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Tribunal judge named new archdiocese vice-chancellor

A judge on the Metropolitan Tribunal, which decides marriage annulment cases, has been named vice-chancellor for the archdiocese.

Elizabeth Sondag, a member of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Omaha, assumed her expanded role Dec. 1.

In addition to her duties as judge, she will collaborate in non-Tribunal canonical matters with Deacon Tim McNeil, chancellor, and in clergy matters with Father Scott Hastings, vicar for clergy and judicial vicar. She also will manage other projects within the curia.

A native of Hastings, Neb., Sondag joined the archdiocesan staff in 2016 as a canon lawyer and member of the Tribunal staff. When promoted to tribunal judge in 2017 she became the first lay person and first woman to serve in that capacity.

She also has collaborated in non-Tribunal matters such as deacon formation, deacon mission teams, internal communications study, coordination of archdiocesan events for ecclesial movements, preparation of the archdiocese’s response to the Nebraska attorney general’s request for information on past clergy sexual abuse allegations, and other projects.

Sondag holds a licentiate in canon law, a bachelor’s degree in politics with minors in philosophy and theology, and a pastoral ministry certificate, all from from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

She also did graduate work in theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.

Sondag also is a board member of the Father Flanagan League Society of Devotion, the group promoting the sainthood cause of Father Edward Flanagan, founder of Boys Town. She volunteers with the St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Peter Parish and as a faith formation catechist at St. Cecilia Parish, both in Omaha.

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