In accepting the Fordham-Stein Prize, Holder spoke hopefully to the 150 alumni, faculty, colleagues, and friends gathered at the event, four days after terror attacks in Paris. “Some would just despair, but in times of national stress, lawyers are often at their best,” he said.

“Studies have shown that lawyers are disproportionately responsible for the greatest advancements in the past decades,” Holder said. “Wherever you are and whatever you do, you have the power to serve, so find the time, the program, or the cause to serve your fellow citizens and improve their lives.”

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham University, praised Holder as an inspiration and a lodestar for the United States.

“We’re not just honoring you for your achievements, but for your principles, your great heart, your devotion to justice and your willingness to ask and answer the deep, unsettling questions that challenge our society,” Father McShane said. “For us, you continue to be part noodge and part prophet, as you show us how to live our lives marked by a noble purpose.”

Fordham Law Dean Matthew Diller made clear the reasons Holder was a perfect fit for the award, first given in 1976.

“Mr. Holder has always said the Attorney General’s job was never about winning cases or gaining leverage, but about achieving ‘just ends’,” Diller said, citing some of Holder’s advancements during his six-year tenure at the Justice Department, including efforts to protect the Voting Rights Act, release nonviolent drug offenders from prison, and prosecute terrorism cases in federal court.

“In late September of last year, Mr. Holder formally announced his resignation as attorney general, but made it abundantly clear that he was not resigning his commitment to his—and his country’s—values,” Diller said. “He said, ‘I will leave the Department of Justice, but I will never—I will never—leave the work. I will continue to serve and try to find ways to make our nation even more true to its founding ideals.’”

Holder, the 82nd U.S. Attorney General, was appointed by President Barack Obama in January 2009 and became the first African-American man to hold the office. He left in April to return to private practice at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., where he represents such clients as Merck and the National Football League.

The Fordham-Stein Prize is presented annually to a member of the legal community whose work embodies the highest standards of the profession. Prize recipients exemplify outstanding professional conduct; promote the advancement of justice; and bring credit to the profession by emphasizing in the public mind the contributions of lawyers to our society and to our democratic system of government.

—–Adrian Brune

In addition to serving as executive director of Santa Clara University’s Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education, Father McCarthy is Edmund Campion Professor in the religious studies and classics departments and assistant to the university president for mission and identity. He has brought Santa Clara’s Ignatian Center to a new visibility in Silicon Valley and beyond by stressing the integration of faith, justice and the intellectual life, and served as the university’s public voice on the importance of Jesuit, Catholic higher education in the United States. His work on this topic has appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times.

“We are delighted to be bringing Father McCarthy to Fordham,” said Joseph M. McShane, SJ, president of the University. “He is not only a respected scholar, but a superb ambassador for Jesuit values and a gifted teacher. As Fordham approaches its 175th anniversary, we hope to find ways for the Jesuit tradition to support not only the student experience but also the academic mission of the University. Hence we are changing the title of this particular position to vice president for Mission Integration and Planning.”

Father McCarthy entered the Society of Jesus during his undergraduate years at Stanford University. After switching to Santa Clara University, he earned his bachelor’s degree in classical languages and literature magna cum laude and went on to earn the M.A. (Oxon.) in Litterae Humaniores at Oxford University, taking First Class Honors. He taught high school in Sacramento, California, for three years before earning his master’s in divinity with distinction from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. In 2003, Father McCarthy completed his doctorate in theology at the University of Notre Dame—attending as a Presidential Fellow—and joined the faculty at Santa Clara.

Since then he has taught everything from freshman surveys of Christian traditions to advanced seminars on the texts of Homer, Euripides, Horace, and Augustine, and his research into ancient theological traditions has appeared in Harvard Theological Review and other distinguished journals. He has been a visiting professor at Loyola University Chicago and board member at Seattle University, Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco, and Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose.

Since becoming executive director of Santa Clara’s Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education in 2011, Father McCarthy has led its five-year plan to elevate Ignatian values and ideas at Santa Clara University and apply them in the wider community. Under his leadership, the center awarded faculty research grants and sponsored institutes, seminars, and forums on the Jesuit educational tradition for faculty members; it also expanded its community-based learning and immersion programs for students. The center has led Santa Clara’s Thriving Neighbors Initiative, an educational and social service partnership with a neighborhood of recent Latino immigrants in downtown San Jose.

Monsignor Quinn served with distinction in a number of parishes in the Diocese of Scranton before accepting the position of vice president for University mission and ministry in 2009. He initially agreed to a five-year stint but extended it to six years so he could coordinate Fordham’s response to Pope Francis’s U.S. visit. He has been appointed pastor of Our Lady of the Snows Parish, effective Oct. 2.

“A saintly priest. A wise man. A good friend,” Father McShane said of Monsignor Quinn. “We will miss him more than he will ever know, and Scranton is lucky to get him back: he is the most talented and most loved priest in the diocese.”