Denver Newsroom, Oct 4, 2020 / 05:11 pm (CNA).- The nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court would make her, if confirmed, the sixth Roman Catholic on the nine-person court.
While this is deeply concerning to some – and a reason to celebrate for others – both canon and civil lawyers told CNA that the Catholic legal tradition has much to offer the United States.
The Catholic Church has already contributed much to the United States’ legal system – including “the whole idea of law in general,” Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, OP, told CNA.
Fr. Pietrzyk practiced corporate and securities law in a large Chicago law firm before joining religious life, and he currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the Legal Services Corporation. He is also a canon lawyer and professor at St. Patrick’s Seminary & University in Menlo Park, California.
“It’s the development of canon law (the law that governs the Church) that gives both the United States and Europe their modern notions of law,” he said.
While aspects of canon law were present since the early days of the Church, the use of the term ‘canon law’, as rules and laws governing ecclesial matters rather than civil ones, started around the 12th century, according to New Advent. While the code of canon law has been updated numerous times, it is the longest still-functioning rule of law in the West.
“Even the idea of a professional legal class, that is of lawyers, finds its root in the professionalization of law and the development of the Church’s canon law, in the 12th century. Just the fact that there is a legal profession is something that is owed to the Church,” Pietrzyk said.
More generally, he added, the Catholic tradition has always understood that faith and reason work together. They are, as Pope St. John Paul II wrote, “like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.”
Stephen Payne, dean of the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America, said it is this emphasis of reason in the Catholic tradition that makes Catholics good lawyers and judges.
“God is the creator of reason and law is an important field in which human beings seek to apply reason for the common good,” he said.
“It’s that commitment to reason that is an especially important contribution Catholic judges and lawyers…can make in today’s environment, in which many people on both sides of the political spectrum seem to prefer to decide important questions by sheer force of power guided by appetite, or emotional sentiment, through a process that involves attacking other people and attempting to undermine their God-given dignity,” Payne added.
Pietryzk said that the Catholic Church has also always strongly prized education, because of its understanding of how faith and reason work together.
“Education is something that’s very important, particularly the United States. When a new group would come from whatever country to America as Catholics, they built the church and built the school, usually together,” he said.
There are many aspects of the U.S. law and the legal process that also find their roots in canon law, Pietrzyk said, such as the idea in corporate law that entities sometimes have rights like persons would, or the idea of due process.
“People condemn the Inquisition, but the Inquisition was a step above the civil courts because there was real, procedural due process with the Inquisition that just didn’t exist in secular law,” he said.
Payne said he sees a Catholic influence in U.S. law with respect to some issues of social justice, especially as they are treated in Pope Leo XII’s encyclical, “Rerum Novarum” and other works by the three most recent popes.
Their writings on social justice have had “a significant influence on how many people, at least in our country, think about social justice, especially in such arenas as helping the poor, healthcare, immigration, abortion, end of life, workers’ rights, the death penalty, and so on,” he said.
Payne added that the U.S. legal system also includes ideas that come from natural law, a concept emphasized in the Catholic tradition that has roots in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas and even further back to Aristotle.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, natural law is “present in the heart of each man and established by reason….It expresses the dignity of the human person and forms the basis of his fundamental rights and duties.”
“Our break with King George III was justified on natural law grounds, and many of our constitutional rights and much of our common law was founded in and flows from natural law and natural rights,” Payne said.
Furthermore, Payne said, “the Catholic intellectual tradition and Catholic social teaching have a great deal to say about the common good and the dignity of the human person. And a significant part of that focuses on the natural law, and how seeking the common good enables individual human beings to flourish in community.”
In a way, Pietrzyk said, the Catholic understanding of human dignity is reflected “in the Declaration of Independence. ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and they’re endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.’”
“This is a very Christian idea,” he said. “As much as we talk about the common good, there’s still a reality to the individual value and the dignity of the person and that the person has rights. Not simply because he’s a citizen of a particular country, but simply because he’s human and that human nature itself, whether born or unborn, endows that person with rights. Modern progressivism in some ways assumes that without understanding it.”
