Long is the line of distinguished philosophers who have converted to Catholicism. They include Sir Michael Dummett, Jacques Maritain, Elizabeth Anscombe, Jennifer Frey, Alasdair MacIntyre, Peter Kreeft, Edward Feser, J. Budziszewski, Nicholas Rescher, Robert Koons, Mortimer Adler, John Finnis, Ronda Chervin, Eleonore Stump, and Candace Vogler. Indeed, a recent book, Faith and Reason: Philosophers Explain Their Turn to Catholicism, looks at their stories. Now we can add to their company David Solomon, who was received on May 23, 2024.
He arrived at the University of Notre Dame in June of 1968. The legendary Ralph McInerny picked him up from the airport, and David had his first glimpse of the Golden Dome. He was coming home to a place he’d never been before, as John Denver would sing.
Solomon was only the third non-Catholic in the philosophy department. In his lecture, “Strangers in a Strange Land,” Solomon noted,
I was not only not a Catholic, I was 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. . . . I had never met anyone remotely like Ralph McInerny, and I wasn’t aware that such people existed. I found myself in this strange world of Catholic intellectuals hanging out with this strange man.
That strange man became his best friend. With Ralph by his side, and in the company of an ever growing group of friends, Solomon became a pivotal player at Notre Dame. He was the director of undergraduate studies in the department of philosophy. He founded and directed the Arts & Letters Honors Program. He also directed the Notre Dame London Program. As Rick Garnett put it,
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of Prof. Solomon’s contributions not only to the formation and education of thousands of Notre Dame students but also to the University’s Catholic character and mission. Among other things, Prof. Solomon was the founding director of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture, which has been for nearly 20 years a center of vibrant inquiry and engagement on issues ranging from bioethics to J.R.R. Tolkien. The Center’s annual Fall Conference is, for many of us, among the highlights of the academic year.
David played an indispensable role at Notre Dame over the course of his long career, especially as a mentor and dissertation director. He directed more than forty dissertations, many related to virtue ethics. His influence as a teacher and mentor was vast and deep on me and so many others. I was especially grateful that he took me under his wing while I was a graduate student at Notre Dame. He was a professor who made me feel like he was “on my side,” so to speak—challenging and critiquing, but fundamentally supporting and helping me.
Solomon’s course on virtue ethics has influenced my thinking about ethics to this day. One of my regrets from my time at Notre Dame was that I only took one course from him. If I had it to do over again, I’d take every course he offered because I learned so much from him and because it was so enjoyable to hear him lecture.
He gave his students extraordinary care—lunches together at the Notre Dame Faculty Club, invitations to parties at his house, and much time spent in office hours talking about matters both professional and personal. His 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.
And now Solomon has given us all yet another lesson by his powerful example: to take the next step that God gives us. His conversion is a culmination of a life of study, a consolation to his many friends, and an intensification of the union with his wonderful wife Lou, who entered the Catholic Communion on the same day. And it is an answer to the prayers of that strange man who became his best friend.