HomeFaith helps judges bring compassion and understanding to people in crisis
“My faith calls me to be a person of compassion,” says Judge Rosanna Saccomani, a provincial court judge in Edmonton. “We have a calling to see the beauty in others and certainly to see the beauty in every single person that comes before us. And I think, through my faith expression and observance, I believe I do see that beauty.”
Some days that’s not so easy, said Saccomani, who has been on the bench since May 2014. “I enjoy my work so much because I really do believe that it’s frontline work. We are seeing the face of suffering every day, and I care deeply about people suffering on both sides. There are victims. There are people who cause the suffering. But most people who hurt others are hurt themselves.” Justice Kevin Feehan says it’s always stressful for people who find themselves in a courtroom. “In family law, the crises that these people are going through is horrid,” said Feehan, who hears a mixture of civil, criminal and family law at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton. “They are fighting over who gets the kids. They are fighting over who gets the house. They are fighting over things that are dear to them.
