From the Church Law Society

Congratulations

By the closing date of this issue (30 April 2009) we have received the following information about achievements of members of our Society:

Mgr. Monika Menke, Th.D., a notary of the Interdiocesan Church Court in Olomouc, defended her dissertation at the Sts Cyril and Methodius School of Theology of Palacký University in Olomouc in September 2008. Her topic was “Contribution of the Laity to the Exercise of the Judicial Power of the Roman Catholic Church (at the Level of a Diocese), With a Focus on the Situation in the Czech Republic” and she was awarded the academic degree Th.D.

JUDr. Miloš Holub, Ph.D., an attorney, defended his dissertation at the Law School of Charles University on 18 December 2008 and was awarded the academic degree Ph.D.

JUDr. Jan Klail, an attorney, defended his doctoral work at the Law School of the West Bohemian University. His topic was “Protection of Freedom of Thought, Religion, Autonomy of Churches and Religious Societies by Constitutional Law” and he was awarded the academic degree JUDr.

Mrs. Věra Dospělová, one of the founding members of the Church Law Society and a regular participant in the lectures on church law organized by the Society and the Law School of Charles University, was appointed a notary of the Interdiocesan Church Court in Prague as of 15 March 2009. Her appointment was announced in the Acta of Prague Archdiocesan Curia No. 3/2009, point 26.

Prof. Dr. jur. Heiner Marré from Gladbeck, an honorary member of our Society, justitiar emeritus of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Essen, and a co-founder of Essen’s Conversation on State and Church, celebrated his birthday on 23 April 2009. Ad multos annos!

ThLic. Tomáš Kotrlý, Th.D., defended his dissertation at the Catholic Theological School of Charles University on 28 April 2009. His topic was “A Funeral and A Cemetery in the Laws of the Canon Law Code, With a Particular Regard to Laws of the Czech Republic” and he was awarded the academic degree Th.D.

Paintings by the Architect Josef Hyzler on Display in Český Dub

Ing. arch. Josef Hyzler, a member of our Society and the designer of our logo and the cover page of the Church Law Review, is known as one of the authors of the preservation project for the buildings of the St. Agnes Monastery in Prague, the restoration of the Tachov castle, and repairs of a number of Czech churches. He also enjoys painting buildings in their natural landscape. The public is invited to visit an exhibition of his paintings entitled “A Man, a Landscape and His Residences”, which takes place from 5 April until 30 September 2009 in the Museum Under Ještěd in Český Dub (Northern Bohemia). It is open every week from Wednesday until Sunday, from 9 am until noon and from 1 pm until 5 pm.

Obituaries

It is with a great sorrow that we announce that P. Josef Šťastný, a personal archdean, a priest of the Prague Archdiocese and later of the Pilsen Diocese, and a member of our Society, died on 11 January 2009 before reaching age 67. A few years ago he graduated from the Faculty of Law, Canon Law and Administration of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.

We also received the sad news that PhDr. Jaroslav Macek, a historian and archivist, a former Chancellor of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Litoměřice and a member of our Society, died on 15 January 2009 at a blessed age.

Requiescant in pace!

A Lecture from the Lecture Series The Effects of Law on Society and the Church

Following an almost one year break caused by the forced relocation of the Society and the consequent loss of lecture space, the regular lecture series was finally reinstituted on 31 March 2009. The 59^th evening took place in the Collegium Maximum of the Law School of Charles University; Dr. jur. Wolfgang Wieshaider from Vienna lectured on “The Current Austrian Law on Churches in Light of the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights”.

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Brief News

Mgr. Jiří Jirsa Attended the 5^th Christian Lawyer Global Convocation in Washington, D.C.

The Christian Lawyer Global Convocation took place on 6 - 12 June 2008 in Washington, D.C. Six lawyers from the Czech Republic attended the Convocation; among them was a member of the Church Law Society and former editor of the Church Law Review, Mgr. Jiří Jirsa from Prague. A report about the Convocation was published in the Bulletin of the Bar Association, No. 1-2/2009 at pp. 89–90.

Canon Law Courses at the Catholic Theological School of Charles University Open to the Public

On 25 February 2009 the Catholic Theological School of Charles University in Prague opened a program of vocational training (two semesters) in the field of “Canon Law,“ which consists of three courses: Canon Law 1, Canon Law 2 and State Law on Churches, which total 8 semester credit hours and a total of 104 classroom hours in the program. More information is available at http://www.ktf.cuni.cz/KTF-730.html.

From the Ball of the Law School of Charles University

As in previous years, again this year the Prague Lawyers‘ Ball took place in the historical Palace Žofín on Slavic Island on the Vltava river, in Prague’s District 1; Žofín has been the venue for many significant social meetings of Czech academia since the times of the National Revival in the 19^th century. The Ball took place on Friday, 20 March 2009, and it was − as always − attended by a great number of members of the leadership of our Church Law Society.

The Amendment to the Statute of the Disaster Fund of the Olomouc Archdiocese

The amended statute was published in the Acta of the Olomouc Archbishop‘s Curia ACO 2009/3. It is a fund designed „to finance repairs of Church buildings (churches, chapels and vicarages) in the Olomouc Archdiocese required due to natural disasters, namely hurricanes, hailstorms, floods, no-fault fires, and damages caused by the breakdown of waterlines, but excluding damages to movable property, or damages caused by forcible burglary, but excluding compensation for stolen property.“

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