Thomas More College of Liberal Arts was delighted to host an evening of recognition to honor Raymond Flynn and Mary Ann Glendon with Thomas More Medals. Flynn served as mayor of Boston from 1984–1993 and was a former United States Ambassador to the Holy See. Mary Ann Glendon is the Learned Hand Professor of Law Emerita at Harvard Law School and is also a former United States Ambassador to the Holy See. Both were honored in recognition of decades defending and promoting a true understanding of human dignity in the public square.
As Mayor of Boston, Flynn increased affordable housing and worked tirelessly to improve race relations. He strengthened the Mayor’s Offices on Homelessness and Disabilities and established an Office of Immigration Rights. As Ambassador to the Holy See from 1993 to 1997, Flynn represented the United States in imperiled areas around the world. He expressed his gratitude for being honored alongside Glendon, and reflecting on his close friendship with Pope John Paul II, Flynn commented, “I just want you to know, that if John Paul II could be here tonight, he’d tell you, keep up the strong character of the Catholic Church for social and economic justice.”
Glendon’s government service includes chairing the U.S. State Department Commission on Unalienable Rights (by appointment of her former research assistant, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo) and serving as Vice-Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. She also served as President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences during the pontificates of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI and as a member of the Board of Supervisors of the Vatican Bank during the pontificate of Pope Francis. Her memoir of service to the Church, In the Courts of Three Popes, will be published by Penguin Random House in February of 2024. “I am more honored than I can say to receive this award named for the saint who set the highest possible standard for lawyers and politicians,” remarked Glendon. “And I am more humbled than I can say to receive it in the company of a true American hero, Ray Flynn.”
Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, OFM Cap., Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, sent a letter from the current Synod in Rome commending the two honorees for their lifetime of achievement “on behalf of the Church and the people of God.” Both Ambassadors Flynn and Glendon have openly expressed “their dedication to the sanctity of life,” says O’Malley, adding that this public dedication to uphold and defend the truth “has been a great blessing for the Church.”
Princeton professor and prominent Catholic public intellectual Robert George echoes this praise. “Ambassador Flynn is that rare bird: a public servant who has actually devoted his professional life to serving the public!” And Ambassador Glendon, he says, has “encouraged and inspired countless men and women,” including generations of students. “Mary Ann Glendon has been my role model, my mentor—we have stood arm in arm, and fought side by side, in so many noble causes, in academia and in the broader culture.” He continues, “There is simply no way we can repay our debt to her, except, perhaps, by doing our best to emulate her devotion to Christ and His Church, her courage, and her grace.”
The evening of recognition, which was held at the Bedford Village Inn in Bedford, NH on October 28, 2023, was the fruit of the efforts of Thomas More College Trustees Michael Gilleran and Henry Luthin. Longtime residents of greater Boston, these two men have observed and worked with Ambassadors Flynn and Glendon over several decades. “Raymond Flynn has shown what it is for the mayor of a major city to be pro-life, pro-family, and pro-poor,” says Luthin, “and as a distinguished academic, Mary Ann Glendon has brought her profound faith to bear on her scholarship, her public life, and her work for the Holy See.”
The Thomas More Medal bears an embossed image of the patron of the College, along with the College crest, which features the motto “Caritas congaudet veritati” (Charity rejoices in the Truth). Like St. Thomas More, both Flynn and Glendon have worked tirelessly—and frequently at great personal expense—in defense of the Church, the common good, and the truth. “Ambassador Flynn has provided a model of statesmanship by subordinating personal and partisan interests to the interests of justice and the common good,” says George. Likewise, Ambassador Glendon’s “service to the academy, to our nation, and to Holy Mother Church have been . . . magisterial. Her entire life has been dedicated to bearing Christian witness and serving God and neighbor.” Michael Gilleran describes Flynn and Glendon as “a Catholic Man and Woman for All Seasons, more than worthy to be honored.”
“I am humbled and grateful to be a part of this well-deserved evening of recognition,” says President William Fahey. “My hope is that those who graduate from our College will carry forward that same zeal for the truth, that same dedication to public service, that our honorees have expressed for decades in their words and deeds. Our world desperately needs a new generation of men and women like Ambassadors Flynn and Glendon.”
Cardinal O’Malley expresses his confidence that Thomas More College students can and will take up that mantle: “The winds of secularism have buffeted us in contemporary times,” he admits, “but our foundation of One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic holds fast. It is very encouraging to know that the young men and women studying at the College are learning the truth and preparing to carry it forward in their lives. We are grateful to Dr. Fahey and all the faculty and staff for their dedication to the highest standards of Catholic education, and for their honoring of Mary Ann Glendon and Ray Flynn.”
“Thankfully, tonight we are in a place where . . . our precious Western intellectual inheritance is being passed on to a new generation,” Glendon remarked in closing. “Thomas More College brings the great tradition of faith and reason alive for its students every day—not only in the classroom, but in every aspect of college life . . . So thank you again, President Fahey,” she commented. “Like the Irish monks who kept the lamp of learning alive through the Dark Ages, you and your faculty are making Thomas More a beacon on the landscape of American education.”
Media coverage: National Catholic Register, Catholic World Report, Catholic Culture, Crisis Magazine
For further reading:
Why Study the Great Books? One Professor’s Apologia for a Thomas More College Education
“An eternally significant education”: TMC Featured on OurSundayVisitor.com
