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CHARLOTTE — Every year the five dioceses that comprise the Atlanta Province hold educational training for the staffs of their tribunals. This year, the Diocese of Charlotte will host that training meeting for the Atlanta Archdiocese and the Charleston, Raleigh and Savannah dioceses.

The meeting will be held April 23-25 at the Blake Hotel in Charlotte. Bishop Jugis will celebrate Mass for those attending the tribunal meeting at 5 p.m. April 24 at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte.

Organizers in the Charlotte diocese's tribunal expect more than 65 fellow tribunal colleagues, judges, advocates, assessors and defenders of the bond for a series of workshops and lectures over the three-day period.

The tribunals are responsible for investigating and resolving cases that involve canon (or Church) law, which primarily means decisions regarding declarations of marital nullity and cases of laicization.

Speakers during the event will include Mercy Sister Jeanne-Margaret McNally, Ph.D., JCL, of Belmont and Dr. Lynda Robitaille, professor of canon law at St. Paul University in Ottawa, Canada.

Sister Jeanne-Margaret McNally is currently a judge for the Metropolitan Tribunal of Miami, has prviously acted as Defender of the Bond for the Charlotte diocese, and is an experienced court expert. She will discuss the increasingly necessary use of expert testimony in canon law cases.

Robitaille will speak about what makes up a solid argument section within a sentence when declaring a marriage null on the grounds of error concerning the essential nature of marriage.

"The provincial meeting of tribunals has been a long tradition in the Province of Atlanta," said Father John Putnam, JCL, judicial vicar of the Diocese of Charlotte. As judicial vicar, Father Putnam oversees the work of the diocese's tribunal.

"The meeting provides an opportunity for ongoing education and collaboration among the various diocesan tribunals and the court of appeals. I am very happy, with Bishop (Peter) Jugis, to be hosting the meeting this year and welcoming our colleagues to the Diocese of Charlotte," Father Putnam added.

—SueAnn Howell, staff writer