Paul Tagliabue and the Pursuit of Catholic Social Teaching
By Brendan Stelmach
On February 22, 2017, the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life hosted Paul Tagliabue, former National Football League commissioner and Georgetown University board member, for A Conversation on Catholic Faith in Professional and Public Life. This event featured a smaller, more intimate setting, hosting Paul Tagliabue and around 20 Georgetown students and staff.
A brief introduction by the Initiative director, John Carr, set the stage for Tagliabue to explain how his Catholic faith has been a driving force throughout his storied career. He grew up poor, and his mother's deep Catholic faith became a central part of his life from an early age. A highly recruited basketball player, Mr. Tagliabue used his faith and mother's guidance to select Georgetown from a plethora of universities that recruited him. At Georgetown he experienced athletic success, but did not match it in the classroom until a meeting with Georgetown legend Father George Durkin changed his course. Tagliabue recalled Fr. Durkin's call to redouble his focus on his academics, where he showed even more promise than on the court. He did just that, and a Rhodes Scholarship and law degree from New York University followed.
Upon entering the legal world, Tagliabue found numerous opportunities to live out his Catholic values. Pro-bono work allowed him to seek out issues that mattered to him, to make a difference, and help others in tangible ways. Soon his legal work led him to the NFL, where his values were measured and tested many times. Two profound examples included the decision not to play NFL games the week following 9/11, and to do everything he could to keep the Saints franchise in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Both of these decisions were rooted in instinct and conscience. Tagliabue lived out one of the goals of Catholic Social Thought, namely, to inform conscience and enable good decision making in its adherents. He had internalized the lessons of his faith and they empowered him to make these hard yet ultimately correct decisions.
His advice for dealing with opposing viewpoints was succinct and impactful, as well as reflective of Catholic dialogue. He suggested that conflict, when well-managed, is the best way to generate good solutions. A good leader will allow healthy conflict to occur, so long as it is furthering the end goal. Lastly, in his final comments, Tagliabue looked forward. He stated that diversity and accelerating change will be the driving issues of the next decade, and that we must make conscious efforts to come together, rather than pull apart, in the face of those factors.
Brendan Stelmach (SFS'19) is an undergraduate studying international politics at Georgetown.