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When it comes to legal practice areas, there's one that you wont likely read about in law reviews or bar association newsletters: canon law, which concerns the practices and regulations of some Christian churches.
Though it shares little in common with its secular counterpart, canon law is a demanding field that requires practitioners who are both disciplined and compassionate.
The scope of canon law, of course, is far more limited than the secular practice of civil and criminal law. In fact, says canon lawyer Sister Sandra Makowski, in the Roman Catholic church, it's focused almost entirely on matrimony - more specifically, on the granting or denial of annulment applications.
On the vanguard
Makowski, a Sister of St. Mary of Namur, has worked since 1989 in the Diocese of Buffalo's Marriage Tribunal. Her entry into the field of church law coincided with the turning of a tide in church history.
It was in 1983 that a revised Code of Canon Law opened the field up to the nonordained for the first time - not only to women, but to lay men as well. The only previous Code, written in 1917, limited the study of canon law to priests.
Four years after the Code's revision, the Buffalo Diocese, under the leadership of Bishop Edward Head, advertised a job opening for a woman canon lawyer.
At the time, Makowski was working in adult religious programs at St. Paul's Church in Kenmore. She recalls that she referred many people...