With family members following behind, pallbearers carry the casket of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia up the steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Feb. 20, 2016, in Washington, DC.
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After giving confession once, the Rev. Paul Scalia found himself being scolded by his father, the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
“God blessed dad with a deep Catholic faith”, he said, and a love of country – a blessing that’s lost “when faith is banned from the public square”. He joked that his father sometimes mixed up the names of his nine children, then said the close bonds his father helped forge among the siblings were the greatest gift a parent could give his children.
Paul Scalia recalled how his father once reacted after accidentally standing in his son’s confessional line.
He quickly departed it. As he put it later, Like heck if Im confessing to you, the younger Scalia said. A group of federal judges arrived together, including three – Sri Srinivasan, Patricia Millett and Merrick Garland – who are considered possible nominees to replace Scalia.
Though President Barack Obama was not in attendance, congressional leaders, Supreme Court Justices and the city’s elite attended. Vice President Joseph Biden attended Saturday’s funeral. Consider that, of its eight current members, the three oldest are Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who will be 83 next month; Anthony Kennedy, 79; and Stephen Breyer, 77.Ginsburg and Breyer are in the court’s liberal bloc, and Kennedy has been the toss-up vote in most of its 5-4 decisions, including those declaring rights to gay marriage and virtually unlimited campaign spending.
Sounds from the funeral rites for Justice Antonin Scalia today. In this case, however, it is, of course, a double honor for him, not only as a longtime, longtime colleague of Justice Scalia on the court but also as a fellow Catholic. It sits just a few miles from the Supreme Court building where Scalia served for almost 30 years. It is, first and foremost, a Mass, in which there are Scripture readings, psalms, hymns and the Consecration of the Eucharist, in which bread and wine are transubstantiated into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.
Rick Santorum, a Republican senator and former presidential candidate attending Saturday’s mass, said: “The president paid his respects yesterday and I think that’s appropriate”. During their brief stop at the court, the Obamas were greeted by Chief Justice John Roberts and met with another son of Scalia, Army Lt. Col. Matthew Scalia, and his family.
Washington’s archbishop Cardinal Donald Wuerl drew chuckles during opening remarks when he told the massive crowd that he would keep his comments brief “in keeping with your desire to have a simple parish family Mass”.
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Those who dismiss those possibilities either have myopia, or they have their heads in the sand. In addition to their brief visit to the court Friday, they offered condolences to Scalia’s son, Lt. Col. Matthew Scalia.
