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Rev. John J. Coughlin, O.F.M.

Professor of Law and Concurrent Professor of Theology

Office Number: 1115 Eck Hall of Law
Telephone: 574.631.3090
Fax: 574.631.4197
Email: John.J.Coughlin.14@nd.edu
Staff Assistant: Kim Daniels

Reverend John J. Coughlin, O.F.M., serves as Professor of Law and Concurrent Professor of Theology. He holds a doctorate (J.C.D) and a license (J.C.L.) in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, a law degree (J.D.) from Harvard University, a master’s degree in theology (Th.M.) from Princeton Seminary, a master’s degree in psychology (M.A.) from Columbia University, and an undergraduate degree in history (B.A.) from Niagara University.

Fr. Coughlin was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1983. He is a Franciscan friar of the Order of Friars Minor of the Holy Name Province. Following ordination, he ministered as a parish priest in New York City. A member of the New York bar, Fr. Coughlin clerked for the Honorable Francis X. Altimari on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He served as general counsel of St. Bonaventure University in Olean, New York, from 1990 to 1993. From 1993 to 1996, he served as legal and canonical counsel to the Holy Name Province of Franciscan Friars in New York. Upon appointment by John Cardinal O’Connor of New York, Fr. Coughlin served as Professor of Canon Law and Spiritual Director of St. Joseph’s Seminary in New York from 1994 to 2001. He also served the Archdiocese of New York as a judge in the Appeals Tribunal, as vicar of canonical and legal aspects of health care, and as a member of the boards of several Catholic hospitals and educational institutions. During the summer of 1998, Father Coughlin was a member of the delegation of the Holy See to the United Nations treaty conference that established the International Criminal Court. From 1996 to 2003, he taught at St. John’s University School of Law where he served as Professor of Law. During the Spring 2009, he served as Visiting Professor of Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

The law students at St. John’s and Notre Dame have selected Fr. Coughlin as Distinguished Professor of the Year. He teaches in the areas of professional responsibility, canon law, marriage, and legal ethics. His scholarly writing has a comparative focus on the understandings of the human person underpinning canon law and Anglo-American law. He is the author of Canon Law: A Comparative Study with Anglo-American Legal Theory, Oxford University Press, 2011. Another book, Law, Person, and Community, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press for publication in 2012.

Additionally, Father Coughlin has given dozens of retreats for priests and religious, spoken at numerous academic conferences, and appeared on national television. He presently serves on the Board of Directors of Fidelis Care, a state-wide Medicaid H.M.O. sponsored by the bishops of New York to provide health care for persons in financial need, and as a consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Church Governance and Canonical Affairs.

In the News

LAW70509, Canon Law of Marriage

LAW60801, Ethics I

LAW70807, Professional Responsibility

LAW70833, Introduction to Canon Law

THEO60835, Canon Law

Faculty Expertise Areas:

  • Canon law
  • Church and state
  • Law and religion
  • Legal ethics and professional responsibility
  • Legal Theory and Jurisprudence

Books

LAW, PERSON, AND COMMUNITY (forthcoming Oxford University Press, 2012).

CANON LAW: A COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH ANGLO-AMERICAN LEGAL THEORY (Oxford University Press, 2011).

ADMINISTRATIVE JUSTICE AT THE APOSTOLIC SIGNATURA AND THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY (Rome: Gregorian University, Doctoral Dissertation, 1994).

Articles in Peer Reviewed Journals

The Human Being, Catholic Social Teaching and the Law, 1 J. OF CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT 313-333 (2004).

Canon Law and the Human Person, 19 J. OF LAW AND RELIGION 1-58 (2003-2004).

Catholic Lawyers and Divorce Cases, 61 THE JURIST 290-310 (2001) (published 2003).

Communio and Administrative Justice, 78 APOLLINARIS 715-43 (2002).

The Historical Development and Current Procedural Norms for Administrative Recourse to the Apostolic Signatura, Part I, 90 PERIODICA 455-496 (2001).

