And Justice For All

By Mark Piper

I attended the Undergraduate Honors Program’s 11th Annual Guest Lecture last night. This year’s address was given by Justice Anne M. Burke of the Illinois State Supreme Court.

The lecture was to begin at 6:30, but was delayed a few minutes because there was a need to get about two or three dozen more chairs in the Butler Reception Room. The room was packed. Not only were people shoulder to shoulder or seat to seat as an indication of the amount of interest in her talk, but the soon sweltering heat from all the bodies in Butler made it known that it was a full house.

I personally enjoyed the speech. Though I think one could easily deduce she had a legal background even without the introduction detailing her long and distinguished law career, simply because of how her speech or “argument” flowed; each point succinctly followed up by a reference fact, and it all lead back to the beginning when she finished.

Justice Burke’s speech, “Public Servant, Private Catholic,” was both intriguing and thought-provoking. Justice Burke seems to have had a career marked by her concern and care for children, and the most vulnerable among us. She founded the Special Olympics, served on child advocacy groups, moved up in the ranks of the judicial system and served on the Board of Review for the Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal in the United States for two years. And she pulled no punches about her service to the Church in that specific role.

What I drew from her experience and her 50-some minute speech was (1) Thomas Aquinas, who coincidentally is the patron saint of students, has much to say about how to think and act, especially in respect to the law and our own conduct and (2) truth (small case t) is the future of the Catholic Church, despite the lack of truth in its hierarchy at the moment.

It was a great lecture. Justice Burke spoke to what I believe are the majority of Catholics in the US today – if not the type of Catholicism students practice. And that is Catholicism that is rooted in faith, not absolutes; faith that requires dialogue and not simple obedience; and a faith that upholds and attempts earnestly to seek truth, rather than skew it for some personal misuse.

As a side note, I was able to meet Justice Burke before her lecture at a reception in the Bishop Quarter Room. I would suggest that anyone curious about the conflict, congruence, or future of one’s personal faith and public politics ought to view this lecture, which should be available in the library soon.

Mark Piper is a senior political science major with a minor in pastoral ministry. He is from Stoughton, WI and is president of the Student Government Association. Consideration for the student bloggers is provided by Saint Xavier University.