Georgetown’s moral Catholic environment is as present and as strong as ever, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (CAS ‘57) said Monday in his speech as Jesuit Heritage Week’s Georgetown Alumnus Spotlight speaker.
After describing the degradation of morality in the United States over the past two centuries, Scalia said that Georgetown is “not losing its moral soul.” He said that events such as the Jesuit Heritage Week confirmed the strong presence of the University’s Catholic morality.
Scalia said that despite the external changes that have taken place at Georgetown since his time here in the 1950s, the internal character of the University has not changed. He said the very present Catholic and Jesuit moral environments are essential to a progressive education.
Scalia admitted that such a pronounced moral environment makes the University uncongenial to many distinguished faculty and students. Losing promising faculty and students is the cost of maintaining the University’s Catholic morality, he said.
“Faith is our principle of action,” Scalia said. He added that knowledge alone is not progressive, but a moral environment and religious faith is key.
Scalia also referred to the Mormon regulations of Brigham Young University, citing specifically the moderate use of caffeine and the restrictions on smoking. Scalia said that there ought to be certain restrictions at religiously-affiliated universities. He said that despite a weakening presence of religion in the nation, it is important to uphold religious values in institutions such as Georgetown.
Scalia also addressed the different mottoes of the Jesuits. He noted that he had been brought up with the Jesuit mottoes “Men for Others” and “Ad majorem dei gloriam” (For the greater glory of God) from his experiences at both Xavier High School, a Jesuit high school in lower Manhattan, and at Georgetown. Scalia said that he favored “Ad majorem dei gloriam” because “Men for Others” implied that Jesuit students were simply instruments for others.
Scalia said that it is important that institutions such as Georgetown uphold their moral environment, especially in a time when the nation is, in his opinion, very non-religious. Scalia divided the gradual separation of the nation from religion into three time periods: the first, a Christian nation; the second, a monotheistic nation; and the third, a non-religious nation.
Scalia matched religion with Christianity by identifying the growing non-religious nation with the increasing ignorance of the average American on Christian doctrines. Scalia cited how few Americans could name an Old Testament prophet or remember who gave the Sermon on the Mount.
“Many Americans think the Beatitudes are a popular singing group,” he joked.
