USD Magazine, Winter 2001

ALUMNI ~ GALLERY

•CLASS OF '79• A HIGHER LAW

Mark

those involved than any passed in a court. "Much of what I do concerns people who want to regularize their status with the Church;' he says."It is a sacred thing to them, and that makes it a sacred thing to me." The majority of his work is devoted to matrimonial law, primarily granting official Church recognition to interfaith marriages and annulling unions that allow subsequent marriages to be recognized.

Campbell was a young man in Longford, Ireland, when he heard a calling to the priesthood. As he was following it, he heard yet another. Now judicial vicar for the San Diego diocese, the Very Rev. Monsigno r Campbell heads up the diocesan tribunal, a five-member panel including clergy and lay members appointed by the bishop to direct the affairs of the Church and its parishioners according to the Code of Catholic Canon Law. "I think of my work as a calling within a calling," Campbell says of his role as the diocese's attorney general. Adjudicating matters that involve personal crises such as the break-up of a marriage or a priest deciding to leave the clergy, he says,"allows me to walk a more inti– mate walk with people in their brokenness. I see myself as an instru– ment called to help them." Campbell,who in 1979 graduated with a master's in education from USD, also holds a licentiate in canon law from Catholic University of America inWashington,D.C. He is not licensed to practice law and has no civil authority, but his rulings are in many ways more meaningful to

Vicar sees requests for annulments rising

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"Some marriages can be annulled by documentation," he says."If,fo r example,a ceremony was not performed in accordance with Catholic law - conducted by a priest with two witnesses - a person can peti– tion the tribunal to have that marriage annulled. Others require the tribunal to hear testimony and weigh the facts of the case, very much

like in a civil trial." Campbell says the tribunal gives petitioners every opportunity to get a favorable ruling. "If we cannot grant the annul– ment, we'll abate the case - put it on the shelf - with the hope that the person can obtain more adequate documentation. All neg– ative judgments receive automatic appeals." Campbell, in residence at Mission San Diego, says his case– load has been steadily rising since he became vicar in 1982. Although that increase can in part be attrib– uted to more marriages ending in divorce, Campbell says it also indi– cates something more positive. "I'm very heartened that more people are pursuing official avenues to seek the blessing of the Church in these types of matters;· he says. "More people are taking their faith more seriously. I've been deeply touched by so many people and their desire to be one with the Church."

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WINTER 2001