Ecclesiastical Notary

Catholic Diocese Of Fort Worth•Fort Worth, TX

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The principal duty of all employees is to assist in the mission of the Church in the Diocese of Fort Worth. This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of all activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice. The General Position Summary involves processing marital cases (similar to civil court proceedings), whose outcome have life-changing consequences to the Catholic spiritual life of the involved parties. While knowledge, skills, and abilities can be broadly defined across the diocese, the application of the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities by Tribunal staff is unique within the diocese. Tribunal staff are supervised to act throughout a marital case to solicit, evaluate, and include essential material that is sent to whomever makes the final decision on a case (Judge, Judicial Vicar, Bishop, Court of Appeal, the Roman Rota at the Vatican, or the Pope).

Requirements

High School Diploma
Knowledge of law preferred.
Demonstrated ability to listen empathetically, make peace, and de-escalate
Demonstrated history of good judgement.
Demonstrated aptitude for adaptability and flexibility.
Ability to use various computer software programs; strong computer skills in Microsoft Office Suite, especially in Word and Excel.
Ability to use various office machines (copier, fax, phones, calculator, scanner, etc.) or ability to learn.
Ability to meet deadlines and follow directives from Pastor and/or Supervisors in a timely manner.
Ability to receive, understand, retain, and complete verbal and written tasks.
Ability to work independently as well as in teams.
Ability to provide excellent customer service and work efficiently with staff, clergy, religious, and laity.
Ability to honor and maintain confidentiality.
Ability to work well with people from a diverse variety of audiences.
Excellent organization, prioritization, and communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Practicing Catholic in good standing
Bilingual (English/Spanish and/or English/Vietnamese) preferred.

Responsibilities

Review petitions before acceptance to ensure they are complete and appropriate, returning incomplete submissions.
Oversee each administrative and judicial case end-to-end, investigating the appropriateness of the chosen process.
Contact Respondent and witnesses to solicit case testimony, using resourceful methods to find hard-to-find individuals.
Follow up to verify the legitimacy of documents and testimony by contacting issuing authorities (civil governments, civil courts, Churches, private parties, etc.), potentially in foreign countries.
Evaluate Petitioner, Respondent, and witness testimony to determine applicability, sufficiency, and believability, re-interviewing witnesses if necessary.
Assess the applicability of a chosen process for a case as materials are gathered, potentially changing the process based on new facts or testimony.
Create and send documents including Decrees, Final documents for signature, Questionnaires, Notifications of case decisions, and Publication of Acts.
Report statistics on the number and status of cases in queue.
Process requests for decrees and abated cases.
Perform translations from Spanish to English and vice versa.
Use CaseMaster to track progress.
Update job knowledge by participating in continuing educational opportunities.