'Antonin died with Christ'

After attending a funeral at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Va., in 1998, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a warm note to the pastor, James Goodloe, complimenting him on sharing the gospel during the service.

“Weddings and funerals (but especially funerals) are the principal occasions left in modern America when you can preach the Good News not just to the faithful, but to those who have never really heard it,” Scalia wrote Goodloe. (Read the entire letter.)

On Saturday, Scalia’s son, the Rev. Paul Scalia, quoted from that letter in a homily for his father’s funeral Mass, a service empty of eulogy but full of the gospel. (C-SPAN has video of the service.) Paul Scalia is a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Arlington, Va. Antonin Scalia, a devout Catholic, died Feb. 13 from apparent natural causes at a remote hunting resort in West Texas. He was 79, and leaves behind his wife of 55 years, Maureen; nine children; and 36 grandchildren.

Paul Scalia’s voice broke only twice in his homily: Once, when he said, “God blessed Dad with a love for his family,” and another time, when he referred to his parents’ long marriage.

“We are gathered here because of one man … a man loved by many, scorned by others, a man known for great controversy and great compassion—that man, of course, is Jesus of Nazareth,” said Paul Scalia. “It is He whom we proclaim.”

Cardinal Donald Wuerl noted the family’s “desire to have a simple parish family Mass,” drawing laughter from the elite gathering. Vice President Joe Biden was in attendance, along with former Vice President Dick Cheney, all of the current Supreme Court justices, retired justices, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., and many federal judges—some of whom may be in line to replace Scalia on the high court, like U.S. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan of the District of Columbia Circuit.

President Barack Obama notably did not attend the funeral service, instead paying his respects Friday at the Supreme Court where Scalia’s body lay in repose. It is unusual for a president to skip the funeral of a sitting Supreme Court justice. In response to criticism over the decision, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said given Biden’s relationship with the Scalia family, “We believe we have settled on an appropriate and respectful arrangement.”

No one delivered memorials to the legal giant during the Mass, which was held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Justice Clarence Thomas, a friend and regular ally of Scalia’s in opinions and dissents, read Romans 5:5-11, starting with, “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts. …” After the homily, Paul Scalia served Communion. The congregation sang the hymns “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” and “O God Beyond All Praising.”

Paul Scalia delivered his homily with as much simple clarity as one of his father’s decisions. He mixed humor (a story of his dad finding himself in his son’s confessional line) and the gospel.

“Dad understood that the deeper he went in his Catholic faith, the better a citizen and public servant he became,” Paul Scalia said.

He referred obliquely to his father’s jurisprudence, saying that the elder Scalia saw the founding of the United States as a blessing, “a blessing quickly lost when faith is banned from the public square or when we refuse to bring it there.”

It was a Catholic Mass, no question: Paul Scalia urged listeners multiple times to pray for his father’s soul to be perfected and admitted to heaven. He announced that the family will hold a memorial service on March 1, likely a chance to air the eulogies that went unspoken here in favor of the gospel message.

“Every funeral reminds us of just how thin the veil is between this world and the next,” Paul Scalia said. “We cannot depart here unchanged. It makes no sense to celebrate God’s goodness and mercy to Dad, if we are not attentive and responsive to those realities in our own lives. We must allow this encounter with eternity to change us, to turn us from sin and toward the Lord.”