NRL News
Page 16
July/August 2009
Volume 36
Issue 7-8

Rev. Thomas M. King, S.J. (1929–2009)
By Susan E. Wills

The Hoya, Georgetown University’s student newspaper, declared Fr. Tom King “Georgetown’s Man of the Century” in 1999, explaining that “no one has had a more significant presence on campus and effect on students than Father King.” His 41-year career at Georgetown as a professor of theology, scholar, mentor, and friend to thousands of students came to an end on June 23, 2009, with his death from a heart attack. But his legacy, which includes his many notable contributions to the cause of human life, will long endure.

Several years ago, Father King wrote a little essay, “Abortion: Why This Issue?” The reflection was prompted by the question of a student who knew of (and presumably approved of) Fr. King’s active concerns over other issues, but could not understand why he’d been so involved in pro-life causes. He blurted this response: “‘Because I cannot stand the lying, the cover up, the deceit.’ I could have given other reasons,” he explains, “but the lying gets to me in a special way.”

Of course, there’s the fundamental injustice of destroying the life of an innocent child, as well as the deep spiritual and emotional wounds suffered by countless women and men in the aftermath of abortion. But what allows the injustice and pain of abortion to continue unabated? What shields the horror of abortion practice from scrutiny and exposure? Lies. Whole webs of deceit. Mountains of evasions and denials and a cultural elite (“the high culture, the intelligentsia,” he calls them) who know, but don’t want to know, the truth.

Father King set about providing forums where the case for life would be made in an intellectually rigorous fashion. He served as faculty advisor for Georgetown Students for Life, host of the enormously successful Cardinal O’Connor Conference held each January on the eve of the March for Life. Father King also gave support to American Collegians for Life (precursor to Students for Life of America) which held an annual conference in Washington.

The most intensive focus of Father King’s pro-life work was in co-founding University Faculty for Life (UFL) in 1989 and serving as UFL’s founding president until 2004. Pro-life academics are a rare and endangered species. They know they risk their jobs and even careers every time they publicly speak out against abortion. Their vulnerability to reprisal could lead the faint of heart to remain silent on the sidelines.

Fr. King and his co-founders gave hundreds of professors (from over 100 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada) a forum to engage in multi-disciplinary dialogue—in law, political science, philosophy, theology, history, medicine, and communications. They facilitated their collaboration in educating the academic community about life issues and the sound reasons underlying pro-life beliefs.

Each year, UFL convenes a conference that features expert speakers from many academic disciplines to address abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, stem cell research, and other issues where life is threatened. Past speakers make up a pro-life “hall of fame.”

Conference proceedings, published since 1992 as Life and Learning, are distributed to the libraries of over 700 colleges and universities across North America. They are an invaluable body of peer-reviewed, clear-reasoned research on the most critical issues of our day.

UFL has also submitted amicus (friend of the court) briefs to the United States Supreme Court in key abortion-related cases such as Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Planned Parenthood v. Ayotte, and Stenberg v. Carhart (the first partial-birth abortion ban case).

Admirers of Father King have posted personal reflections on various blogs since his death. Many quote an observation that appeared in an article about him in the Georgetown Voice (J. McFadden, “A Life Dedicated to Learning,” Sept. 27, 2001): “He’s quiet and unassuming but also friendly and disarming. He enjoys meeting new people.”

From these reminiscences, there emerges a portrait of a man who could defend the value and dignity of every human life with intellectual vigor, and one who possessed the even rarer quality of authenticity. He delighted in the encounter with others. Appreciating the uniqueness of each individual he encountered, Father King relished the exchange of ideas, stories, and wit.

One former UFL office assistant (who remained a friend in the 13 years since leaving that post), remarked, “It was so good to look upon his heart, always so close to the surface, worn not on his sleeve but in his eyes.” In a society so selfish and self-absorbed that its “high culture” condones disposing of family members for convenience, how extraordinary and exemplary is a man like Father King who sees other people as gifts, and not burdens.

In 2005, when receiving an award for “Distinguished Contributions to Pro-Life Scholarship,” Father King urged UFL scholars to “remain steadfast in their devotion to truth and to devote their work to building a civilization of life and love.” The best way we can honor his life and work is to follow this wise advice.

Susan E. Wills, assistant director for education and outreach at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, received her LL.M. from Georgetown Law in 1983.