has always said yes to anything regarding CLSA.”

 

Our recipient has taught canon law at the graduate level as well as in a seminary. This person has worked as a judge in an Archdiocese where the wind blows a lot. She then became a multiple office holder in a place where beer flows a lot: some of HER titles are Chancellor, Judge, Promoter of Justice and Director of Administrative Services.

 

Tonight, we honor our 2006 recipient of the Role of Law, Barbara Anne Cusack.

Dr. Barbara Anne Cusack: Canonists Dedicated to Justice and Reconciliation

2006 Role of Law Citation

Presented by Msgr. Daniel Hoye

 

Since 1971, our Society has presented the Role of Law Award to a distinguished canonist.

 

The Board of Governors is asked to select someone who has the following characteristics in the practice of canon law:

 

Embodiment of pastoral attitude, commitment to research and study, participation in the development of law, response to needs or practical assistance, facilitation of dialogue and the interchange of ideas within the Society and other groups.

 

The recipient of this year’s Role of Law is a person who loves to play golf. Not a Tiger or a Tigress Woods perhaps, but, weather permitting, our recipient is a weekly golfer. No word on what the handicap is.

 

Ireland is a favorite vacation spot and every February the plane leaves for some warm spot where golf is the major attraction.

 

More ad rem, our recipient has been involved in many CLSA committees. Projects involving Lay Ministry, Diocesan Pastoral Councils and convention planning benefitted from this person’s expertise.

 

A graduate of the Catholic University of America, our recipient was awarded a JCD in 1988. Many regional meetings have benefitted from presentations made by this person. At our national conventions we have heard a major address and several seminars have been given.

 

As one member of the Board remarked, “This person has always said yes to anything regarding CLSA.”

 

Our recipient has taught canon law at the graduate level as well as in a seminary. This person has worked as a judge in an Archdiocese where the wind blows a lot. She then became a multiple office holder in a place where beer flows a lot: some of HER titles are Chancellor, Judge, Promoter of Justice and Director of Administrative Services.

 

Tonight, we honor our 2006 recipient of the Role of Law, Barbara Anne Cusack.

Reverend Lawrence DiNardo: Role of Law Response 2009

Reverend Lawrence DiNardo: Competence, Conviction and Service in the Vineyard of the Lord

ROLE OF LAW

Introduction & Presentation

2009 Convention

 This year’s Role of Law recipient has received many earlier recognitions.  Among them is the ‘Order of the Arrow’ which he earned as an Eagle Scout.  As a person with a great zest for life, his curriculum vitae provides not just professional efforts, but also more personal achievements: a football official, a gourmet cook who auctions off dinners for charitable causes, and acknowledgment as the ‘Italian of the year in religion’ from the Italian Sons & Daughters Cultural Association in his area.  Indeed, one of the most charming things about our recipient is his well-developed humanness.  He is a person of great energy and enthusiasm.  Again, his curriculum vitae describes his work in parishes, in his diocese, in health care, with the youth, with diocesan administration and with non-denominational civic projects.  When he was the President of our Society, he attended most, if not all, of the Regional Conventions; having been to a few this past year as your President, I can tell you that he established a standard in that regard not easily met.

But our Role of Law award recognizes someone who has served the People of God in canonical ministry.  In numerous writings of our Society, this is specified as research, study and assistance to the community of God’s people, singularly and collectively.  Our recipient has certainly provided our Society and the wider Church with research and study.  From matrimonial jurisprudence to educational and formational disputes to questions of consultation, he has assisted us in the use of all seven books of the Code of Canon Law.  Currently, he is the one in his diocese responsible for the Department of Canonical Services.  In other words, not only unofficially but officially, he is responsible for the research and study of any and all canonical questions; most of the questions involve if not actual disputes at least disturbing confusion.

 I would be remiss if I did not comment on his most current assistance to the Church as one called upon to judge penal trials of clerics.  As many of you know, it is not easy for a Tribunal, mandated by Rome but sitting locally, to move to a thoughtful conclusion through all the emotion, the bureaucracy, the procedural uncertainties and the particularities of a case.  Our recipient this year adjudicates these cases with canonical skill, common sense and courtesy for all.

In all of this, however, our recipient focuses on the person, the individual, not the office or the title.  In doing that, he demonstrates a real grasp of law in the Church: it is part of the living reality of God’s People.  Context is everything, and our recipient never takes law out of the context of the community.  Indeed, it is his humanity, which I noted at the beginning, that makes his canonical ministry so effective.  As your President, and as a fellow Episcopal Vicar for Canonical Concerns, it is my pleasure to present to you the recipient of the 2009 Role of Law Award from the Canon Law Society of America, the Episcopal Vicar for Canonical Concerns for the diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Fr. Larry DiNardo.