Rev. Vincent Woo, J.C.D.

Rev. Vincent Woo, J.C.D. is an Assistant Professor of Pastoral Studies. A native of Hong Kong, under the tutelage of Joseph Cardinal Zen, Fr. Woo was ordained in 2017. Apart from teaching all canon law courses at the St. Patrick’s, he also serves as the priest-secretary to Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

His initial pastoral assignments included ministries in a parish, a hospital, and a homeless shelter in Hong Kong. While pursuing his doctoral degree, he served as a regular confessor at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. He has also served at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Burlingame, CA.

As a canon lawyer, he has worked as a stable advocate for the Archdiocese of the Military Services, USA. He has also conducted pro bono advocacy work assisting Catholics in various dioceses with their marriage nullity applications. He is the primary faculty of the Advocate Training Program at the Metropolitan Tribunal of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Additionally, he serves as an appointed member of the Research and Development Committee of the Canon Law Society of America.

He has contributed to academic journals on topics pertaining to sacramental and liturgical law. In 2024, he received an invitation from Raymond Cardinal Burke to speak at the Speculum Iustitiae Conference for Canon and Civil Lawyers in La Crosse, WI.

He believes that canon law is intrinsically oriented toward the salvation of souls and regulating justice in the Church. He hopes to instill in seminarians the idea that true pastoral charity must be based on faithful and loving observance of the law in the celebration of the liturgy and in the accompaniment of Catholics who struggle with their marriages.

Apart from canon law, Father Woo has a keen interest in the liberty of the Church in China and Hong Kong. He has appeared on EWTN’s The World Over with Raymond Arroyo, and he has been quoted in the Department of State’s International Religious Freedom Report. His hero is Ignatius Cardinal Kung, who was jailed by the Chinese Communist Party for almost 33 years for refusing to join the patriotic association in the 1950s.

Selected Publications

“Cremation and Beyond: The Pastoral Accompaniment of Families of Deceased Catholics who  Choose Illicit Funeral Alternatives.” Studia Canonica (in press).

“The Celebration of Daily Mass with No Faithful Present after Vatican II.” The Jurist 80 (2024) 53–83.

“Historical Development of the Times of Ordinations: A Proposal to Revitalize Ember Saturday Ordinations.” The Jurist 79 (2023) 459–506.

The Limits of Papal Authority over the Liturgy, by Chad Ripperger. The Jurist 80 (2024) 321–322 (book review).

Ceremonial for Priests, by Marc Caron. The Jurist 79 (2023) 550–551 (book review).

Does Traditionis Custodes Pass the Juridical Rationality Test?: A Canonical-Theological Study, by Réginald-Marie Rivoire. The Jurist 79 (2023) 276–277 (book review).

Sacred Oils, by Paul Turner. Antiphon 26 (2022) 210–212 (book review).

Conference Presentation

“The Canonical Right of a Priest to Celebrate Mass individuali modo in light of the Post-conciliar Teachings on the Eucharist,” Invited Presentation at the 2024 Speculum Iustitiae Conference for Canon and Civil Lawyers in La Crosse, WI (August 2024).