Services
Canonical advocacy and consulting
Austin Canonical, an independent canon law practice specializing in the penal and religious law of the Catholic Church, provides canonical advocacy and consulting services to laypersons, religious, and clergy.
Penal law
Father Austin is experienced in both criminal prosecution and defense, having served as judge-delegate, assessor, investigator, advocate, procurator, and patronus in both reserved (DDF) and non-reserved causes (Books VI and VII).
Religious law
As a member of a clerical society of apostolic life of pontifical right for over twenty years, Father Austin is experienced in all aspects of religious law, from issues arising from formation, departure, or dismissal (Book II), to negotiations concerning contracts and alienation (Book V), and everything in between.
Expert opinions
Due to his extensive academic publications and professional service, Father Austin is regularly consulted by ordinaries and canonists all over the world for expert opinions on matters of penal or religious law. While many of these requests come from within the United States, others come from Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Translations
As a part-time professor of Latinitas canonica, Father Austin is highly skilled in translating documents of the Holy See into English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish.
PRincipal
Excellence at your service
Rev. Brian T. Austin, F.S.S.P., J.C.D., Ph.D.
Father Austin is a member of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (F.S.S.P.), a clerical society of apostolic life of pontifical right, exercising sacred orders in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. In addition to his pastoral work and advocacy, he is a part-time professor at Saint Paul University in Ottawa (faculty of canon law) and adjunct professor at Emory University School of Law (in affiliation with the Center for the Study of Law and Religion).
He holds degrees from St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD (B.A., Liberal Arts), Saint Paul University / University of Ottawa (J.C.L. / M.C.L., Canon Law), and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium (J.C.D., Ph.D., Canon Law). As such, he is qualified to serve as an advocate and/or procurator before any diocesan or religious tribunal in the world (cf. c. 1428) and before tribunals of the Roman Curia on a case-by-case basis (cf. Lex propria, art. 17 §3).
He is a specialist in penal and religious law whose academic work focuses on questions of legality, due process, and the equal protection of rights. He has a long record of service to the Canon Law Society of America as well as to a number of other academic and professional societies, and is a regular contributor to The Jurist, Roman Replies and Advisory Opinions, and Studia canonica.
Portfolio
Scholarship and Teaching
Since 2017, Father Austin has authored over thirty peer-reviewed articles, book sections, and reviews (many of which are freely available at academia.edu).
In 2020, he became a part-time professor at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, where he teaches the interpretation of Latin canonical sources.
In 2023, he became an adjunct professor at Emory University School of Law, where he is developing a series of courses on canon law under the aegis of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion.
His scholarship and teaching, in addition to informing his practice of the law, demonstrate his strong commitment both to students and to the authentic flourishing of the science.
Penal Law
Prescription of Criminal Action in the ius vigens: Praxis
An earlier study addressed a number of theoretical and disputed questions regarding the canonical institute of prescription of criminal action. This study identifies the changes introduced to this institute by the revised Book VI of the Latin code. It then addresses a number of important practical questions, with particular attention to the praxis of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The study concludes with a consideration of some alternatives to the penal process.
Religious Law
Canon 626: Procurement of Votes in Canonical Elections
Does circulating lists of preferred candidates constitute procurement of votes? If so, how may information regarding more worthy and suitable candidates licitly be sought?
Case studies
Published opinions (vota)
Administrative Law (Coercive)
Canon 291 and the 1980 Normae Procedurales, Art. 4: suspensio ad cautelam for Priests Requesting ‘Laicization’
Dubium: When a priest petitions to be dispensed from the obligation of celibacy (c. 291), is a diocesan bishop or major superior of a clerical institute of pontifical right still obliged to impose the suspensio ad cautelam (Normae, art. 4)? If so, does this suspension have the nature of a penalty?
Religious Law
Canon 603: Transfer of a Diocesan Hermit or Hermitess
Dubium: A diocesan hermit or hermitess of the Latin Church would like to relocate to another diocese and continue in the eremitic life. What is required of the hermitess and the diocesan bishop in order to effect this transfer?
Administrative Law (Contentious)
Canon 806: Regulation of Catholic Schools and Their Just Autonomy
Dubium: A diocesan bishop has issued norms for all Catholic schools in his territory, requiring them to observe stringent COVID-19 regulations. Does refusal to comply constitute a just cause for prohibiting that school’s use of the title “Catholic”?
About
Foundation and Logo
Austin Canonical was founded in 2015.
[Coming soon—a new logo!]
Our logo, designed by Baritus, is inspired by Raffaello’s famous tondo of the cardinal virtue of justice on the ceiling of the Stanza della Segnatura in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City State.
Lady Justice is seated, as befits a judge, holding a balance (or scales) in her left hand and a sword in her right. The putti are holding a scroll with an abbreviated form of Ulpian’s famous definition preserved in the Digesta (or Pandectae) of Justinian: “Justice is the constant and perpetual will to give to each his due [ius]” (Dig., 1.1.10.pr.). To decide what is due or right [ius] in each case requires prudence, for, “as Celsus has elegantly defined it, ius is the art [of deciding] what is good and equitable” (Ulpian, Dig., 1.1.1.pr.).
IVSTITIA (“justice”) and AEQVITAS (“equity”) are often paired, not only in pagan literature, but also in Sacred Scripture (e.g., in Isaiah 11:4 and throughout the Psalms and Wisdom Literature). In the celebrated formula of Hostiensis, “equity is justice tempered with the sweetness of mercy” (Summa aurea, V, De disp., 1).
This entire tradition was taken up and transformed by the Divine Lawgiver, Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the Mountain of the Beatitudes: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy” (Matt. 5:6–7).