By Kathryn Walters |
Friendships with Batman and Bono are exciting perks in the life of U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, who spoke on “How Faith Can Inform and Enhance Public Service” in Buckley Center Auditorium last Friday. What he especially values, though, is the role that faith plays in his government service.
“Faith helps us see the bigger picture, it propels us to serve others,” he said. “Faith invites us to be surrogates for the oppressed, the hungry, and faith values allow us to give voice to those in the political process.”
Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, has served in the U.S. Senate since 1974, making him the current longest-serving senator. He is most well-known for his commitment to eliminating the manufacturing and use of landmines as well as his promotion of human rights through the Leahy Law, which mandates cutting U.S. funding to foreign leaders that have been revealed to violate the human rights of their own people.
More recently, the senator has made headlines regarding his criticism of the NSA (National Security Agency) and his sponsorship of the new USA Freedom Act, which seeks to end the NSA’s ability to wiretap Americans’ phone calls.
“Having the NSA collect on us doesn’t make us safe as a country. We’re always going to face terrorists, every country does,” Leahy said. “But this massive foray into everyone’s lives, this is a chilling thought.”
Leahy also said many initiatives of his in the Senate, like immigration reform, have been supported by Congress members of all religious denominations.
“We had a faith community, which was absolutely essential in getting that through,” he said.
Senior Rebecca Larrabee, who attended the lecture, appreciates Leahy’s willingness to work with all members of Congress, regardless of political or religious affiliation.
“I was surprised at how open he was to different ideas and how he was so willing to work with both sides,” she said. “Also his strong emphasis on human rights, the fact that he doesn’t care where you come from or your personal beliefs, that we’re all human and all deserve the same equality.”
In order to keep his conscience clear on Capitol Hill, Leahy has what he calls his “conscience picture” in his office, which depicts a refugee man staring straight out of the photo at him while he sits at his desk.
“It’s there to say, ‘All right, I’m not rich and powerful, what are you doing for people like me?’ Everytime I sit down at my desk, I see that,” Leahy said. “I told a friend of mine, Bono, about this picture. He came to the office because he wanted to see the conscience picture and he sat down and looked at it and said ‘Wow, I see what you mean!’ I said, ‘Bono, take the picture!’”
In addition to being the longest-serving senator in Congress, Leahy is also the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, which means he is the highest-ranking senator and third in the presidential line of succession.
Leahy pointed out that the first four officials in succession to be president are all Catholics: Vice President Joe Biden, Speaker of the House John Boehner, Leahy and Secretary of State John Kerry.
“Dan Brown could take that and make a conspiracy novel about it!” he quipped, to laughs from the audience.
But Leahy said that having so many Catholics in high positions of power was unheard of when he was a young man campaigning door-to-door during John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign.
“I think people who have not lived through the Kennedy election don’t realize the significance of what it was because it made this country come to terms with a long, deeply ingrained and often invisible anti-Catholic bias,” Leahy said. “They had to come to grips with it, because now we were talking about the highest office in the land.”
Senior John Russell found it interesting that Leahy’s long career in government has enabled him to see great change.
“One thing that I thought was interesting was the breadth of people that he has had the chance to work with and he is the longest serving senator in the United States, and it’s impressive to see that as well, but also that he has personally been able to see such change in the United States over a long period of time,” Russell said.
The senator stressed the importance of First Amendment rights, including the right to worship freely, as essential to a healthy democracy.
“Now if that is guaranteed, your right to religion, right to make up your own mind and right to free speech, if you guarantee it in the Constitution, you guarantee diversity,” he said. “If you guarantee diversity, you guarantee democracy.”
Brotherly Love and Batman
Despite the fact that he spends much of his time in Washington, D.C., Sen. Leahy has a more personal connection to Portland, especially to UP. Fr. Claude Pomerleau, political science professor, is the brother of Leahy’s wife, Marcelle.
As Marcelle’s older brother, Pomerleau’s instinct was to be protective of her as they grew up. However, he approved of Leahy right away.
“As the boyfriend of my sister, whom I love very much, I kept thinking, ‘Nice choice, Marcelle,’” he said. “I’m amazed at how they always relate everything to each other. In the Senate, this is really impressive. It’s so genuine and happy.”
Pomerleau also revealed a little-known fact about Leahy: He has made cameos in several Batman movies, including “The Dark Knight” and “The Dark Knight Rises.” In “The Dark Knight,” Leahy has a tense confrontation with the Joker in the party scene at Bruce Wayne’s lavish apartment.
“And as he (the Joker) pushed him back like that, Patrick, the first couple of times, lost his balance and almost fell over so they put someone behind him to hold him when they go,” Pomerleau said. “So if you slow the film down and look, you can see when the Joker is moving away, you can see a guy walking out from behind Patrick just going back.”
Pomerleau said his special friendship with his famous brother-in-law has influenced him in many ways.
“Frankly, being the brother-in-law is just fantastic. It’s one of the friendships that has so influenced my teaching on international law and organizations,” Pomerleau said. “I don’t think I’ve ever taught a course and not included some significant part of the course in relationship to policy that he’s making.”
Pomerleau hopes that those who attended Leahy’s lecture are just as inspired by him as he is.
“The important thing is to have someone who’s respected and influential, and he’s right there talking and joking and he loves to meet with students,” Pomerleau said. “So I don’t know who’s going to be touched by this, but I have no doubt that somebody here, suddenly the spark will just catch the flame and change their life.”