Modern progressivism “collapses” as a philosophy, Pietrzyk said, because it lacks “a coherent sense of a human person. It’s really just this sort of naked kind of freedom, or I would say autonomy.”
Conor Dugan is a Catholic attorney who practices in Michigan. He said the conflict between the Catholic understanding of the human person and the modern progressive understanding of the individual is due to the U.S. founding fathers, who mostly held Enlightenment principles and ideas, such as those from English philosopher John Locke.
The American legal system takes a Lockean view of people as individuals with rights, “which doesn’t necessarily nestle the person in a community,” Dugan told CNA.
On the other hand, Catholics understand the human person as someone who is always in relationship – to God, to others, to himself – and therefore while a person has rights, he also has responsibilities, Dugan said.
“It’s almost like the individual becomes atomized” in the U.S. legal system, he said, and “an individual who is cut off from all those things just has a packet of rights and no responsibility.”
Pietrzyk said an example of this Lockean understanding of the individual can be seen in U.S. law under the 2015 Supreme Court case, Obergefell v. Hodges, which effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
That decision demonstrated “a strong belief in an individual’s rights to marry whomever he wants, regardless of the nature of the institution or the nature of the person. It’s this raw exercise of will, but disconnected from any reality or any nature or anything like that,” he said. “It has no rational core to it.”
The concept of the common good, while mentioned in passing by some U.S. lawmakers, is another area where Catholic lawyers and judges may be able to have an impact, Dugan noted.
“I wonder if that’s something that Catholics can do, is try to bring about a deeper understanding of the common good,” he said.
“None of the Constitution makes sense, unless we have (human dignity and the common good) as a background assumption. And maybe we should make it more explicit at times so that people understand that that’s what the law is for – it’s to protect and to foster the common good, and to protect and ensure the dignity of human persons.”
Pietrzyk noted that it is law that makes a common good possible.
“Pope Francis has talked about this…the importance of the common good, which law helps to preserve. We don’t define our individual good over and against the common good as if the two are in opposition to each other, but our individual good is able to flourish…is only able to reach its fullness with the common good, and that includes the law,” he said.
“We as human beings cannot flourish outside of a society with the common good. And we cannot flourish outside of society that does not have law. It’s law that makes freedom possible. It’s law that makes liberty possible. And it’s precisely within the Church’s legal tradition, that the charismatic side, that is the side of grace, can really flourish.”
Because the United States was not founded explicitly on Catholic principles, Dugan said it makes sense that Catholic lawyers and judges would feel a tension between their religious beliefs and the law of the land.
“I think Catholics in America, and especially Catholic lawyers should feel a tension at times between their faith and the law,” he said.
“And that that’s not necessarily a bad tension. It can help us to offer the contribution [of the Catholic legal tradition] to the world. Because I think we can fill out and make more robust, the good things that are there in the American Constitution, or we can help [them] serve and fulfill their promise,” he said.
Amy Coney Barrett’s Catholicism has been a point of criticism since her 7th Circuit Court of Appeals nomination hearing in 2017, when she was accused of “the dogma living loudly” within her, to recent articles debating – and debunking – whether People of Praise, the charismatic movement to which Barrett belongs, was the inspiration behind the dystopian novel and T.V. series, The Handmaid’s Tale.
Payne said he was not sure why there has been such a sharp focus on Barrett’s religious convictions as a possible problem, since everyone in the field of law brings their own personal views or values to the table.
“I’m not sure why, from an objective point of view, there should be such a focus on the religious commitments of the candidates, especially in a country whose constitution is so clear about the human value of religious liberty,” Payne said.
“Belief in God is well supported by reason, though many in our culture think it’s contradicted by it. In any event, many people who are not religious hold the values they do have very securely and apply them to important decisions in their lives and in their work.”
Pietryzk said that rather than recusing themselves from pertinent cases, it should be the role of Catholic judges or lawyers to bring their understanding of the human person and the common good into their work.
“As Catholics, we understand that human beings are created with a nature, created by God with a nature,” he said. “And discerning what the proper rules are for human beings given that nature is historically part of the work of judges.”
He added that while he does not know Barrett personally, they have many friends in common.
