Judge Amy Barrett to keynote Catholic legal conference

Dallas, Texas, Jul 25, 2018 / 14:45 pm

Federal appeals judge Amy Barrett, who was on the short-list this month for a possible appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, will headline the convention of a national association of Catholic attorneys this October.

Barrett, a judge on the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, will speak at the the Catholic Bar Association's third annual meeting, which will coincide with the Oct. 13 Red Mass of the Diocese of Dallas. Barrett is a Catholic, the mother of seven children, and was formerly a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame.

Other speakers at the two-day conference include Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, Bishop Edward Burns of Dallas, and author Mary Rice Hasson.

The Catholic Bar Association was established in 2015 by Missouri attorney Joshua McCaig. Its inaugural conference drew more 200 attorneys, law students, and judges from 27 states, according to the Catholic Key.

The group says its mission is to help lawyers uphold Catholic principles in legal practice, to help the Church to teach Catholic legal principles, to support Catholic attorneys in faithful and ethical legal practice, and to build a network of "mutual support and understanding" among Catholic legal professionals.

"One of the primary reasons driving the establishment of the Catholic Bar Association was … to establish a community for members of the legal profession where we can grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ," McCaig told the Catholic Key in 2016.  

"The Holy Spirit brought the right people together for this gathering. We welcome all legal professionals from across the world to join us in the Catholic Bar Association," McCaig added.

The Catholic Bar Association says that families are welcome to attend the 2018 conference. Law professionals and students can register on the organization's website.