The Annual Conference of the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland took place at the Swallow Hotel, Gateshead, from 7 to 11 May 2007. In all, 117 members of the Society attended over the course of the week. There were six major academic presentations. The first offering was'Formation for a healthy priesthood: a canonical overview', by the Reverend Anthony Randazzo, an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In his presentation, Fr Randazzo considered the canonical aspects that have helped to define ministerial priesthood since the Second Vatican Council. His paper was a careful review and assessment of the essential characteristics of ministerial priesthood as found in Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium. He saw the 1983 Code of Canon Law as providing a clear statement of what is required for the formation of a healthy priesthood.
Fr Randazzo was followed by the Reverend Francis Morrisey OMI, of the Faculty of Canon Law, Saint Paul University, Ottawa, speaking on ‘Where are we with rights in the Church?’ Fr Morrisey devoted particular attention to recent developments in the Church surrounding canons 220 and 223, expressing reservations about the manner in which these are sometimes interpreted and used by ecclesiastical authority – not infrequently in ways that were not intended by the legislator. Although he was clear that the issue of rights in the Church and their vindication by the faithful constitute certain difficulties, he was quite confident that it is a real advantage to have such rights explicitly recognised in the Code.
The third paper was entitled ‘The role of love within marriage: an historical re-examination’, and was given by the Reverend Brendan Killeen, Judicial Vicar of the diocese of Northampton. Fr Killeen focused his attention on two fundamental statements that are taken for granted by those involved in the teaching of Canon Law and its application in marriage tribunals. The first statement is that St Augustine taught that there were three ‘goods’ of marriage (children, fidelity and indissolubility); these three goods constituted the essence of marriage and this passed unchallenged into church teaching. The second statement had to do with the relationship between the consummation of marriage by sexual intercourse and the indissolubility of marriage: according to this, marriage is begun by the act of consent but becomes indissoluble by the act of intercourse. He subjected both statements to a critical evaluation in the light of other writings, and then he presented some interesting – and somewhat novel – possibilities for future canonical development.
The next contribution came from Mr Mark Chopko, counsel for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and was entitled ‘Intersection of civil and canon law: the experience of the USA with regard to the abuse of children by clergy’. After a presentation of the manner in which the law of the United States treats of religious law in general, Mr Chopko considered in some detail the intersection between civil law and canon law in four particularly problematic areas: liability, structures, confidentiality and discipline.
The fifth presentation, ‘Gender Dysphoria’, was given by Dr Evleen Mann. Dr Mann shared with the Conference her understanding of the condition known as gender dysphoria or, more commonly, transexualism. She presented not only a definition of the condition but various attempts to provide an aetiology for it. Then she explained, from her own experience, the kind of work that is involved in dealing with people with gender dysphoria who present for treatment. She explained the nature of the treatment and the support services available, before raising some legal issues that have been highlighted by recent legislation in the United Kingdom.
The final contribution was ‘Norms for Priestly Formation’, presented by the Reverend James Conn SJ, of the Faculty of Canon Law, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. Fr Conn offered a critical reading of three documents concerned with priestly formation: Norms for Priestly Formation in Scotland; Programme for the Formation of Priests in Irish Seminaries; Program of Priestly Formation (for the United States). These documents had been drawn up by the respective Conferences of Bishops in response to the 1983 Code, the 1985 Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, and especially the post-synodal apostolic exhortation of Pope John Paul II, Pastores dabo vobis. Fr Conn examined the particular legislation in the light of the universal norms and teaching and offered both praise and critical comment.
At the Annual General Meeting on Thursday, 10 May, Monsignor David Hogan from Middlesbrough Diocese was elected president of the Society. He succeeded Fr John Conneely, who had completed two terms as president. Fr James O'Kane was elected general secretary, and Fr Brian McLean was re-elected as treasurer. The Committee members elected were: Mr Paul Barber, Fr Gerard Tartaglia, and Professor Luc de Fleurquin, from the Catholic University. At the AGM, and later at the gala dinner, tribute was paid to the outgoing general secretary, Mrs Margaret Foster, and the outgoing administrative secretary, Mrs Clare Pearce. Their tireless work for the Society received a deserved accolade.
This Conference marked the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the Society. The first meeting took place in April 1957 and was attended by 19 priests. In his speech at the gala dinner, Bishop John Cunningham of Galloway recalled the early days and the way in which the Society has grown to include almost five hundred members worldwide. To mark the Golden Jubilee of the Society, a Mass will be celebrated in Westminster Cathedral on 24 October 2007, with Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor as the principal celebrant; a special edition of the Canon Law Society Newsletter will be published to celebrate the work of the Society over the past fifty years; and the celebrations will culminate at the 2008 Conference, which will take place in Rome.
