New judicial vicar models role after the Good Shepherd

Father Greg Luyet shares thoughts about taking on role leading diocesan tribunal

Published: April 5, 2014

By Dwain Hebda
Associate Editor

Dwain Hebda

Father Greg Luyet, a native of North Little Rock, is now the judicial vicar for the Diocese of Little Rock.

Dwain Hebda

Father Greg Luyet, a native of North Little Rock, is now the judicial vicar for the Diocese of Little Rock.

Thinking back on what attracted him to canon law — and as of Dec. 1, the role of judicial vicar for the Diocese of Little Rock — Father Greg Luyet recalled he was baptized by a canon lawyer, grew up in a parish with a canon lawyer for a pastor and being inspired by his spiritual advisor and a guest lecturer in seminary, both of whom were canon lawyers.

Yet it took a piece of office décor to convince him that this was the path God wanted him to follow.

“When (Bishop Anothony B. Taylor) called me and asked would I be willing to be the judicial vicar of the diocese, I said ‘Sure, I’d be happy to,’” he said. “Then I was kind of feeling a little bit overwhelmed by the task because this is an important ministry. I was really struggling with do I really want to do this? Is this God’s will for me?

“At almost that exact same time, I read about Pope Francis talking to the Apostolic Signatura, (the Church’s highest appeals court), and he said the role of a judge is to always keep before his eyes the icon of the good shepherd, who is reaching down to pick the hurting sheep up to put the sheep on his shoulder.”

The statement struck to Father Luyet’s core and his eyes went to the framed piece of artwork parishioners gave him while pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Little Rock. The picture shows Jesus reaching over a cliff to grab a wayward sheep perched on a ledge, the mountain winds whipping his clothes. It is the singular image of his priesthood and, combined with the pontiff’s remark, reinforced his agreement to head the diocesan tribunal.

“That icon has always hung in my office in every parish I’ve been to,” he said. “It reminds me my role, like Jesus, is to be reaching out for the sheep even if it puts my life as risk. And secondly, my role as a sheep is never to forget that Jesus is there to watch out for me.”

Father Luyet said this pastoral image is what he wants people to imagine when working with the diocesan tribunal. During trials — the vast majority of which have to do with issues surrounding the validity of marriages but can also include matters of clerical impropriety — judges weigh testimony and other evidence pursuant to rendering decisions or making recommendations to Rome.

Even though virtually all testimony is presented via documentation — meaning petitioners almost never appear at trial — the language of the tribunal is formal-sounding, even ominous. This gives many people a perception of a punitive inquisitor, rather than a ministry that ultimately helps people enjoy full station within the Church.

“We can’t separate ourselves from all of that, there are judges and there are decisions that have to be made,” he said. “And some of those decisions people can perceive as being heartless, so to speak. That’s why, as Pope Francis said, even as we always respect the process, always respecting what we must do, we also must always remember that it is all about the good shepherd, it’s all about Christ and his healing ministry.”

Father Luyet, 45, was born at the Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville and grew up in St. Mary Church in North Little Rock. After graduating from Catholic High School, he attended the University of Dallas, then St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana. Following ordination in 1995, he was assigned to be the associate pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Fort Smith. It was there he saw how the Church’s legal system could aid or deter someone’s spiritual journey.

“It’s one thing to study something in school, it’s totally different to actually be living it and applying it,” he said. “One thing happened where a person was preparing for the sacraments and somebody had forgotten to record their information and that caused that person a lot of headaches. I saw how, if someone had done what they were supposed to have done, this young lady would not have had that kind of suffering.

“I mean, we all make mistakes. I’m not judging anyone, but it showed me the value of having a process and having someone who can assist people in learning what that process is.”

By the time he left Immaculate Conception for his first pastorate at Our Lady of Good Hope in Hope and St. Martin Church in Nashville, he was actively involved with tribunal activities as a judge. Following his next assignment to St. Edward Church in Texarkana, he attended canon law school at Catholic University of America, graduating in 2000.

As an adjutant judicial vicar, he stayed active in tribunal work while pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel and then at St. Michael Church in West Memphis. While there, he also helped the Diocese of Memphis with tribunal work. He returned to lead Immaculate Conception in Fort Smith from June 2009 to December 2013.