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Pro-Life Leader Hadley Arkes becomes Catholic
The Anchor ^ | May 31, 2010 | Christine M. Williams

Posted on 06/01/2010 9:52:44 AM PDT by NYer


Hadley Arkes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Catholic Church’s voice for the littlest among us got even stronger last month. 

Hadley Arkes, professor of Jurisprudence and American Institutions at Amherst College, and one of the foremost Pro-Life legal scholars in the country, received the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and first Communion at the chapel of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C. on April 24. 

Born and raised a Jew, Arkes said he views his newly-embraced Catholic faith as a fulfillment of his Jewish faith. Rather than a departure, he sees it as accepting Christ as Messiah.

More than a decade ago, Arkes realized that there was something special about the Catholic Church as a “truth-telling institution.” When the Church stood against the currents of opinion in the world, he was inclined to believe the Church was right, he told The Anchor

Before he embraced the Church’s faith, he had embraced the Church’s respect for human reason. In an article about his conversion for The Catholic Thing, an online periodical, he described his appreciation for the Church’s tradition of defending and promoting the natural law, with regard to the Pro-Life issue and in general. “The natural law we know through that reason that is natural for human beings. The Church’s moral position here did not depend on faith or belief. One didn’t have to be Catholic to understand it. And that was precisely the teaching of the Church.”

He told The Anchor, “I found myself explaining the Catholic position to Catholics.”

Robert George, the McCormick professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University, wrote about his friend Arkes’ conversion on Mirror of Justice, a blog dedicated to the development of Catholic legal theory. He noted that, although the Catholic Church’s moral witness on the sanctity of human life, marriage and sex has made the Church a “sign of contradiction” to many of the most powerful in contemporary Western culture, that same witness drew Arkes to the faith. Despite the failings of many of its members and leaders, especially in the wake of the sexual abuse crisis, Arkes recognized that the Church is indeed “a truth-telling institution,” he said.

“In teachings that many find to be impediments, Hadley found decisive evidence that the Church is, indeed, what she claims to be,” George wrote. 

Friends have said that Arkes has remarked that it is not a surprise that a faith that believes God himself comes under the appearance of unleavened bread is sensitive to the dignity of human life in even its tiniest form.

Joe Reilly, a former executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, told The Anchor that Arkes is a “deep thinker” and one of the most brilliant men he has come across in his work to defend life. He says he has long helped the whole Pro-Life movement think more deeply about the legal and philosophical principles at play. 

Former students of Arkes have thanked him for leading them to the truth found in natural law and, well before Arkes became a Catholic, for helping them to become better Catholics. 

One former student, Ned Desmond, who grew up on Cape Cod and graduated from Amherst in 1980, said that Arkes’ course on political obligations was “very clever” and “really steadied my hand and my mind as far as what I believed and what I thought was right,” he told The Anchor.

Arkes taught that abortion can never be justified, and Desmond said he was struck by the “deep saneness” of natural law theory. He later made the connection between the theory and Catholic teaching, which brought him closer to the faith. 

“He helped so many Catholic students get their bearing at Amherst,” said Desmond, who now lives in Maryland where he is the president of Go Sportn, Inc, and a former executive at Time magazine. 

Many leading Pro-Lifers give Arkes credit for some of the biggest recent achievements of the Pro-Life movement. Arkes helped write the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002 and calls the legislation proof that “you don’t have to wait for the court to do everything.” He regularly contributes to journals and has written several books. He is currently working on a new book while on leave from Amherst, where he has taught since 1966.

Although he accepted the teachings of the Church, Arkes waited to convert. Concerns about how family members would take the news held him from taking the leap right away. He did not want to hurt his family nor seem to disrespect the Jewish faith.

He found that many Catholics respected Jewish tradition. They, like him, believed Abraham made a covenant with God. He saw the connection between the manna in the desert and the Eucharist. “You can read the Old Testament without the New, but you can’t really read the New Testament without the Old. Everything is predicated on the Old,” he told The Anchor.

Last year in October, after the Red Mass for members of the legal profession in Washington, Arkes and his wife Judy were approached by Father Arne Panula, the director at the Catholic Information Center where Arkes would be baptized. Father Panula provocatively asked him what was preventing the most famous non-Catholic at the Red Mass from coming into the Church. Arkes responded in the tradition of “The Wizard of Oz’s” Cowardly Lion, “c-c-c-courage.” In a homily one month later at a Mass at which Arkes was present, Father Panula said what the first reading and the Gospel of the Mass showed was the need for “c-c-c courage.” For Arkes, that illustration and inside joke “was the hook that finally worked.”

In a letter to friends after the baptism, Arkes wrote to thank them for their continued support.

“Judy and I are still dealing with the after-glow. It lingers, magically, and we aren’t inclined to snuff it out right away and get on with other things,” he said. “We can’t thank you all enough.”

Arkes and his wife, Judy, met in high school and have been married 48 years. Judy is Jewish, and Arkes said he could not have joined the Church without her support.