The Historical Development and Current Procedural Norms for Administrative Recourse to the Apostolic Signatura, Part II, 90 PERIODICA 661-690 (2001).

Canonical Equity, 30 STUDIA CANONICA 403-435 (1996).

Law Review Articles

Marriage and Mulieris Dignitatem, 8 AVE MARIA L. REV. 349-363 (2010).

Marriage and the Development of Doctrine, 4 AVE MARIA L. REV. 567-80 (2006).

Foreward, Law as Vocation 20 NOTRE DAME J. L. ETHICS & PUB. POL’Y 1-10 (2006).

Sacrifice, The Common Good, and the Catholic Lawyer, 3 U. ST. THOMAS L. R. 6-20 (2005).

John Paul II and the Dignity of the Human Person, 27 HARV. J. L. & PUB. POLICY 65-79 (2003).

Canon Law and the Human Person, 19 J. OF LAW AND RELIGION 1-58 (2003).

The Clergy Sexual Abuse Crisis and the Spirit of Canon Law, 44 BOSTON COLLEGE L. REV. 977-997 (2003).

God Bless America, Introduction to September 11th Issue, 76 ST. JOHN’S L. REV. 1-4 (2002).

Introductory Remarks to the Conference on the Common Good in Catholic Thought, 75 ST. JOHN’S L. REV. 293-95 (2001).

Natural Law, Marriage, and the Thought of Karol Wojtyla, 28 FORDHAM URBAN L. J. 1771-1786 (2001), reprinted in SELF EVIDENT TRUTHS: CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVES ON AMERICAN LAW, (Catholic University Press 2007, Michael A. Scaperlanda and Teresa Stanton Collett, eds.).

The Historical Development of Administrative Law and the Future of Regulatory Governance, 38 IDAHO L. REV. 89-133 (2001).

Law and Theology: Reflections on What it Means to be Human from a Franciscan Perspective, 74 ST. JOHN’S L. REV. 609-628 (2001).

A Comparative Study of Administrative Law of the Catholic Church and the United States, 34 LOY. L.A. L. REV. 81-196 (2000).

Catholic Health Care and the Diocesan Bishop, 40 CATH. LAW. 85-95 (2000).

Justice White’s Dissents in the Parochial School Aid Cases: Patron of Lost Causes or Precursor of Good News, 66 ST. JOHN’S L. REV. 261-327 (1992).

Articles in Books

The Theory of Property in Canon Law, in ISSUES IN CANON AND CIVIL LAW (forthcoming, Patricia Dugan ed.,Gratianus 2012), ___.

Fundamental Rights in Canon Law, in ISSUES IN CANON AND CIVIL LAW (forthcoming, Patricia Dugan ed.,Gratianus 2012), ___.

Antinomianism and Legalism in Canon Law, in ISSUES IN CANON AND CIVIL LAW (forthcoming, Patricia Dugan ed.,Gratianus 2012), ___.

The Impact of Neutral Rules on Hierarchical Churches, in ISSUES IN CANON AND CIVIL LAW (forthcoming, Patricia Dugan ed., Gratianus 2012), ___.

Introduction, in SAINT PAUL AND THE LAW (forthcoming, Robert Fastiggi ed., Lexington Press 2011), ___.

The Foundation of Human Rights and Canon Law, in Lawrence S. Cunningham, ed.,INTRACTABLE DISPUTES ABOUT THE NATURAL LAW: ALASDAIR MACINTYREND HIS CRITICS (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2009).

Natural Law, Marriage, and the Thought of Karol Wojtyla, in SELF EVIDENT TRUTHS: CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVES ON AMERICAN LAW (Catholic University Press 2007, Michael A. Scaperlanda and Teresa Stanton Collett, eds.); originally in 28 FORDHAM URBAN L. J. 1771-1786 (2001).

Lawyers and Cooperation with Evil: Divorce Cases, in THE CATHOLIC CITIZEN, DEBATING THE ISSUES OF JUSTICE, ANNUAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE FELLOWSHIP OF CATHOLIC SCHOLARS 151-64 (K. D. Whitehead, ed.) (2004).