“I do know lots of people who know her and every good thing you hear about her reputation, I’ve heard for a long time,” he said. “She is just an extraordinary woman by everybody’s account.”
Dugan, a former student of Barrett’s, said he thinks that as Catholics and as Americans, “we’ve hit the jackpot” with her nomination to the Supreme Court.
“It’s hard for me to imagine anyone having a negative thing to say about her,” he said.
“I went back and looked at some emails we exchanged over the years, giving me career and family advice, how to navigate the tensions of a busy practice with family and things like that…I just think we’ve gotten a real gift in this nomination. I hope she’s confirmed.”
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This is NOT a new development – leftist outside agitators have been hard at work
on our nation’s campuses for decades – going all the way back to the 60s.
The seeds sewn by Saul Alinsky lo those many decades ago are reaping a bitter fruit.
One recent development is the feeding frenzy of baby sharks eating their parents and grandparents, especially those swimming in the cesspool of the facility and administration. It’s like watching Jaws being devoured by his children. I would eat popcorn if the spectacle didn’t turn my stomach.
On second thought, all of this reminds me of Dostoevsky‘s the Devils.
Great image. Thanks!
I am in no way justifying the Hamas attack. However, in retaliation, Israel is killing and starving thousands of innocent Palestinian women and children, some of whom are Christians.
Also, after the Oct. 7 attack, many Jews were amazed and openly wondering how it was possible that the most heavily guarded and surveilled border between Israel and Palestine could have not had any surveillance for many hours on Oct. 7.
Isreal is doing no such thing, and there is no such thing as an innocent Palestinian.
Athanasius:
While I support Israel in its war in Gaza, and polls show that the vast the majority (I believe it was over 80% in the Pew Poll) of “Palestinians” support violent Sharia (Palestinians are among the 3 most violent Muslim populations in the world) it is not truthful to say “there are no innocent Palestinians.” Obviously, a sizable minority are not in favor of violence, and that is a fact, in the same way that “the vast majority favoring violence” is a fact. Saying otherwise is not acknowledging reality, and cannot be justified, and when actions in war are explained on the basis of what is unjustifiable, then a person making such a claim is not defending justice, or arguing on the basis of “just war” principles.
It may be the case that you don’t really believe what you wrote?
According to the Reuters report (I choose Reuters because they are not identified with the “radical right”), three in four Palestinians support the actions of Hamas on October 7.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/poll-shows-palestinians-back-oct-7-attack-israel-support-hamas-rises-2023-12-14
Of course, that was back in December and things may have changed, but I rather doubt that. Mind you, this support for Hamas is even after it has been revealed (multiple times in fact) that Hamas and other terrorists use civilians as human shields–placing their centers of operations and weaponry in schools and hospitals.
Interesting that you would only be concerned with media that may be considered “radical right”.
Under this Administration anyone reporting the truth is being censored and demonized. Only the “radical left” is allowed to spout their propaganda.
Hate to tell you this, I would be considered among the “radical right.” I almost choose the National Review article on the subject, as it is more recent, but choose Reuters. In any event, NR reported the same thing: Palestinians overwhelming support Hamas, and have done so for years.
Mrs.Hess:
I agree with you but I would add that they do so because they are afraid not to.
That is absolutely true.
Exactly!
Mary,
Your write: “many Jews were amazed and openly wondering how it was possible that the most heavily guarded and surveilled border between Israel and Palestine could have not had any surveillance for many hours on Oct. 7.”
A deep look into what is a profoundly convoluted and fallen world…
Some might even ask how it was possible that 9/11 happened at all? And twenty years in Afghanistan? In 2001 were too many security agents assigned to track domestic “terrorists” praying in front of abortion clinics in urban America? And, yet, further into the morass, would such a hypothetical distraction have been due to those misguided pro-life activists who firebombed clinics?
It’s almost as if the relativistic calculus of consequences is incalculably evil. And, as if the clear and consistent defense of moral absolutes (!), as defended under the forgotten Veritatis Splendor, is still somebody’s God-given responsibility…but who am I to judge?
Palestine has been turned into a pile of rubble with thousands of casualties including hundreds of women and children, and many more buried in the rubble. That is obvious to anyone.
