I am honored and pleased to announce my affiliation with the Catholic Foundation of Maine, having recently been elected by the Corporators of the Foundation to serve as a Trustee. The Catholic Foundation of Maine is a nonprofit charitable organization that manages endowments to support the social justice and ministry missions that are dear to me, and in advancing the mission of the Catholic Church in Maine. While I celebrate people of all backgrounds, I’m also proud of my own faith, and not ashamed to say so. From my early days as a teenage campus minister at Xaverian Bros. High School in Westwood, Massachusetts, where I led peer ministry retreats and spent school vacations in service, to my current service as a lector at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Auburn, the ethics and values instilled in me through these believes animate every action I take in the practice of law. They are a major component of my “why?” in life. When times building a small business are tough, when I have to dig deep and have confidence in what we are doing, a task no more daunting than it is in these days, I can draw on this enormous reservoir of strength. I believe firmly that I have a mission in life to help the people of Maine to build and protect the work that gives their own lives meaning, and that I have the many blessings of family and education for a reason. That may sound corny to a lot of folks, but if you spend enough time around our practice, you’ll see that this sense of purpose is more important to us than how much money we make, or how many awards we win. What matters is the legacy we leave and the integrity with which we serve.
One of my heroes is St. Thomas More, whom you may know from the movie “A Man For All Seasons.” In our office, we have the following prayer to remind us of our ethical duties, which hangs near the Maine Attorney’s Oath
I pray, for the glory of God and in the pursuit of His justice, that I, with You, St. Thomas More, may be trustworthy with confidences, keen in study, accurate in analysis, correct in conclusion, able in argument, loyal to clients, honest with all, courteous to adversaries, ever attentive to conscience. Sit with me at my desk and listen with me to my clients’ tales. Read with me in my library and stand always beside me so that today I shall not, to win a point, lose my soul. Pray for me, and with me, that my family may find in me what Your family found in You: friendship and courage, cheerfulness and charity, diligence in duties, counsel in adversity, patience in pain—their good servant, but God’s first. Amen.
and from the Maine Attorney’s Oath:
“You solemnly swear that you will do no falsehood nor consent to the doing of any in court, and that if you know of an intention to commit any, you will give knowledge thereof to the justices of the court or some of them that it may be prevented; you will not wittingly or willingly promote or sue any false, groundless or unlawful suit nor give aid or consent to the same; that you will delay no man for lucre or malice, but will conduct yourself in the office of an attorney within the courts according to the best of your knowledge and discretion, and with all good fidelity, as well as to the courts, as to your clients. So help you God.”
May we strive every day to live up to these standards.
-Michael