The beginning of 2022 brought about a great change in the Diocese of Birmingham’s Tribunal Office: the retirement of Cywilla Fabijanic, long-time moderator of the Tribunal Chancery. As moderator, Fabijanic served as the chief notary and office manager.

After Fabijanic’s son left for college, she joined the staff at St. Barnabas Catholic Church in East Lake and continued working for the parish for almost ten years. In 1996, Father Greg Bittner, the diocesan Judicial Vicar at the time, was living at St. Barnabas. “I recruited Cywilla almost thirty years ago to manage the day-to-day operations of the Marriage Tribunal,” Father Bittner remembers. “In reality, I coaxed her away from Msgr. Eugene O’Connor where she worked at St. Barnabas Parish. I was living in-residence there as I began to assume my duties as Judicial Vicar. I was impressed with her organizational skills, quick study, and outgoing personality.”

Each diocese has a tribunal, or court of the Church, which serves as the judicial arm of the bishop. One of the major roles of the diocesan tribunal is to determine the validity of a marriage for divorced individuals wishing to remarry in the Church. In the Catholic Church, a marriage is considered valid unless proven otherwise. The legal process to determine if a marriage is invalid, or null, is conducted by the tribunal staff, which includes judges, advocates, defenders, and moderators. A declaration of nullity, or annulment, does not equate to a divorce in the Church; rather, the declaration is rendered if the court determines that one or more of the essential elements required for a binding union were absent at the time of consent.

Being a convert to the faith courtesy of the late Father Desmond Regan, Fabijanic was not very familiar about the work conducted in a diocesan tribunal, but she agreed to give the job a try. “I learned all the way through, and I was still learning,” she said as she looked back at her career.

Fabijanic took over the tribunal reigns from Llewellyn Winfrey. “Llewellyn Winfrey had kept the office afloat for decades,” Father Bittner recalled, “and she was getting ready to retire. Llewellyn had done a masterful job as the canon law of marriage was undergoing significant changes. It would now fall to Cywilla to continue the transition and lead us forward.”

Over the next 26 years, she helped “form the foundation for the office” and kept the office running. Fabijanic admitted, “A highlight of my job was getting to know all the people inside and outside the Chancery ... I loved helping people.” Acknowledging her dedication and commitment to the office, Father Bittner said: “She has done a splendid job. Her warm and engaging personality always put persons seeking an annulment at ease. She also had the uncanny ability of calming the exacting and demanding nature and personality of the Judicial Vicar. That was her true calling. She will be missed by me and all who worked with and around her.”