Maybe we should let God be the judge of whether Palestinian women and children are guilty or innocent.
Mary, what’s going on in the Holy Land is a terrible tragedy but I think doubly so for the people living in Gaza because not only are they the victims of collateral damage but they’re also victimized and exploited by Hamas and Iran.
The entire population of Gaza has simply been a means of humanitarian aid to steal, indoctrination, human shields, and canon fodder for Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist mercenary cartel working for the highest bidder which currently is Iran.
The rest of Israel’s neighbors want peace. October 7th was an attempt by Iran to derail the peace accords. (And many Iranians want peace also but good luck with free speech in Iran today. )
The IDF has taken more measures to protect putative civilians, measures that put their soldiers at risk, than any military in the world. Civilian casualties are unavoidable in urban warfare, especially when the enemy places forces and munitions adjacent to churches, schools, and other civilian structures.
Rich Leonardi, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem reported that two Catholic women were shot and killed by an Israeli sniper in a Gaza Parish, while an Israeli tank destroyed the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa. The two women shot were supposedly in a safe area and the second woman who was shot and killed by the sniper was rushing to the aid of the first woman (her mother).
Also, many Jewish people in this country and even Military in Israel were in total disbelief that the Israeli Palestinian border was totally unprotected for hours – allowing the Hamas attack. Hamas, by the way, was created by Netanyahu.
The Israeli media also lied about the beheading of babies, etc. in order to foment hatred toward everyone in Gaza.
Something stinks to high heaven in this whole mess.
Mary, where are you seeing the footage of this massive starvation and death of innocent children in Hamas territory? I have seen photos of some destroyed buildings but can’t tell if they are old or if the location is accurate. We live in an age of fake news so it’s hard to tell.
RomyE, I search various websites to try to find the truth because, as you say, in an age of fake news it’s hard to know for sure. I’ve found Lifesitenews.com to be very reliable. One of their latest articles from April 30 is entitled, Hell on Earth: Inside the Overlooked Plight of Christians in Gaza, which interviews the founder of the Vulnerable People Project.
Lifesite News does from time to time have news items that are of interest but “reliable” is not the way I’d describe the site as a whole & certainly not in the case of news concerning Gaza or Israel.
MrsCracker, There are many pro Israel people who don’t like Lifesite News’ reporting of the Israel-Gaza war – even though I think their reporting is fair and balanced. I’ve found several videos on the net of Jewish Rabbis, Israeli Americans and members of the Israeli press who feel the bombing of Gaza should be stopped as the majority of casualties are women and children.
The Palestinians will not see a homeland for themselves until they have earned it. Peace is not forced into existence by violence, but peace can force violence out of existence.
Peace must come first. Only when the Hamas’ of the world drop their weapons, look up to Heaven and say “Israel has as much right to exist as we do”, will the Middle East experience true peace. The root of this entire historical and all-encompassing human tragedy rests, carved in stone, within the soul and cultural collective mindset of peoples who bear within their hearts, as if deigned by heaven itself, the complete physical, spiritual and temporal annihilation of the entire worldwide Jewish population.
For the umpteenth time:
1) Hamas has stated over and over and OVER through the years that they will settle for nothing less than the complete eradication of the state of Israel.
2) Hamas started this latest version of the war last October.
3) Hamas launches rockets from within civilian-populated areas as a matter of policy.
These are NOT matters to argue over, rather they are FACTS. So, and I know I’m asking too much of college students whose parents are paying up to $90,000 per year for their little darlings to be educated to act the way they are:
4) Do the math.
I hear you Mr. Terrence but occasionally students at Columbia are paying out of pocket and locating their own funding. That’s what one of my children did for his graduate study there. All I did was help him with the fee to reserve his dorm room and i sent him care packages of food. He soon figured out he couldn’t afford living in the dorm and he rented a room from a kindly Dominican grandma.
But, yes his experience was that many of the students there were very privileged indeed and the whole thing was quite a culture shock.
I stopped listening to this interview when Father Landry said that Jesus came to heal the divisions between the classes. I thought that was a very odd thing for a priest or any Catholic to say.