FACULTY
SPOTLIGHT
Living in the Light of the Law
Martha Demerly
H
ow might you recognize a modern Man for
All Seasons?
(A) hen you learn he became “hooked”
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on canon law while reading a commentary on early English property law at the
University of Missouri?
(B) hen you discover he was once a wine
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critic for a Catholic literary magazine?
(B) hen he invites you to wear yellow and
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black and cheer for “Mizzou” football?
(C) hen you read he has speaking ability in
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Ecclesiastical Latin, Mexican Spanish, and
standard French; regularly uses American
Sign Language; has research ability in
Classical Latin, standard Italian, and
German; and has studied Koine Greek,
Etruscan, Umbrian, and, of course, Oscan?
Dr. Edward Peters
If you chose “all of the above,” you might
sense the richness of experience and learning Dr.
Edward Peters brings to his position as Edmund
Cardinal Szoka Chair of Faculty Development at
Sacred Heart. Since his appointment in 2005, Dr.
Peters has taught in the licentiate, masters, and
undergraduate programs. In his teaching and in
his remarkable collection of scholarly and general
writings, Dr. Peters genially presents opinions
that advance his goal of showing canon law to
be a “vital component of ecclesiastical stability
and a genuine force for renewal in the Catholic
Church.”
Raymond Cardinal Burke, prefect of the
Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura,
once said that the study of “canon law is not for
the faint of heart!” As the first layman appointed
as a referendary, or advisor, to the Signatura and
only the second American to so serve, Dr. Peters
has a sense of how vitally canon law promotes and protects the redemptive mission
of the Church. He researches complex
canonical topics to be considered by
the Signatura, the Church’s highest
court, in its decision making.
His prolific writings and popular blog, “In the
Light of the Law” (canonlawblog.blogspot.com),
illustrate the precision with which he boldly
responds to contemporary “hot topics” including
denying Communion to pro-abortion Catholic
politicians, extending the fast for reception of the
Eucharist, and safeguarding the rights of parents
who homeschool. Even his blog’s sidebars offer
adventure and amusement.
His recent election to the board of directors
of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, an
organization of Catholic academics whose
members “accept as the rule of our life and
thought the entire faith of the Catholic Church,”
is reflective of Dr. Peters’ enthusiasm for the work
of colleagues in other disciplines. This outlook
was nurtured during his teen years at Chaminade
College Preparatory School in St. Louis. There, in
addition to earning academic honors, he played
the clarinet and received the John Philip Sousa
Award for musicianship.
Like Chesterton, Belloc, and Lewis—the
British authors of the twentieth century Christian
literary revival he admires—Dr. Peters trusts the
light of faith by which he sees everything else.
In the light of their faith, he and his wife Angela
have homeschooled their six children. Although
Angela has done most of the teaching, Dr. Peters
is the gentle but challenging “principal” who
teaches Latin and serves as literary critic for his
children’s writings.
Language is an important theme at family
dinners. They feature, for example, grace
in whatever language one of the children is
studying. One daughter, Margaret, is deaf and
now attends the Michigan School for the Deaf
in Flint. She is home on weekends and often
entertains the family by introducing the freshest
slang terms in American Sign Language.
In many ways, the description of family life
at the Pe ѕ