Our Experts
Hildegard Warnink
Hildegard Warnink (°1962) studied theology (1985), Canon Law (1988) and Philosophy (1992) at the KU Leuven and Studio Rotale in Rome (1994-1995). She has been teaching canon law at Theologische Universiteit Amsterdam (NL) (1989-1992), Fontys Hogeschool Theologie Levensbeschouwing Tilburg (NL) (2005-2006) and Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (NL) (2005-2005 en 2006-2007). Her doctoral thesis concerned baptism and the formal act of Church Abandonment. She is a visiting professor at Stellenbosch University (SA). Since 1991, she works as a judge at the (Inter-) Diocesan Tribunal of the Archdiocese Mechelen-Brussels (B) and of the Diocese of Paramaribo (SU). Warnink is dean of the Faculty of Canon Law, KU Leuven.
Ed Morgan
Ed Morgan (°1963) is an independent practitioner in private practice, undertaking civil litigation throughout the United Kingdom and beyond. His doctoral thesis represented a unique examination of the legitimate expectations of diocesan clergy in light of canon 384 of the Code of Canon Law. He regularly acts as mediator or arbitrator in secular and ecclesiastical disputes. His main field of interest concerns law and religion, with a particular focus upon the recognition of rights and obligations within faith communities. Morgan has represented priests in connection with issues of canonical defamation, restoration to ministry and the preservation of the internal forum.
Ruud Huysmans
Ruud G. W. Huysmans (°1935) is priest at the Diocese of Rotterdam. He obtained the degree of doctor utuiusque iuris in Rome in 1966 and graduated as Lawyer at the Roman Rota. From 1967 to 1996, he was professor of Canon Law at the KTU in Amsterdam and the KTU in Utrecht. Between 1996 and 2004 he worked as full professor Penal and Process Law of the Church the Faculty of Canon Law (KU Leuven), where he is now Emeritus Professor with formal duties. Huysmans currently advises people who seek canonical counsel, including (religious) suspects or perpetrators of sexual abuse, and institutions with difficulties within the Roman Catholic Church.
Mathias Rohe
Mathias Rohe (°1959) is a German law and Islamic scholar. He holds the Chair of Civil Law, International Private Law and Comparative Law at the Friedrich-Alexander-University. He is the founding director of the "Erlangen Center for Islam and Law in Europe" (EZIRE). From 2004 to 2006 he held the post of Dean of the Faculty of Law there. Between 2001 and 2007 Rohe served as a judge in the secondary office at the higher regional court Nuremberg. His first book "Islamic Law in Past and Present" was presented by the New Legal Weekly Magazine as one of the six most readable books of the year and received in the same year the joint prize "Humanities International" of the Stock Exchange Association of the German book trade.
Matthias Pulte
Matthias Pulte (°1960) studied Philosophy, Catholic Theology Canon Law and Law at the Universities of Frankfurt/St. Georgen, Bonn and Münster. In 1997, he obtained his doctorate from the University of Osnabrück. Since 2000 he holds the degree of an Iuris Canonici Licentiatus with a dissertation on the Diaconate in military ordinariates. Pulte is lecturer in Canon law and state-church law at the PTH-SVD faculty of theology, Sankt Augustin, the Ruhr-Universität Bochum and the Canon Law Institute at Münster in 2005. In January 2010 he was appointed professor at the Faculty of Theology, Canon Law Seminar, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. He also is a visiting professor in Sankt Augustin, dioecesan judge at the Metropolitan tribunal of the Archdiocese Cologne (1997) and the diocesan tribunal of the diocese Mainz (2013).
Rik Torfs
Rik Torfs (°1956) is a Belgian canon law scholar. He is a former Senator for the Christian Democratic and Flemish party in the Belgian Federal Parliament and a former Rector of the Catholic University of Leuven (2013 - 2017). In 1988, Torfs became assistant professor in the Faculty of Canon Law at the Catholic University of Leuven. He became full-time professor in 1996. From 1994 to 2003 and 2009 to 2013, he served as Dean of the Faculty. He is a guest professor at the University of Stellenbosch, University of Paris, University of Nijmegen, and University of Strasbourg. Torfs is a former president and board member of the European Consortium for Church and State Research and founder and board member of the Working Group Nederlandstalige Canonisten (Dutch-speaking Canonists).
Amy Hereford
Amy Hereford (°1958) is a Sister of St. Joseph. Sr. Amy has degrees in science, communication and theology, as well as in civil and canon law. This background helps her to assist religious communities, and those who are making important choices about the future of their institutes. As a consultant and facilitator, she works with religious communities and with small to mid-sized charitable organizations across the US and beyond, especially in assisting organizations in facing the challenges of an uncertain and changing future. She helps clients maximize their resources for the sake of their mission and to further organizational goals. In her work as a writer, speaker and retreat director she addresses technical concerns of religious institutes and explores the evolving nature of religious life itself.
