Jesuit Superhero

Being a superhero is a tricky thing. Not that your job description isn’t clear: save the world is pretty self-explanatory, but that rarely comes with instructions. You’re also expected to live forever (which can prove difficult), always get the bad guy in the end (which can be impossible), and always, always protect those that need protecting. Superheroes are, simply, men and women for others.

When Tim Russert died on June 13, a heart attack taking him away at only 58 years old, we didn’t hear about the things you would generally expect to hear in a superhero’s obituary. No nuclear bomb deactivations, no saving the world from an asteroid, etc. We heard quiet things. We heard about a man who loved his job, a man who loved his country, and a man who loved his son. We heard about a man who loved his faith, a man taught by the Jesuits. From Chris Mathews ’67 to Bill O’Reilly, from People magazine to The New York Times, across the spectrum, all these sources mentioned Russert’s Jesuit education and its profoundly positive impact upon his actions and his character.

I was never more proud of my own Jesuit education than in the days surrounding Tim Russert’s death as it was used to describe a man that I consider one of the great, quiet superheroes of our time. As Peggy Noonan wrote in The Wall Street Journal, the coverage of Russert’s death “offered extremely important information to those age 15 or 25 or 30 who may not have been told how to operate in the world beyond ‘Go succeed.’ ”

I remember being told during my freshman year of college that I was to live my life for others — the Jesuit ideal. All that this led to was a panic — guilt that I was an English major rather than studying to be a doctor. What good could an English major do? Noonan reminds us that Tim Russert showed us all that “honoring your calling or profession by trying to do within it honorable work” is truly how you live a good life. By bringing honor, respect, professionalism, and pride to his profession, Tim Russert brought politics to all of us in a way that we could relate to and trust — and we were all better for it.

Though not a Holy Cross grad himself (he graduated from our Jesuit sister institution John Carroll University) Russert offers Crusaders, both current students and grads alike, the lesson that being men or women for others does not always mean seeing who has participated in the most immersion programs or how many charitable organizations you belong to — not that such things are to be belittled. They are wonderful, noble pursuits, but so is doing what you love, being the best you can be at it, and honoring those around you by making whatever occupation you choose better. Tim showed us that we could live the Jesuit ideal within our own lives, with our own unique talents and passions.

And that’s a rare power indeed.

Cara Caporale is a member of the Holy Cross Class of 2008, graduating with a degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. She currently lives in New York where she is pursuing a career in media.

Photo: Tim Russert delivers the commencement address at Holy Cross in 2005. He also received an honorary degree at the ceremony.

Related Information:

• Statement from Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., president of Holy Cross, on Tim Russert’s passing (Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Web site)

• In an op-ed in the Buffalo Daily News, Ted Kresse ’00 writes about his decade-long friendship with Tim Russert, which began his junior year of college through an internship at “Meet the Press”