Trials of a Catholic Attorney

Q: What do you call a busload of attorneys at the bottom of the ocean? A: A good start.

Being a Catholic attorney in America today is a tough job. That's not to say that others don't have it worse, but when it comes to having to choose between your faith and "success", I think one would be hard pressed to find a more difficult career.

I have had my practice open for exactly 3 weeks now. I have had to turn down two clients in those 3 weeks, and it hasn't been easy. One of the most difficult things to do when an attorney hangs a shingle is get clients. In the area I live in, there is an abundance of work for attorneys....if you do divorce law.

Divorce law is a very difficult area of law for a Catholic attorney to grapple. On one hand, the Catholic church doesn't necessarily "prohibit" (that's lawyer talk for loopholes) a Catholic lawyer from doing divorce. You see, divorce in court isn't in and of itself sinful because it is a civil judgement. That means, in the eyes of God, the two people are still married. This means that a Catholic attorney can do divorces, right? Maybe.

I have been very conflicted with this issue in my practice since there's a lot of money to be made, and not all clients are Catholic, and I have large student loans to pay and a family to feed. The biggest problem that I have with doing any divorce (Catholic or not) is that I think that there is a bigger issue than just whether doing a divorce is or isn't sinful. I think a bigger problem with doing divorce is that I think marriage is further degraded with any divorce. There is far too much of the idea of non-permanence in marriage. People walk down the aisle thinking "Well, I guess if this doesn't work out, I can always get a divorce."

So I think by doing divorce, even if it can be "justified" as not being necessarily sinful still gives the impression that divorce is just fine. This becomes especially true when the divorce is being done by a Catholic attorney.

These are just my thoughts and opinions. If you have differing opinions, or something further to contribute, please do so in the comments.

Posted by: Brian