Astrid Kaptijn
Astrid Kaptijn (°1962) studied Catholic Theology and Latin and Oriental Canon Law and has a doctorate co-tutelle in canon law. Since 2010 she teaches as a professor of Canon Law at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). Prior to her appointment, she taught for 13 years at the Institut Catholique de Paris, where she was also Maître de Conférence and Vice Dean. In addition to her work in Freiburg, she is a visiting professor at the Institut Catholique de Paris as well as in Leuven and Yaoundé. She works in various committees of scientific journals and is a judge in the Swiss inter-diocese and a member of several consultative church authorities, both in Switzerland, France and the Netherlands.
Georgia du Plessis
Georgia du Plessis (°1984) did her Bachelors and Masters in Law at the University of the Free State, South Africa. She completed her PhD (Law) at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, specializing in religious freedom rights. She is currently employed at the Faculty of Canon Law, KU Leuven where she is responsible for lecturing various modules, publishing research and coordinating the PhD School and everything concerning research at the Faculty. Her areas of expertise include religious freedom rights, issues concerning “church and state” and legal philosophy and its intersection with religion. She has published in numerous international peer-reviewed journals.
Pieter Coertzen
Pieter Coertzen (°1943) obtained his doctoral degree in Theology (Ecclesiology) in 1976 at the University of Stellenbosch. At the same time (November 1970 to September 1974) he was the parish minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in Dundee, Natal. In 1977, he was Senior Lecturer in Ecclesiology at the Faculty of Theology (University of Stellenbosch). In 1988, he became professor and from 1995 to 1997, he was the Dean of the Faculty. From 1991 to 1999 he was actuarius (Church Law Advisor) of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (Western and Southern Cape) and from 1994 to 2004 the actuarius of the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church. Although he formally retired as teacher, it is definitely not a quiet time for him as he still teaches at Stellenbosch and Leuven.
Ad van der Helm
After studying catholic theology in Amsterdam, van der Helm (°1962) studied canon law in Strasbourg (F). His doctorate concerned research on lay ministers in the Netherlands and France. He was ordained priest for the diocese of Rotterdam (NL) and started to teach in several institutions next to my pastoral responsabilities (parish priest, dean, vicar eposicopal). Van der Helm worked in tribunals as judge and now as an ecclesiastical advocate and assistant judicial vicar in Paramaribo (Surinam). His lecures and research focus on the organisation and the adminsitration of the catholic church and focus on the renewal brought about by pope Francis. Next to his acadamic responsabilities, Ad van der Helm currently priest in a parish of The Hage (NL) and president of the council of churches of the Hague.
Wim Decock
Wim Decock (°1983) read classics (KU Leuven) and law (Ghent University). In his dissertation, Wim Decock investigated the historical foundations of modern contract law ('Theologians and Contract Law, The Moral Transformation of the Ius Commune, ca. 1500-1650). He joined the Leuven Faculty of Law in October 2014. At the Faculty of Canon Law he teaches history of canon law and Latin. As of February 2017, he also teaches at the Faculté de droit, de science politique et de criminologie of the University of Liège (ULg). Decock is an associate researcher at the Max Planck Institut für europäische Rechtsgeschichte, where he led a research team from 2012 through 2014 within the larger framework of the LOEWE-project on Judicial and Extrajudicial Conflic Resolution, and at the Centerfor the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University (Atlanta, USA).
Wouter Druwé
Wouter Druwé (°1991) is assistant professor of Roman law and legal history at KU Leuven Faculty of Law. He read law (Ph.D. 2018; MLaw 2013), canon law (JCL 2018) and theology (BA 2013) at this university. For his research and studies, he visited the universities of Fribourg, Zürich, Oxford, Edinburgh, Nijmegen and Cracow, as well as the metropolitan tribunal of the archdiocese of New York and the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. His research mainly concerns the legal history of the Low Countries, the early modern ius commune, and the history of canon law. Recent publications include two monographs: Loans and Credit in Consilia and Decisiones in the Low Countries (c. 1500-1680) (Brill, 2019) and Scandalum in the Early Bolognese Decretistic and in Papal Decretals (c. 1140 – 1234) (Peeters Publishers, 2018).
Lynda Robitaille
Lynda Robitaille (°1960) holds a doctorate in canon law from the Gregorian University in Rome, with a specialization in jurisprudence. Since 1993, she has been teaching at Saint Paul University in Ottawa. She regularly teaches introductory courses in canon law at Saint Mark's College in Vancouver, and Seattle University. She has worked as an advocate, defender of the bond, and judge in tribunals. She gives presentations on jurisprudence, marriage and procedural law and she also writes on the laity and ministry. Robitaille has been working as Dean of Academic Programs at the Saint Mark's College since September 2013.