Evangelical and Franciscan Poverty, PROCEEDINGS OF THE 1996 NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF MAJOR SUPERIORS OF WOMEN RELIGIOUS 57-77 (St. Louis, MO., Oct. 11-13, 1996).

Dictionary and Encyclopedia Articles

Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT, SOCIAL SCIENCE, AND SOCIAL POLICY ____(to be published Scarecrow Press 2011).

Matrimonio Legítimo, DICCINARIO GENERAL DE DERECHO CANÓNICO ____(to be published Universidad de Navarra, 2011).

Responsa ad Dubia, DICCINARIO GENERAL DE DERECHO CANÓNICO ____(to be published Universidad de Navarra, 2011).

Stylus Curiae, DICCINARIO GENERAL DE DERECHO CANÓNICO ____(to be published Universidad de Navarra, 2009).

Administrative Recourse, NEW DICTIONARY OF CANON LAW ____ (to be published Liturgical Press 200_, J. Conn & J. Provost, eds.) (available at ).

Apostolic Signatura, NEW DICTIONARY OF CANON LAW ____ (to be published Liturgical Press 200_, J. Conn & J. Provost, eds.) (available at ).

Canon Law, NEW DICTIONARY OF CANON LAW ___ (to be published Liturgical Press 200_, J. Conn & J. Provost, eds.) (available at ).

Epikiea, NEW DICTIONARY OF CANON LAW ____ (to be published Liturgical Press 200_, J. Conn & J. Provost, eds.) (available at ).

Equity, NEW DICTIONARY OF CANON LAW ____ (to be published Liturgical Press 200_, J. Conn & J. Provost, eds.) (available at ).

Goods of Marriage, NEW DICTIONARY OF CANON LAW ____ (to be published Liturgical Press 200_, J. Conn & J. Provost, eds.) (available at ).

Θίκοηoηίά, NEW DICTIONARY OF CANON LAW ____ (to be published Liturgical Press 200_, J. Conn & J. Provost, eds.) (available at ).

Maguire, Charles Bonaventure, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN CATHOLIC HISTORY (1997), at 833.

Woywod, Stanislaus, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN CATHOLIC HISTORY (1997),at 1523.

Other Articles

The Franciscan Theology of the Sistine Chapel, 7 FRIAR LINES 1-9 (Spring 1996); also in French: La theologie franciscaine de la Chapelle Sixtine, 3 PIERRE D’ANGLE 127-137 (Fall 1997).

Religion, Education and the First Amendment, AMERICA May 15, 1993, 12-15.

Newspaper Articles

The Church and the Media, TODAY’S CATHOLIC, July 1, 2007, at 16.

The Seven Fruits of the Eucharist, TODAY’S CATHOLIC, May 29, 2005, at 8-9, also in ADVOCATA NOSTRA, April 2005, at 10-11.

Op-ed, Restoring the Faith, Responding to Clergy Sexual Abuse Through Justice, Redemption and Reconciliation, JURIST, Nov. 11, 2002, at 1 (jurist.law.pitt.edu).

Intervention of the Holy See to the Plenary Session of the Treaty Conference for the International Criminal Court, L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO July 16, 1998, at 2; reprinted L’OSSERVATOR ROMANO, ENG. WEEKLY EDITION July 22, 1998, at 2.

Book Reviews

Review of A SIP FROM THE WELL OF GRACE: MEDIEVAL TEXTS FROM THE APOSTOLIC PENITENTIARY, by Kirsi Salonen & Ludwig Schmugge. 102 ARCHIVIUM RANCISCANUM HISTORICUM 596-597 (2010).

Review of BEFORE DALLAS: THE U.S. BISHOPS’ RESPONSE TO CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN, by Nicolas P. Cafardi, FIRST THINGS, 50-52 (June/July 2008).

Review of THE BATTLE FOR RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES, by Kevin E. McKenna, AMERICA, January 21, 2008, 35-36.

Student Book Note, The New Science and Ethics of Reproduction, 21 HARV. C.R.-C.L. L. REV. 742-745 (1986).