Dr Helen Costigane SHCJ
E-mail: h.costigane@heythrop.ac.uk
Telephone: 020 7795 4227
Biography
Helen Costigane is a member of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus (of which she is European Province Treasurer), and teaches Canon Law and Christian Ethics at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as contributing to the MA in Pastoral Theology. She is also the Convenor of the MA degree in Canon Law, a visiting lecturer at KU Leuven, Belgium, and is currently external examiner at Ghana Christian University College in Accra, Ghana. She has been a regular contributor to the Jesuit-sponsored Living Theology Summer Schools and has taught a range of courses including Business Ethics, Catholic Social Teaching, Conscience and Film, Marriage, Introductory Moral Theology, Rights and Obligations in the Church, The Witness of Christian Marriage, and Ethics in Ministry, and also contributes to study days at the Mount Street Jesuit Centre. As well as being an ecclesiastical judge, Helen also acts as canonical consultant to individuals and religious congregations.
Teaching
Foundation Degree
• Canon Law
• Catholic Social Teaching
Undergraduate Degrees
• Canon Law
• Contemporary Moral Issues
Postgraduate Degrees
• General Introduction to Canon Law
• Sacramental Law
• Business Ethics
• Theology of Ministry
Publications
• (Forthcoming) ‘To what extent is the idea of priest as “judge” in the Sacrament of Reconciliation still helpful today?’, Doctrine and Life, October 2011
• with James B. Hurley, ‘Why Have a Tribunal of Second Instance?’, Law & Justice: The Christian Law Review, 2010
• ‘Canon Law’, Dictionary of Political Theology, Sage Publications, 2010.
• ‘Conciliarism’, Dictionary of Political Theology, Sage Publications, 2010.
• Catholic Education’, Law & Justice: The Christian Law Review, 2009.
• ‘Making Known the Reality of the Incarnation in Business Ethics’, The World’s Religions After September 11, 4 volumes, ed. A. Sharma, Westport CT, Praeger, 2009, pp. 77-79.
• ‘Catholic Adoption Agencies and “Gay Adopters”’, Law & Justice: The Christian Law Review, 2008, 98-110
• ‘Dignitas Connubii: Greater Fairness in Declarations of Nullity?’, Ecclesiastical Law Journal, May 2008
• ‘Religious Orders and the Criminal Records Bureau’, Ecclesiastical Law Journal, January 2006
• Christian Ethics, subject guide, BD External Programme, University of London, 2000
• ‘The Western Idea of Conscience’, Conscience in World Religions, ed. J. Hoose, 1999
Conference Papers
• ‘Incarnation as Worldview: Business Ethics’, Conference on ‘Religion After 9/11’, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, September 2006
• ‘The Universal Call to Holiness’, Conference of National Board of Catholic Women, Coventry, January 2007
• ‘Morality and the Formation of Conscience’, Institute of Ecumenical Studies, Prague, Czech Republic, December 2007
• ‘Teaching Business Ethics’, International Scholars Abrahamic Dialogue, Amman, Jordan, May 2008
• ‘Seeing ourselves as others see us?: ‘Visual humour’ and Religion’, Humour and Religion Conference, Antwerp University, Belgium, April 2009
• ‘Religious Orders and Public Benefit’, Conference, Heythrop College, November 2009
• Public Benefit and Religious Orders: A Canonical Perspective’, Association of Provincial Bursars, October 2010
• ‘Law and Love: a Christian Perspective’, conference, Christian, Muslim and Secular Law: Is There a Common Ground?, University of Glasgow, October 2010
• ‘Current Issues in Business Ethics’, Conference, Introduction to Ethics, Heythrop College, November 2010
• ‘Why Clerical Sexual Abuse?’, Symposium on Sex Abuse, Heythrop College, November 2010
Talks/courses given recently
Various talks given to parish and other groups on ‘Reconciliation’, ‘Morality and Conscience’, ‘Ethics and Business’, ‘Parish Structures and Canon Law’, ‘What are my Rights in the Church?’, ‘The Recession – Where Are We Now?’, ‘The Ethics of Advertising’, ‘Divorced or Separated-What Place in the Church?’, ‘How Families Can Find Holiness in the Ordinary’, ‘What Does it Mean to be Forgiven?.
Research interests
Selected issues in Canon Law, including temporal goods, sacraments, rights and obligations, religious law, penal law, and Church-State relations; Christian Ethics, with a particular focus on Business Ethics, conscience, moral development, and ministerial ethics; Pastoral theology, especially the pastoral care of people who are married or single, separated, divorced/remarried, and themes of reconciliation and forgiveness.
Membership of Associations
• Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland
• Canon Law Society of America
• Ecclesiastical Law Society
• Fellow, Higher Education Academy
• Association of Teachers of Moral Theology
• British and Irish Association for Practical Theology
• Catholic Theological Association
• Fellow, Royal Society of Arts
• Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales
• Association of Provincial Bursars
• Institute of Charity Finance Directors
Helen Costigane SHCJ, MA, MTh, MA (Canon Law), PhD, JCD, ACA