It’s often said you should never meet your heroes. Those you admire from afar often fail to live up to your expectations when you meet them personally, and you can be disappointed and even disillusioned.
George Mason Professor of Law Helen Alvaré has long been one of my heroes and, after meeting her last week in Sydney, I am delighted to say that she was so wonderful and gracious and joyful that our encounter left me even more of a fan than I was before we met.
I first encountered Alvaré’s work about 12 years ago, just after the release of her book Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak for Themselves. In that book, Alvaré countered the prevailing narrative that almost all Catholic women shun the church’s teachings on matters like marriage, sexual morality and ordination.
She did so by giving space to Catholic women of different vocations, professions and ages who found the church’s vision of life, marriage, family and the priesthood to be enriching and life-giving to tell their own story. She didn’t argue against those who dismissed church teaching; she just pointed out that they were not the only ones out there. No one can claim to speak for Catholic women, she said. Catholic women speak for themselves.
It was measured and clever and therefore, effective. I have been a fan of her work since that time, finding her always to speak clearly and without compromise, but with charity and warmth.
On her recent visit here, I had the opportunity to attend a full-day conference with Alvaré, as well as hear her speak at Scholarship at the Cathedral. She’s got an enormous intellect, and her ability to traverse a range of issues was impressive. What struck me most though, was her sense of joy and peace even after decades at the forefront of the culture wars.
Alvaré started working for the US Bishops Conference in the 1980s, briefly as an attorney but mainly in its secretariat for pro-life activities. When she began, there were close to 1.5 million abortions occurring in the US each year, with one child dying in the womb for every three born. She was there when Oregon became the first US state to legalise assisted suicide and set an example for other states to follow.
She was called upon just after the Boston Globe broke the clergy abuse scandal in 2002 and asked to chair a commission with the chief of police and others to investigate the handling of child abuse by clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. More recently she has been involved in religious freedom issues, particularly after the US Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage in Obergefell v Hodges (2015).
After spending close to 40 years on the unpopular (and losing) side of the most contentious social issues of our times, Alvaré could be forgiven for being a little cynical. She could be excused for questioning whether it was still worth suiting up every day for the sake of a truth that is too often met with opposition or indifference. If nothing else, she could have at least presented as fatigued and uninspired.
She was none of these things. Instead, she was full of energy and humour and hope, and brought to Australia a message of optimism for the future. She remains confident that what the church has to offer is not only relevant to society today, but is an antidote to so many current social ills. She did not seem at all discouraged by the many political and judicial defeats she has seen; if anything, she was convinced that they were only temporary.
As someone who spends most of her days dealing with similar issues here in Australia, I found Alvaré’s witness to be inspiring and challenging. The type of joy and peace and perseverance I saw in her can only come from a strong and confident faith, a deep interior life and a fidelity to truth, despite the cost. I left our encounter thinking it quite possible that I had not only met one of my heroes, but had just perhaps met a saint.