Appreciation Leading canon lawyers had pastoral
focus
By JAMES A. CORIDEN
Three distinguished U.S. canon lawyers who helped shape the
direction of the church in the past three decades died within a few weeks of
one another. That the deaths of Frs. Bertram Griffin, Donald Heintschel and
James Provost occurred in a cluster was probably coincidence. But it could just
be there was an urgent need in heaven for a canonical consultation on the
future of the church.
Griffin, Heintschel and Provost were all diocesan priests who had
earned doctoral degrees in canon law. Each served as president of the Canon Law
Society of America and each subsequently received the societys highest
honor, the Role of Law Award.
Bertram F. Griffin was 68 when he died in Portland, Ore., July 28
after a long bout with heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
Donald Heintschel died in Toledo, Ohio, Aug. 22 at the age of 75
after a prolonged cardiac illness.
James H. Provost, a priest of the Helena, Mont., diocese, was 60
when he died of lymphoma in Washington Aug. 26.
Canonical rules and procedures guide many of the activities of the
church: the preaching of the gospel, the celebration of the sacraments, the
appointment and authority of pastors and bishops, the community life of
religious women and men and the freedom to marry.
After the church inherited canon law, a highly organized legal
system, from the Roman Empire, it was refined into a science and has been
taught as a discipline in the churchs universities since the 12th
century. Following the Council of Trent in the 16th century, a canonical degree
became one of the requirements for the office of bishop, vicar general and
judge, among others.
Attitudes and modes of interpretation vary widely among canonists,
just as the mindsets and practices of civil lawyers do. Canonists are sometimes
seen as careerists, people who pursue ecclesiastical law to qualify for higher
offices in the church. In their canonical practice, such canon lawyers appear
more interested in defending the institution than in assisting the people. This
characterization is not true of the vast majority of the 1,600 canon lawyers in
the United States.
For these three recently deceased canonists, such
characterizations would be completely mistaken, a grave distortion of their
lives. They were progressive and pastoral canonists who were devoted to making
their church a communion of communities where the needs of the Christian
faithful are primary.
Griffin was in Rome during much of the Vatican Council while
working on his doctorate at the Lateran University. The degree was awarded in
1964. He served three parishes in the Portland archdiocese from 1970 until his
death. In addition, he worked in the Portland chancery and the marriage
tribunal. He was a frequent speaker at national meetings of the Canon Law
Society and was long regarded as one of the most insightful and resourceful of
American canonists.
Heintschel had received his doctorate at the Catholic University
of America in 1956. He served as the executive coordinator of the Canon Law
Society for six years and then as the associate general secretary of the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington from 1982 to 89.
While at the conference he developed the organization of the National Advisory
Council, a group of lay men and women, religious men and women, priests and
bishops who advise the bishops conference and the U.S. Catholic
Conference on issues facing the church. He oversaw the construction of the new
bishops conference building. The author of many canonical articles, he
was also an editor of The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary promulgated
in 1985.
Provost studied theology in Louvain, Belgium, and earned his
doctorate in Rome at the Lateran University in 1967. He taught canon law at The
Catholic University of America from 1979 until his death and was chair of the
Department of Canon from 1987 to 1998. He served as executive coordinator of
the Canon Law Society for six years. He had been managing editor of The
Jurist, a journal of canon law since 1980, and was also director of
the Church Order section of the international journal Concilium for 10
years. Perhaps the most prolific and influential canonical writer and speaker
in the United States over the past 20 years, he contributed scores of articles
and presentations to journals and conferences all over the world.
Donald Heintschel, Bertram Griffin and James Provost were truly
canon lawyers for the people of God. They urged reforms mandated by the Second
Vatican Council in season and out of season.
Don Heintschel felt great pain and frustration when interference
from the Roman curia harmed the pastoral life of the U.S. church.
Bert Griffin described as frontier justice the ways
those in the church of the Northwest accommodated the rules to the needs of the
times.
And Jim Provost was a master of subtle suggestion and imaginative
innovation when it came to issues of church policy.
Don, Bert and Jim will be sorely missed. Each was highly esteemed.
But what a contribution they will make to that heavenly consultation. n
Fr. James A. Coriden teaches canon law at the Washington
Theological Union.
National Catholic Reporter, September 22,
2000
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