The Trial of LaSallian Values
I wonder what my Uncle Jim, pictured above, would have thought calling for ‘trial by combat’? Would he accept such an incitement as consistent with the values of a Catholic college education? Former New York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, used those words in stirring the crowd at President Donald Trump’s January 6th Washington DC rally, and thousands of the members of his audience then stormed the United States Capitol, destroyed property, forced terrified staff to evacuate, and assaulted peace officers. Correlation is not causation but viewing video of that speech shows the effectiveness of its rhetoric in inflaming the moods of those in the crowd.
Blame is not my intention in this questioning; more than enough accusants already have congregated regarding this day of national humiliation. I am wondering about what responsibilities we have to our Catholic education in our adult actions. Mr. Giuliani and I share an educational background that specifically sparks my curiosity: along with tens of thousands of other New York area citizens past and present, the quick and the dead, we are graduates of Manhattan College, the 168-year-old institution established by the Christian Brothers order spread across steep hills at the top of The Bronx.
At seventeen years old in 1969, I was told upon entering that college how being Lasallian was at the core of who we were, how that concept should drive everything we did both in and outside of the classroom. Did I heed this guidance then? My recollection is that the breaches might have outnumbered the observances, but my awareness of it never faltered. That there were far more Christian Brothers in those days teaching us might have helped my memory. More directly, that same uncle shown at the top, Brother Bernadine James Elliott, a simultaneously much feared and revered professor of electrical engineering at the college, cast more than a few admonitory glances in the direction of his English major nephew during my frantic four years at Manhattan. Reminders of Saint Jean-Baptiste De La Salle, the founder of the Christian Brothers order and the originator of those values that bear his name, also were everywhere including a statue we passed everyday. That art depicted the founder of the Christian Brothers teaching students, an illustration of how as the college website notes a man born into a rich family in 17th Century Reims, France ”found himself called to serve the poor and disadvantaged, specifically children, whose lack of access to education was perpetuating poverty.” Theology classes were a mandatory part of the curriculum and my recollection is that the Lasallian viewpoint permeated other disciplines as well: philosophy, literature, history.
Rudy Giuliani graduated eight years ahead of me, but his curriculum would have been even more indelibly Lasallian. I know because my eldest brother, John, was but a year behind the former mayor and knew him, and my now-deceased brother Jim who started a scholarship some years ago at the college in honor of our uncle, was only three years later in a progression of our family to that Riverdale campus. The wordsmithing may be different, but the articulation of Lasallian values by Manhattan College today strikes me as familiar: Remember that we are in the Holy Presence of God, Embody Concern for the Poor and Social Justice, Care about Quality Education, Foster an Inclusive Community, and Show Respect for All Persons.
That last precept came to mind as I heard Mr. Giuliani exhort the crowd at the rally on Wednesday to engage in ‘trial by combat’. The context seemed to indicate a literal injunction: the OED parses the phrase as “The determination of … the righteousness of [a] cause, by a combat between the accuser and accused.” The context of Mr. Giuliani’s speech reinforced the call to combat; “they have invaded our freedom of speech, our freedom of religion, our freedom to move, our freedom to live”; ‘they’ stole the election; they did push everybody around. Finally, ‘they’ are criminals.
Invaders who steal and push around deserve combat seemed to be the underlying message. Political rhetoric is often colorful, but how does someone with our background reconcile behavior and speech calling for combat with those Lasallian values especially the last one: respect for persons? Weren’t the utterances and actions of the man once known as ‘America’s Mayor’ incongruent with the notion that those of us who graduated from a Lasallian school are expected to engage ”in a concerted effort to respect the dignity of all persons”? How did his speech reflect in any way “the acknowledgement of each other’s identity as children of God”?
I am (as a character in the play, Alms, I wrote with Joe Queenan describes himself) an ‘episodic Catholic’. I have failed many times at following these core principles in my almost seventy years. The Lasallian expression of faith — “Live Jesus in our hearts…Forever” — is too often aspirational rather than actual in my life. As Pope Francis has said (albeit in a very different context), “Who am I to judge?”. Focusing on Rudy Giuliani does not mean that I and so many other products of Catholic education are getting it right every day. Certainly, that’s not my record; indeed, it is my point: my expression of concern arises out of a worry not just for a fellow Jasper’s pronouncements but for all of us left and right, libertarian fighters and social justice warriors, who seem to have strayed very far from Catholic values in our political discourse.
Other graduates of Catholic education like me must be often mindful of the tradition into which we were born and nourished. I appreciate in many ways the education received not only from Christian Brothers but before that from the Jesuits, Sisters of Charity, and Dominican sisters. In that instruction, the word is central to our body of beliefs; we learned to take what is said seriously. With our backgrounds, we know that speech can inflict consequences upon our community; in this case, a woman attacker and a Capitol police defender are dead as a direct result of the assault, another officer committed suicide, three others died in the day, many others will now face jail, loss of jobs, and other hardships. Urging others to attack a political and civic Institution that is held dear by our countrymen seems very far from what we learned in our Catholic institutions. If we are all of us part of what we believe to be a mystical body then we are enjoined and empowered to care for our brothers and sisters. Our faith and indeed our entire life encounters many trials, but combat with our fellow citizens should not be one of them.
At athletic contests with our Cross Bronx rival, Fordham University, in the sixties and seventies, Manhattan fans often heard the chant from the other side of the field or gymnasium, “What the hell is a Jasper?” We knew who we were: middle class sons (and later daughters) of mostly Catholic families working our way through college who cared a great deal not only about education but also about our faith. I like to think that those of us on our side can also answer today that a Jasper is someone who when he or she has failed to live up to LaSallian values recognizes their errors and seeks in the most earnest fashion to repair them in front of the whole world. I will be praying for you, Mr. Mayor. Feel free to return the favor.
T.J. Elliott
609 306–4129
T.J. Elliott is the Managing Director of Knowledge Workings Theater LLC — www.knowledgeworkings.com — whose productions Off-Broadway include Alms, Grudges, and Keeping Right. From 2002–2017, he was Chief Learning Officer of Educational Testing Service (ETS). He lives with his wife Marjorie in Princeton, NJ
