‘A special gift’

MADISON  What could Gene Tunney — a former world heavyweight champion boxer in the 1920s and a loving husband and father — and St. Teresa of Calcutta — “lover of the unloved” poor in Calcutta, India, and around the world — possibly have in common?

Lots — Tunney and St. Teresa were faithful Catholics; prayed to their favorite saint, Francis of Assisi; and pursued their God-given vocations with passion, said Thomas Michael Hardiman, a circuit judge of the Third Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Pittsburgh, in his Oct. 30 talk at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Evangelization Center at Bayley-Ellard here.

In his presentation on vocations, he noted that these two heroic figures could inspire Catholics today, as they discern their life’s calling. Advocati Christi, a diocesan fellowship of Catholic lawyers and judges, sponsored the talk by Hardiman, twice among the finalists for a nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The Catholic notion of vocation is a special gift we should embrace wholeheartedly. Whether we have ascertained and are pursuing our vocation or are in the process of discerning it, we would do well to pray on the matter. In this respect, we can be exactly like Mother Teresa and Gene Tunney,” said Hardiman. His talk included examples of faith and vocation as a practicing Catholic in his family life and his distinguished law career. “So let us too pray to Francis to ask that the Lord may give us peace. And that we may pursue our vocations with passion, as children of God, rooted in Christ, inspired to serve,” he said.

After the talk, the audience of attorneys and other interested individuals had an opportunity to ask Hardiman questions. He responded by speaking about how Catholics can live their faith in their everyday lives. He also described the nomination process for the U.S. Supreme Court, as he experienced it. In 2017, Hardiman was considered a finalist for the seat of late Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court, along with Neil Gorsuch, the eventual nominee who was confirmed to the bench. The next year, he was again considered a finalist, this time to replace Anthony Kennedy, who was retiring as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In his hour-long talk, Hardiman first focused on Tunney, who learned to box to defend himself in his dangerous neighborhood of “Hell’s Kitchen” in New York City. A reporter found him to be a gentleman and self-educated Renaissance man, who talked about tennis, golf, books, including the Bible — far from most boxers at the time, who felt obliged to act like brawlers. During his remarkable boxing career in the 1920s, Tunney twice defeated legend Jack Dempsey. After retirement, he worked in theatre and business and enjoyed his second vocation: that of a married father of four, he said.

“In Tunney’s words: ‘Social position, political prestige, financial power or the hurrahs of the crowd — none of it matters. The thing that matters is character,’ ” Hardiman said.

From the other side of the world, Mother Teresa joined the Sisters of Loreto at 18 years old. While riding on the train from Calcutta to Darjeeling in 1946, she received a “call within a call”: an order to serve the poor. She got permission to leave her ministry with the sisters to teach, care for and love the desperately poor in the slums of Calcutta. In 1950, She received permission to found the Missionaries of Charity, now comprised of more than 4,500 sisters, who work in 133 countries, Hardiman said.

“Mother Teresa’s vocation lives on even after her death and it is remarkable to consider the countless numbers of people that her mission has served — all because she was open to, heard and answered the call while on that train ride,” Hardiman said.

Near the end of his talk, Hardiman brought the topic of vocations closer to home in speaking about his parents, Judith and Robert, both faithful Catholics. A homemaker, Judith might describe her calling as “raising five of the next generation of Americans to be faithful, productive members of society.” Robert, who operated a taxi business, was able to serve others by “transporting special-needs students to school, creating jobs, mentoring high school and college students who drove cabs part-time, loaning vehicles to church and civic organizations and offering a job to a reformed alcoholic with a criminal record who was turned away by everyone else,” Hardiman said.

In 1987, Hardiman earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, where he discovered a love for attending Mass on Sunday evenings. It was also the first place that he considered the idea of a vocation. One teacher “inspired us to pray for and accept our vocation, whatever it may be,” he said.

“She also taught us that vocations come in myriad forms, because God has a special plan for each person,” said Hardiman, the married father of three children.

In the question-and-answer session, Hardiman described his work as a judge a “vocation,” because “I go to work to do something that I love to do.” He also spoke about spreading the faith in our everyday lives with “courage,” not by proselytizing but by becoming more “relational”: making friends with people from various backgrounds and beliefs, including those that differ from ours. Also, Hardiman expressed continued confidence in the U.S. judicial system — and the judges, who serve it.

At the end of the presentation, Father Paul Manning, St. Paul’s executive director and diocesan vicar for evangelization, said publicly that Hardiman “inspired all of us.”

“He gives us hope,” said Manning, who bestowed praise on lawyers present that night, including those from Advocati Christi. “I admire the nobility of your calling and the zeal with which you pursue it,” he said.

Among the attorneys in the audience that night was one of Hardiman’s friends, Andrew Anselmi, a partner in McCusker, Anselmi, Rosen & Carvelli in Florham Park and founding Advocati Christi member, who invited the judge to speak at St. Paul’s. They met at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., where Hardiman earned a law degree in 1990.

“Michael speaks with the depth of his personality, intellect and faith. He is a role model for all of us and gives us hope with his faith in the judicial system and government,” Anselmi said.