Eastern Canon Law (J.C.L.)

Program Overview

The Licentiate in Canon Law (J.C.L.) in Eastern Canon Law studies the law of the twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris. Since 1991 these churches have shared a common code, the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, while each keeps its own liturgical, theological, spiritual, and disciplinary patrimony and its own particular law. Eastern Catholics now live in Latin dioceses across the world as well as in their homelands, so the questions this specialization answers arise far from the East: which church a child belongs to, who may bless a marriage, and what a priest needs in order to minister to faithful of another church. Students study the sources and structure of the Eastern code and its relation to the Latin code; the churches sui iuris and the rites; ascription to a church and transfer between churches; patriarchal and major archiepiscopal churches with their synods of bishops, metropolitan churches, and the other churches sui iuris; eparchies and the eparchial bishop; clergy, including married clergy; monks and other religious; the sacraments, including Christian initiation and the sacred rite of marriage; and the penal and procedural law of the Eastern code. Throughout, the program compares the two codes, including the provisions harmonized by the motu proprio De concordia inter Codices of 2016, and attends to the relations of the Eastern Catholic churches with the Orthodox churches. Graduates serve Eastern Catholic eparchies and exarchates, Latin chanceries and tribunals with Eastern Catholic faithful, and ecumenical offices. The licentiate thesis takes up an interchurch question — the ascription of children in a family of two churches, the marriage of an Eastern Catholic before a Latin deacon, or faculties for clergy of another church sui iuris — and resolves it from both codes and the particular law involved.

Core Courses

• JCL 701 — General Norms and the Sources of Canon Law (6 credits)
• JCL 712 — The Eastern Code and Its Sources (6 credits)
• JCL 723 — Churches Sui Iuris and Their Governance (6 credits)
• JCL 734 — The Eastern Law of the Sacraments (6 credits)
• JCL 745 — Comparing the Eastern and Latin Codes (6 credits)
• JCL 760 — Canonical Latin and Legal Method (6 credits)
• JCL 790 — Licentiate Thesis in Eastern Canon Law (12 credits)

Admission Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in canon law, or a master's degree in theology, ministry, or law with the canonical foundations completed during the program
• Experience in parish, chancery, tribunal, religious institute, or church administration
• Statement of purpose naming the canonical field chosen and the service it will support
• Reading knowledge of Latin, or willingness to develop it during the first year of study
• Current curriculum vitae or ministry profile
• Official transcripts from prior institutions when available
• Letter of support from a bishop, religious superior, or employer when requested