By Gretchen Keiser

A strong interest in liturgical reform following the Second Vatican Council motivated Father Louis Naughton to become a priest for the archdiocese of Atlanta.

Father Naughton, a native of Galway, Ireland, who became a priest 21 years ago, was named judicial vicar of the archdiocese September 29.

The appointment by Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM, places the priest in charge of the Atlanta Tribunal, which primarily handles annulment petitions and proceedings for this archdiocese.

He received a licentiate in canon law from Catholic University of America six years ago, holding a number of posts in the Tribunal since, most recently as the second in command, the vice officialis, which in English translates as the adjutant judicial vicar.

"I want to reemphasize that Tribunal personnel are very concerned about the hurt and pain of disrupted relationships," which is the focus of the work that is done by the staff of canon (church) lawyers, psychologists and adjunct personnel. Those who petition the Tribunal are trying to receive a declaration, following written testimony, that a previous marriage was not a valid sacramental marriage in the eyes of the church.

Over 700 cases are in various stages of the process right now, Father Naughton said.

"A good system has been put in place that the present Tribunal staff has inherited," he said, adding that there is always a concern about completing the cases in a timely way, when there is such a volume.

The priest's background reveals other interests that he studied and pursued prior to ordination. One of 11 children, he first studied civil engineering, receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees in the field, with an emphasis on prestressed concrete.

As a graduate student a the University of Leeds in the north of England he was an active Catholic layman, drawn in to representing the interests of Catholics on the campus when they experienced ignorance of or opposition to their beliefs. His honorary life membership in the Leeds University Catholic Society is "something I will always value very much."

His attraction to the priesthood was advanced by the celebrated leadership of then Atlanta Archbishop Paul Hallinan at the Vatican Council, particularly in the liturgical renewal movement. The sense of the movement was expressed in the word "aggiornamento" something "very hard to translate, but it expresses a renewal and a reawakening of the richness of the Catholic heritage so that the church could continue to express the message of Christ in contemporary terms."

Privileged to meet the archbishop in Louvain, Belgium, the future priest was in the process of studying for Atlanta when the archbishop died prematurely of hepatitis. He received graduate degrees in theology at the Catholic University of Louvain and was ordained July 11, 1971 at Galway Cathedral in Ireland.

In the archdiocese Father Naughton has served on the archdiocesan building commission and liturgical commission and has been a member and chairman of the Clergy Personnel Board. He returns to the Council of Priests as an ex-officio member. He had served on this council several years ago.