Nearly 300 members of the Canon Law Society of America gathered at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Louisville this week for a national convention. The annual meeting gives the canonists an opportunity to continue their education, network and discuss current issues relating to church law.

Canon law tends to hold a great deal of mystery and sometimes negative connotations among Catholics, said several of the canonists attending the convention. But in reality, they said, church law is in place to ensure that the rights and duties of all people in the church — from the laity to the hierarchy — are upheld and protected.

It strikes “at the very nature of the church,” said Msgr. John Alesandro, a professor of canon law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. “The rights, duties and responsibilities of all the people in the church, canon law helps to clarify.”

He also characterized canon law as a “practical implementation” of the church’s theology.

During the Oct. 12-15 convention, participants attended a variety of lectures and workshops. Dr. Susan K. Wood, a Sister of Charity of Leavenworth, Kan., and chair of the theology department at Marquette University, presented the opening keynote address on baptism and its “common call to service” in the church.

She offered an academic lecture on the subject steeped in references to Scripture and church documents. In the Gospel of Matthew, she noted, “We see that the baptism of Jesus inaugurates Jesus’ public life as well as the ministerial life of the disciples.”

“Baptism sends him (Jesus) directly into mission,” said Sister Wood. “Baptism and the gifts of the spirit lead to a life in the church.”

Other subjects the convention explored included new challenges presented by the “culture of divorce” when it comes to annulments; clergy compensation; and collaboration of lay and ordained ministers in sacramental ministry.

Canon law extends to all aspects of church life, noted Father R. Paul Beach, a priest of the Archdiocese of Louisville who is studying canon law at Catholic University. But for most Catholics, their only experience with the church’s code of canon law relates to annulments, he said.

“Ninety percent of people’s exposure to canon law is through the nullity process,” he noted. “But canon law is involved with a lot more than just marriage.

“It’s about the promotion and protection of the rights of the church, of the individuals in the church.”

And when it comes to marriage, he said, canon law begins with the idea — based in Scripture — that all of the faithful have “a right to a valid marriage” and a “right to know their status in the church,” he noted.

Father Beach said he decided to pursue canon law after serving as a pastor and accompanying his parishioners as they sought annulments. He said he wants to help make that experience a good one, one that helps people reconcile their marriages to the church in a healing way.

“You see the pastoral effect it has on people’s lives,” he said, noting that he wants to “be able to help people in their lives to follow the church’s teaching.”