The Catholicism of Brett Kavanaugh

I was immediately charmed by Judge Kavanaugh and his family and especially by his proud, vigorous  Catholicism. Happily he spoke of CYO basketball, Jesuit education, serving meals to the poor, mass on Sunday and prayer. Rarely in public life do we see such an unabashed, genuine expression of  our faith. Subsequent revelations amplified the depth and richness of his faith: his respect and advocacy for women, rigorous work ethic, happy family life, exceptional judicial record, and especially his reputation for valuing input from liberal as well as conservative clerks. This last especially  impressed me a an important and rare Catholic virtue: a strong moral framework that welcomes a diversity of viewpoints on prudential issues that are complex, ambiguous and multi-faceted. He is an almost ideal candidate! I have been, and still am, delighted and thrilled with the thought of him on our Court.

But he is not perfect. His testimony is rightly criticized because he presented himself as almost perfect, a "choir boy."

His yearbook was an embarrassment for all of us. That the faculty allowed such a celebration of teenage inebriation shows a profound blindness. He redeemed himself by his expression of sincere sorrow for the hurt to his female friend from the implied contempt and misogyny even as he denied the most obvious interpretation of that odious attempt at humor.

His "yes I like beers bravado" can be understood at different levels. As Irish Catholic myself, I heard an echo of our ancient culture war against the puritan prohibition and its contemporary refiguration as political correctness and liberal righteousness. With him I silently boasted: "Yes, I like beers too, three or four a year in my case. Do you have a problem with that?" Clearly, in adolescence he was a jock, a drinker, a "frat boy!" In my own youth I did not like the type. But I don't hold it against him because, happily, we have both outgrown our male insecurities.

I see a deeper, more subtle problem, however, related to the Catholic and especially Jesuit education he received in the 1980s. Just before that time, the widespread motto became: "Man for others." This proposed a high moral ideal: that of a man who cares for others generously, even sacrificially; one who serves those around him and reaches out to the least, the poor, the marginalized and suffering. This is, of course, the ideal offered by Jesus in the Gospel. However, less happily, this message came also with a high optimism about our capacity to be such and a implied, if not articulated, neglect of traditional understanding of our sinfulness, weakness and need for God's mercy. There was little attention to sin, concupiscence and the need for confession, repentance and absolution. The ultimate result of this, of course, is an unrecognized but oppressive guilt as the student (if he is conscientious) expects and strives for moral heroism but is, at least semi-consciously, aware of his weakness and (often camouflaged) failings.

Hidden in this ethos of altruism and generosity is a subtle but toxic pelagianism (heresy that denies depth of original sin and need for grace) which expects moral heroism without explicit awareness of sin and weakness, without contrition, without dependence upon grace from above. Missing here is the traditional Catholic sense of sin, the 12-step experience of powerlessness, the evangelical longing for a Savior. Imagine this scenario: A Catholic school conference is dealing with the pressures upon our youth (internet, social media, peer culture, bullying, pornography, etc.) when a talented young educator recommends access to the sacrament of confession as a valuable resource; he is basically dismissed and even shamed. This incident unveils the hidden pelagianism prevalent in Catholic education.

And so we witnessed the good judge vigorously affirming his moral righteousness: family life, volunteer activities, and impeccable record with women. This was understandable and largely appropriate. First of all, it was a job interview and we customarily present our strengths, not weaknesses in such a forum. Secondly, the Democrats were out to destroy him at any cost so  acknowledgement of weakness of any sort would have been disastrous for him. He did, after all, admit to drinking too much and expressed regret. He denied any black out or loss of memory but not drinking to excess.

Nevertheless: we all would have benefited from a sense of contrition; a sense of himself as flawed and sinful even as he is a basically good man and exceptional jurist; and even some empathy for his accuser in her evident distress, even if it is a false accusation.

He is only human. He showed us his vulnerability and fragility. He stands, alongside of all of us, at the foot of the cross as a sinner in need of Mercy! We all of us need to surrender our pelagian ideals, our oppressive moral idealism; and fully own our own need for Mercy. God bless Brett and his family and God bless Dr. Ford and hers and God bless America!