A group of Catholic law students at Capital University in Columbus have formed an organization to link their growth in the faith with what they learn about the ethical standards of their chosen profession.
Cameron Hapy, president of the Ozanam Law & Service Society, said the idea for the group came from discussions he and classmates Parker Staten, Ryan Davis and Emma Avila had about a year ago.
A proposal to form the society was presented to university officials, who approved it in March, in time for the group to present a speakers panel and to make plans for the current academic year. Their first activity for 2026 was a talk by Bishop Earl Fernandes at the school on Wednesday, Sept. 2. Plans are being made for other speaking programs and for service projects in cooperation with Catholic Social Services, Hapy said.
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The group’s faculty adviser, Capital law professor Nathaniel Fouch, said about 25 students were on hand to hear Bishop Fernandes speak extemporaneously about Pope Leo’s encyclical on artificial intelligence, “Magnifica Humanitas:” the promises and challenges of AI and the importance of Catholic social teaching as a way of life and a means of ensuring human dignity.
The society’s inaugural event in April drew 26 students to hear Judge Craig Baldwin from the Fifth Ohio Appeals District (presiding over Ashland, Coshocton, Delaware, Fairfield, Guernsey, Holmes, Knox, Licking, Morgan, Morrow, Muskingum, Perry, Richland, Stark and Tuscarawas counties) and Columbus attorneys Sheila Boehner and Jackson Berry.
“All three are adult converts to Catholicism, and each had a conversion story that was nothing like those of the other two,” Fouch said. “Their joint theme was the intersection of faith and the law and it was fascinating to see how three different roads intersected at the same place.”
A statement from the Ozanam Society said, “Our mission is the formation of excellent and ethical legal professionals through engagement with intellectual, social and spiritual traditions of the Catholic Church.
“Catholicism has a rich, deep history in law and ethics and provides a lens through which we explore the interaction of faith and reason. We particularly focus on how our lives can flourish and how we can, as attorneys, live satisfying lives that glorify God.”
Hapy, of Columbus St. Mary, Mother of God Church in the German Village neighborhood, is in the first year of a three-year program leading to his law degree. He went to parishes in the Perry County Catholic Consortium while growing up and graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in science preprofessional studies.
“Both my parents are dentists and I thought that was a natural field for me, but I tried dental school and wasn’t very good at it,” he said. “My mother thought I had a logical mind that would be good for practicing law, and I have found it to be a wonderful way of serving others and using my time and talents to fulfill what I feel is Jesus’ mission for me.
“I wanted to stay grounded in the faith while studying the law. One day, Parker (Staton), who recently joined the Catholic Church, said without any prompting from me that he told me he was looking for a way to connect what he had learned about Catholicism with his law studies. We realized we were thinking in a similar manner, found that Ryan and Emma also were thinking along those lines and decided to form a group and ask university officials to recognize it as a social organization.”
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The group chose Blessed Frederic Ozanam as its patron. In 1833, he and some law students in Paris founded a group known as the Conference of Charity, which evolved into the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, known in the Diocese of Columbus and around the world for its work with the poor.
“Naming our organization after Ozanam reflects a mission not just to help others but to serve them with humility, respect and personal care, just as he did,” said a statement from the organization.
“This was all their idea,” Fouch said. “They didn’t have any financial resources and weren’t interested in anything from a monetary standpoint. They just wanted to focus on intellectual formation with an emphasis on the law and service to the poor.
“They’re providing a beautiful witness to their fellow students, as well as being in the unique position of being Catholic students in the only law school in the nation connected with a university affiliated with the Lutheran Church.”
Staten is vice president, Davis secretary and Avila communications director of the society. This fall, they have been joined by Maddie Kappel, Caroline Baxley and Ben Bruni as core members. Although the society focuses on how Catholic teaching relates to legal matters, it is open to members of all faiths or none.
More information on the society is available via email at olss@law.capital.edu or on Instagram at Ozanam Law & Service Society at Capital University Law School (@caplaw_ozanamsociety).