Introduction
Professor Emeritus W. David Solomon, one of the truly great Notre Dame teachers of the last half-century, a foremost apostle of the Catholic identity of the University, and a wise counselor to Sycamore Trust, whose importance to our organization cannot be overstated.
We will have a good deal more to say later. For now, in our current bulletin, we republish (with permission) a National Catholic Register article by senior editor and Notre Dame alumnus Jonathan Liedl about the very consequential life of Dr. Solomon.
David Solomon, Longtime Champion of Catholic Identity at Notre Dame, Passes Away Months After Converting
The philosopher, remembered as a ‘genuine giant,’ pursued the truth and the harmony of faith and reason.
Solomon, who founded what is now the deNicola Center for Ethics and Culture (dCEC) in 1999 and became Catholic last May after nearly a lifetime as a Southern Baptist, was 81 years old, according to a statement from the dCEC.
Reacting to her predecessor’s passing, Jennifer Newsome Martin, the current director of the dCEC, said “it is difficult to overstate the impact” of Solomon’s legacy at Notre Dame.
“His entire life was a cheerful testament not only to the pursuit of knowledge but also wisdom and virtue,” said Martin. “Those of us who hold dear the lively witness of the Catholic intellectual and moral tradition at Notre Dame — and beyond — remain ever in his debt.”
Carter Snead, a Notre Dame Law School faculty member who led the dCEC from 2012 to 2024, described Solomon as “a genuine giant, mentor, and our beloved friend.”
A specialist in virtue ethics, Solomon established the now-dCEC as a center for applying the Catholic intellectual and moral tradition to contemporary ethical challenges. During the Texas native’s 13 years at the helm of the institution, he established many of the dCEC’s most impactful and enduring initiatives, such as its annual Fall Conference, the Vita Institute for pro-life leadership and the Evangelium Vitae medal.
Notre Dame theologian Michael Baxter said Solomon helped create an “institutional home” at the university for scholars to reflect on the confluence of important intellectual trends within the Church, such as St. John Paul II’s teaching on morality and life, the philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre and the insights of communio theologians like Joseph Ratzinger and Hans Urs Von Balthasar.
“These trends were alive at Notre Dame, but only in a marginal way,” he told the Register. “David brought them together and gave a context for working them out and discussing them that was hospitable, rigorous, broad minded, and humorous.”
A Champion of Catholic Identity
Solomon’s leadership of the dCEC was just one of several ways that the philosopher contributed to Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and mission, even as a Protestant.
He also served as the director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Philosophy, where he taught for nearly 50 years before retiring in 2016. The philosopher taught entry level ethics, while his “Morality and Modernity” course, which was based on Notre Dame philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre’s pivotal work, After Virtue, was legendary across campus.
Solomon was also an important advocate of the Sycamore Trust, an alumni group devoted to promoting Notre Dame’s Catholic identity, the groups’ founder told the Register.
Dempsey added that Solomon was “one of the most consequential figures at the University of Notre Dame in recent decades.”
A Revered Teacher
Many of them took to social media after Solomon’s death to share how he had impacted them.
March for Life president Jennie Bradley Lichter, who worked at the dCEC as an undergraduate and studied virtue ethics with Solomon, described him as “my beloved former boss, my most important teacher, and my dear friend.”
Ryan Anderson, the president of the Ethics in Public Policy Center, said Solomon “taught one of the best seminars I took in grad school,” and described his former professor as “wonderful and warm.”
“I’m just one of thousands of people who owe Professor Solomon so very much,” said Camosy.
Notre Dame historian and Holy Cross Father Bill Miscamble suggested that it was Solomon’s example of a life well lived that was perhaps his greatest contribution to the university.
“David Solomon had a true gift for friendship and he drew people to him because of his enormous generosity and goodness,” said Father Miscamble, who received Solomon and his wife Lou into the Church last year and penned a lengthy tribute to him in 2016. “This virtuous Christian man provided valuable lessons to all he met, not only through his formal teaching, but through how he lived.”
Coming Home
That affinity animated the philosopher throughout his life, and crescendoed in his final year with his entry into the Catholic Church.
“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,” wrote the philosopher Christopher Kaczor, a former student, at the time of Solomon’s conversion.
A Mass was celebrated for the repose of Solomon’s soul Wednesday night by Holy Cross Father Bill Dailey, a Notre Dame law professor and another former student. His funeral Mass will be celebrated in Notre Dame’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Friday, March 7.
Gerry Bradley, a now retired Notre Dame law professor, noted that even though Solomon was not Catholic during his academic career he was “a positive force for Notre Dame’s Catholic character far greater than 90% of faculty who said they were Catholic.”
Nonetheless, Bradley, like thousands of other Catholics who benefited from the friendship and wisdom of the once-Protestant philosopher, expressed his gratitude that Solomon’s lifelong pursuit of truth brought him to Catholicism before his death.
“David died with Catholic faith and in the arms of the Catholic Church,” he noted.
Jonathan Liedl
Jonathan Liedl is senior editor for the National Catholic Register. His background includes state Catholic conference work, three years of seminary formation, and tutoring at a university Christian study center. Liedl holds a B.A. in Political Science and Arabic Studies (Univ. of Notre Dame), an M.A. in Catholic Studies (Univ. of St. Thomas), and is currently completing an M.A. in Theology at the Saint Paul Seminary. He lives in South Bend, Indiana. Follow him on Twitter at @JLLiedl.
2 Responses
David was a great friend and ally who offered support and guidance during the ND 88 cases and thereafter, when I faced a disciplinary complaint for my representation of those warriors arrested on campus praying the Rosary and witnessing to life. I knew all would go well because I was flanked by people like David, Tom Brejcha, Peter Breen, Bill Dempsey, Professors Rice and Bradley, Father Dan Scheidt and Bishops D’Arcy and Rhoades.
It is good to hear that there are some things that Notre Dame adheres to when it come to our Catholic Faith and pays tribute to it.
I hope and pray that, with the new President, the tenor of Notre Dame will be truly Catholic then what was going on during Father Jenkins tenor as President. I pray that the new President will adhere to the tenets of what it means to be a CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY.
I know that this comment section was supposed to be about Professor Solomon, which I feel I did address when noting his following Notre Dame’s Catholic identity, but I just felt that I needed to mention what had been going on under Father Jenkins.