Lawyer’s third book backed by the Roman Catholic Church
Written by Duncan Foulkes | The Manx Independent, Isle of Man Newspapers
Seal of approval: Senior counsel and advocate Paul Beckett worked from home on his latest specialist reference work
Isle of Man lawyer’s third book backed by the Roman Catholic Church – well-known island lawyer Paul Beckett says he feels ‘enormously honoured’ to have been given the seal of approval from the Roman Catholic Church for his new book.
He said the reference work called ‘Labour Rights and the Catholic Church’ is the first published study of its kind in decades. And it has now been granted an imprimatur by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon. An imprimatur recognises approval by the church for the publication of a book.
Mr Beckett, who is senior counsel with island law firm Mann Benham, and has been in law for 40 years, told the Manx Independent he worked hundreds of hours on the project between last April and October.
He said receiving an imprimatur from the church was highly unusual for an author like himself who is a practitioner/academic with no formal training in theology. The book has also been taken up by the newly formed Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican, formed last December.
It is Mr Beckett’s third book in the last few years – his previous works being ‘Ownership, Financial Accountability and the Law’ and ‘Tax Havens and International Rights’.
Mr Beckett, who is himself a Roman Catholic, said: ‘When you get an imprimatur the Archbishop sends if to someone high up in the Catholic church, who is known as the censor, and he was raving about it. I was completely taken aback.
‘Somebody was obviously standing behind my back when I write this book.’ He modestly suggested. ‘But I feel the focus is not on me as the writer, it is the book. The church has not officially approved of me, it is the book the church has approved. However, I feel enormously honoured that this piece of work has been recognised by the Roman Catholic Church.’
He added that he put everything into the research spending ‘hundreds of hours’ into poring through old manuscripts. His ability to speak French and German came into good effect after he it became apparent that most of the research material was in those languages.
The book will be published by Routledge on April 13 and is already being listed by booksellers around the world.
Mr Beckett said: ‘Researching and writing the book has been a difficult row to hoe, turning over land left fallow for the best part of a century. My wish for its readers is that it will provoke and console in equal measure.’ He added that Labour Rights and the Catholic Church is intended to appeal to lay, professional and academic alike, be they researchers and academics working in the areas of international human rights, theology, comparative philosophy, history or social and political studies.
