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The Key to Unlocking the Door to the Truth
Father Ignacio Gordon, SJ, and His Contribution to the Discipline of Canonical Procedural Law
Imprint: Catholic University of America Press
Father Ignacio Gordon, SJ, taught canon law (the Catholic Church’s law) from 1960 until 1985 at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, with a concentration on procedural law, or the laws on trials. By all testimonies, he was outstanding for the clarity of his teaching, his humble affection for his students, his indefatigable and hidden service to the Apostolic See, and his priestly zeal. Notable among his endeavors was an educational initiative for the ongoing formation of judges and other ministers of justice in ecclesiastical tribunals. In his teaching, he stressed the ecclesial importance and supernatural implications of procedural law in general, and the indispensability of the judicial protection of marriage in particular. Special efforts were made to make procedural law understandable to his students and to canonists in general, at a time when the Church was celebrating and implementing the teachings of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, as a result of which her law was undergoing a major revision. Father Gordon taught from the consistent canonical tradition, while also laying bare the latest developments in law and jurisprudence. He taught the entirety of the law on trials, producing numerous scholarly works on questions both timeless and new, giving marked emphasis to the problem of the excessive length of trials and the causes of delayed justice. An area of his particular attention and dedication was the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura—of which he was a consultor (referendary and later votans)—including both its proper law and its history. This history displayed, in part, why that Tribunal was the natural one to function as the supreme administrative tribunal of the Church. Father Gordon’s contribution to the question of ecclesiastical administrative justice was among those leading the novel and dynamic discussion about it in the 1960s and 1970s.
William Daniel is associate professor of canon law at The Catholic University of America.
"The significant contribution of Father Ignacio Gordon, SJ, to the knowledge and practice of just canonical processes, at a time when canonical discipline in general was under heavy siege from a pervasive rejection of authority and of the rule of law, was offered in a humble and most discreet manner. For that reason, it has remained hidden to many. As one who was blessed to have Father Gordon as a professor and mentor, during some of the most significant years of his work, I saw, at first hand, the competence and the tirelessness with which he taught procedural law, that body of discipline developed over the centuries of Church life, in order to serve, as much as humanly possible, the truth and, therefore, justice and love. During my years of service on the Suprem Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, I had frequent occasion to thank God for all that Father Gordon had done to guarantee the administration of justice in the universal Church. Owing such a deep depth of gratitude to Father Gordon, I am greatly pleased to commend most highly the study of his contribution to canonical science and practice which Professor William Daniel has made with such devoted care over many years. Thanks to Professor Daniel, Father Gordon’s extraordinary, yet often hidden, contributions to the Church’s life will now be better known and appreciated."
~Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
"Father Gordon was filled with mercy for people who could not get justice in due time. He was aware of the primary necessity of the formation of a sufficient number of qualified ministers of justice, because otherwise there could not be a right administration of justice in the Church. His message remains valid, even after the recent reform of the process for the declaration of nullity of marriage."
~Archbishop Frans Daneels, o. praem, Member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
"The late Reverend Father Ignacio Gordon, S.I. was an immanent professor of canon law, who provided an important contribution to the Apostolic Signatura, particularly on the occasion of the introduction of the contentious-administrative process. As an alumnus of his, I remember him first and foremost as a man of God and a sought after spiritual guide, as well as a demanding though always kind teacher."
~Dominique Cardinal Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
"Father Gordon was a teacher who never got lost in the winding pathways of canon law’s procedural instruments. Rather, he studied, understood, and taught them, being ever focused on doing and giving only the justice that men seek and that God wills and has willed for them. A book about Father Gordon is not only an intellectual and academic biography of a teacher of knowledge and life but is, at the same time, a book about a school of thought and a juridical and, in particular, a procedural tradition whose immediate roots lie in the heritage of Saint Ignatius’s charism, which is carefully maintained through the succession of Fathers at the Gregorian."
~Monsignor Gianpaolo Montini, Professor of Canonical Procedural Law, Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome)
"When he was still with the canonical community, in my view, Father Ignacio Gordon, SJ was the world’s foremost authority on canonical procedural law and one of the great teachers of the discipline. It is highly appropriate that this book highlighting his many and varied contributions to this topic is now being published so that so many more people can come to appreciate this scholar and teacher and a man who was also gentle, kind, and thoughtful."
~Monsignor Frederick C. Easton, Adjunct Judicial Vicar, Archdiocese of Indianapolis
"Father Gordon was a great scholar of many aspects of canonical procedural law and a teacher with discreet, serene, and subtle qualities, full of humility and wisdom. Knowing about his life and scholarly productivity is a strong aid for a canonist who is a teacher or even a practitioner of the law in the Church’s tribunals."
~Monsignor Paolo Bianchi, Judicial Vicar of the Regional Tribunal of Lombardo (Milan)