In a second Mirror of Justice blog entry, David Forte of Cleveland State University School of Law and a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family, said that Arkes was like Jesus in ministering to those who reason. Arkes, he said, “has never entered a debate to debate, much less to ‘win.’ Rather, he prepares for contests by seeking to understand, and he enters the lists seeking to persuade.”

“For all of his adult life, Hadley Arkes has followed in the steps of the Master.  He now walks along side of him,” he added.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Current Events; Judaism
KEYWORDS: arkes; catholic; conversions; convert; judaism
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1 posted on 06/01/2010 9:52:44 AM PDT by NYer
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To: netmilsmom; thefrankbaum; markomalley; Tax-chick; GregB; saradippity; Berlin_Freeper; Litany; ...
You may also enjoy reading ...

Novak on Arkes's Conversion

2 posted on 06/01/2010 9:53:42 AM PDT by NYer (Preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed do not light up the world!)
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To: NYer

Wow..........just got goosebumps!!


3 posted on 06/01/2010 9:55:43 AM PDT by diamond6 (Pray the Rosary to defeat communism and Obamacare!!)
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To: diamond6; NYer
Wow..........just got goosebumps!!

***********************

Me too!

4 posted on 06/01/2010 10:05:28 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: NYer

booyah!


5 posted on 06/01/2010 10:08:23 AM PDT by Ancient Drive (DRINK COFFEE! - Do Stupid Things Faster with More Energy!)
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To: Ancient Drive

Love your tagline. :)


6 posted on 06/01/2010 10:09:02 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: diamond6

Same here!


7 posted on 06/01/2010 10:25:15 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
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To: vladimir998

He told The Anchor, “I found myself explaining the Catholic position to Catholics.”

Why I jumped over too. :) Welcome home!


8 posted on 06/01/2010 10:32:35 AM PDT by BenKenobi (I want to hear more about Sam! Samwise the stouthearted!)
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To: NYer

I love stories like this.

Thanks for posting.


9 posted on 06/01/2010 10:50:17 AM PDT by marron
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To: NYer

Bump!


10 posted on 06/01/2010 11:00:27 AM PDT by GonzoII ("That they may be one...Father")
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To: NYer

Thank you for this positive post.

I welcome all the good news I can receive. :-)


11 posted on 06/01/2010 11:07:43 AM PDT by Running On Empty ((The three sorriest words: "It's too late"))
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To: NYer
“For all of his adult life, Hadley Arkes has followed in the steps of the Master. He now walks along side of him,” he added.

Not one word in this man's conversion about our Savior, Jesus Christ...

Christians don't walk along side of Jesus...They walk in Him...You can't get that concept until you ARE in Him...

12 posted on 06/01/2010 11:26:24 AM PDT by Iscool (I don't understand all that I know...)
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To: Running On Empty
I welcome all the good news I can receive. :-)

Me too! It's often hard to find since most folks are drawn to scandalous news stories but I prefer and try to post these. Glad you enjoyed it.

13 posted on 06/01/2010 3:25:51 PM PDT by NYer (Preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed do not light up the world!)
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To: Iscool
Not one word in this man's conversion about our Savior, Jesus Christ...

It's right here!

Friends have said that Arkes has remarked that it is not a surprise that a faith that believes God himself comes under the appearance of unleavened bread is sensitive to the dignity of human life in even its tiniest form.

Even a Jew recognizes the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist!

14 posted on 06/01/2010 3:28:26 PM PDT by NYer (Preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed do not light up the world!)
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To: NYer
something special about the Catholic Church as a “truth-telling institution.”

Yes.



I am the way and the truth and the life

15 posted on 06/01/2010 4:53:55 PM PDT by annalex
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To: NYer

RE: More than a decade ago, Arkes realized that there was something special about the Catholic Church as a “truth-telling institution.”

Amen.


16 posted on 06/01/2010 4:56:17 PM PDT by big'ol_freeper ("Anyone pushing Romney must love socialism...Piss on Romney and his enablers!!" ~ Jim Robinson)
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To: big'ol_freeper
Amen.

Ditto.

17 posted on 06/01/2010 4:57:39 PM PDT by jwalsh07
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To: Iscool

Only Satan himself could be in the heart of someone who, when presented with a story of conversion to Christ, spews venom.


18 posted on 06/01/2010 4:58:26 PM PDT by big'ol_freeper ("Anyone pushing Romney must love socialism...Piss on Romney and his enablers!!" ~ Jim Robinson)
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To: NYer

Thank you for posting this wonderful story. I was a little surprised because I had assumed that he had become Catholic quite a long time ago.


19 posted on 06/01/2010 5:07:43 PM PDT by Chesterbelloc
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To: NYer

Wonderful story. I hope someday to know for sure that I brought someone to the Table of the Lord.


20 posted on 06/01/2010 5:12:14 PM PDT by Melian ( God is even kinder than you think. ~St. Teresa)
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