Longtime Notre Dame philosophy professor David Solomon converts to Catholicism

CNA Staff, Aug 9, 2024 / 17:26 pm

David Solomon, a longtime professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and founder of what is now the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, recently entered the Catholic Church,  according to a former student writing for Word on Fire.

Solomon, who arrived at the university in 1968, came into the Catholic Church earlier this year in what Word on Fire’s Christopher Kaczor called “a culmination of a life of study [and] a consolation to his many friends,” as well as “an intensification of the union with his wonderful wife, Lou,” who became Catholic at the same time.

In a lecture several years ago, Solomon said that he started at the university “not only not a Catholic” but also “as innocent of any real understanding of Catholicism as one could be.”

“My view of all things Catholic, such as it was, grew out of a combination of ignorance and prejudice in about equal measure,” he said.

The philosophy professor retired in 2016 and holds the title of professor emeritus at the school. At the time of Solomon’s retirement, Notre Dame law professor Rick Garnett wrote that it was “impossible to overstate the importance of [his] contributions not only to the formation and education of thousands of Notre Dame students but also to the university’s Catholic character and mission.”

Solomon was the founding director of what is now the university’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, which on its website states it is “committed to sharing the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition through teaching, research, and public engagement at the highest level and across a range of disciplines.”

Notre Dame history professor Father Bill Miscamble said upon Solomon’s retirement that over the course of his tenure at Notre Dame, “few [professors] have been as effective on both the undergraduate and the graduate levels as David Solomon.”

“As an undergraduate teacher at Notre Dame, David Solomon aimed to equip his students to confront the range of divisive moral issues that confront them,” Miscamble wrote. 

“He aided students to reflect seriously on the very nature and purpose of morality and prepared them to discern well how they should act in light of the profound challenges of our time.”

Kaczor, who is a visiting fellow at the de Nicola Center as well as a philosophy professor at Loyola Marymount University, studied under Solomon as a graduate student. He wrote in Word on Fire last month that Solomon’s “great kindness to me and others was the best lesson he could give us about the meaning of ethics.”

“I think of his example often as I try to mentor students and younger faculty,” Kaczor said.

“And now,” he added, “Solomon has given us all yet another lesson by his powerful example: to take the next step that God gives us.”