John Ringrose, tribunal judge and chancellor, to retire

By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Unlike civil lawyers who seem to sprout everywhere, canon lawyers are as rare as tilapia teeth. Which is why perhaps, eight years ago, the Diocese of Honolulu had to go to Canada to find one.

Now the diocese has to look again. John Ringrose, 59, native of Ottawa, will retire on March 30.

Filling a slot as a diocesan tribunal judge, Ringrose has helped review and arbitrate marriage annulment cases in Hawaii for the past eight years from his fifth floor office in the chancery building in downtown Honolulu.

In that span of time he also was appointed chancellor for the Diocese of Honolulu, named to tribunals related to the canonization causes of both Blessed Damien and Mother Marianne Cope, wrote a series of articles for the Hawaii Catholic Herald, and got married.

Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo appointed Ringrose as a tribunal judge Aug. 1, 1999. At the time, he had been a judge for two years on the marriage tribunal for the Archdiocese of Winnipeg.

Prior to gaining his licentiate in canon law from St. Paul University in Ottawa, Ringrose had earned degrees in economics and business, served in the Canadian military, worked as an electrician and bought, sold and managed real estate. He was also a coach with the Canadian Olympic weightlifting team in the mid-1970s.

Beyond reviewing and judging marital cases in the tribunal, Ringrose would often have to give advice on moral issues dealing with marriage.

More than being a legal sounding board, he said he had to make “emotional contact where you try to make the person see that the church understands that their needs are real, and that the church has ways of addressing them.”

To bring one person back to the sacraments is a wonderful experience, he said. The work of the tribunal is a “big deal,” he said.

Bishop DiLorenzo appointed Ringrose chancellor in July of 2000, the first layperson to hold the position in Hawaii. As such he was director of the diocesan archives, was responsible for all official diocesan documents and served as the official notary for the diocese, witnessing the signing of important documents.

He also granted special permissions and dispensations for the performing of weddings and marriages in the diocese.

On Aug. 8, 2002, Ringrose married Betty Ann Leo at Sacred Heart Church, Punahou. It was the second marriage for both of them.

In 2003, he wrote a series of articles in the Hawaii Catholic Herald called “On Annulments,” in which he explained the often arcane and complex ways of the church’s theology of marriage and marriage law.

In 2004, Bishop DiLorenzo named Ringrose as Promoter of Justice ad causam on the tribunal overseeing the exhumation of the body of Venerable Mother Marianne Cope of Molokai, in anticipation of her beatification the following year.

Ringrose was also on the diocesan tribunal convened to investigate an alleged miraculous healing attributed to the intercession of Blessed Damien. The tribunal gathered evidence and testimony which is now being examined by the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

In the 12 months between the departure of Bishop DiLorenzo to the Diocese of Richmond and the appointment of Bishop Larry Silva, the position of chancellor was suspended. Bishop Silva reappointed Ringrose soon after his installation.

“It’s been a good experience,” he said, not only working in the diocesan tribunal, but also living as a Canadian in Hawaii observing and experiencing multiple cultures from a outside perspective.

The Ringroses will leave Hawaii in early April and move to Nixa, Mo., near Springfield, where they have a home near Betty Ann’s family.