Diocesan judicial vicar completes doctorate work

SALT LAKE CITY — The "Juris Canonici Doctor" (JCD) degree is the terminal degree in canon law. It is only awarded by pontifical universities or ecclesiastical faculties dedicated to canon law, and only men or women with a JCD may teach canon law at these schools.

On Nov. 14, Father Langes Silva, Judicial Vicar of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, presented the defense of his thesis "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Roman Catholic Church, And the Institution of Marriage" to the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Salamanca in Spain. The panel, including Dr. Juan José Puerto, Dr. Raul Román Sánchez, both doctors of civil law, and the Father Federico Aznar, JCD, head of the Faculty of Canon Law, accepted his defense and awarded Fr. Silva the JCD.

"One of the reasons that I chose Salamanca was that they allow the student to do research in the place where he currently lives," said Fr. Silva in an interview with the Intermountain Catholic. "That way one doesn’t have to stop your life completely for three or four years. Instead, one must return every years to defend and present a report and finally to defend the dissertation.

"One of my motivations to pursue a doctoral degree in canon law, and especially using this topic of Catholicism and Mormonism as a center for my research, was that the diocese no longer had any scholars in this important area. Previously, Msgr. Jerome Stoffel (d. May 2001) had this kind of expertise. One of the useful aspects of this topic was to educate ourselves with the paradigm of the Mormon Church and then also to continue to communicate this topic through many venues. This will be an ongoing project for the rest of my life."

Indeed, the topic of marriage under the philosophies and traditions of Mormonism and Catholicism appears frequently in the work Fr. Silva does as Judicial Vicar. "At least 50 percent of the annulment cases we see here involve at least one member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That number is completely foreign to most other tribunals in the world. Whenever I tell the people in Salamanca that we treat so many annulment cases with the Mormons and that we have to do all these dispensations of disparity of worship, I am met with a certain amount of skepticism."

Throughout his research, Fr. Silva encountered a great deal of difficulty in his analysis of the Mormon doctrine on marriage because of the church’s lack of a codified law. "Dr. Paul M. Tinker, a civil lawyer and master of public administration, historian by choice of the LDS church, helped me extensively. He has the proper background to do this kind of study. As a Mormon he has a particular knowledge of Mormon theology and the structure of the Mormon church as well as an historical perspective of the Mormon church in the United States, especially with regards to its implications in civil law. My responsibility in researching and writing my dissertation was to connect all those three areas: history, theology, and civil law with the Catholic Church and canon law," he said.

"In addition, one must add the inherent difficulty which is that it is impossible to have all this information condensed into one book that is specifically about law, because that is not how the Mormon church operates. Rather, they define their law through many different sources, and that concept does not level well with the understanding of the Catholic Church. It is very difficult to present this to an audience that is not familiar with the LDS culture, and especially that many changes come through revelations to the authorities of the LDS church.

"When presenting this kind of material to an audience that doesn’t know anything about Mormonism, one inevitably assumes they would understand certain things because it is something that would be understood inherently because one lives here. To adequately present this topic, one must present many distinct elements, such as civil and constitutional law, and finally show them in relation with the laws of the Catholic Church."

Until now, Fr. Silva has worked in the tribunal using the License in Canon Law (JCL) he earned in 1992 while studying in Colombia at the Universidad Javieriana. In 2002, he applied to the University of Salamanca in Spain and took classes in Spain through 2003. Fr. Silva will not receive his diploma until after his dissertation has been published and received by the university, which is still a few months away. Until then, Fr. Silva has a certificate indicating that he has the rights and responsibilities of a doctor of canon law.

"The rights are that one can teach canon law at a pontifical university, and some positions in the Church require a JCD. One of the duties is that one must observe loyalty and fidelity to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church in presentations, writings, and everything else."