More, Fisher – and More, by Mary Eberstadt

By Mary Eberstadt, The Catholic Thing, Dec. 29, 2021

John Fisher and Thomas More: Keeping Their Souls While Losing Their Heads, Robert J Conrad Jr

On the feast of St. Thomas Becket, it’s fitting to recall just how exacting the clash between religious faith and earthly powers can be. Some ages, like his, create martyrs. Our own age more often bullies people out of martyrdom pre-emptively, as secular intimidation derails many from fidelity even in small matters. Either way, the lesson bears scrutiny: we aren’t here for long; a comfortable pilgrimage is never guaranteed, with or without a murder in Canterbury Cathedral.

On a brighter note, Becket’s feast day is also the perfect moment to celebrate an outstanding new book about that other well-known English martyr venerated both by the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, St. Thomas More; and his fellow companion in exemplary courage, Bishop John Fisher. How fortunate that we now have an extraordinary new volume of meditations on their legacies, delivered to us by an extraordinary author.

Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr. is a trial judge, former federal prosecutor, former ACC college basketball player, and historian – and those are just some of his day jobs. He is also a husband, father of five children, and grandfather to ten and counting, and mentor to many people – from law clerks and others in the Courthouse he leads; to the faculty and students at Belmont Abbey College, on whose Board he sits; to an untold number of souls encountered in his daily rounds as a federal judge for the Western District of North Carolina. …