‘A True Renaissance Woman’

Oct. 1, 2025

Mary Ann Glendon, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, receives the Gaudium et Spes Award at this year’s States Dinner

By Columbia staff

Oct. 1, 2025

Mary Ann Glendon, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, gives an address upon receiving the Gaudium et Spes Award. — Mary Ann Glendon, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, delivers remarks during the States Dinner on Aug. 5, 2025. (Photo by Tamino Petelinšek)

Mary Ann Glendon, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See and professor of law at Harvard University, was presented the Gaudium et Spes Award — the Order’s highest individual honor — by Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly at the States Dinner on Aug. 5. Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori read the award citation, which lauded Glendon as “a true Renaissance woman” who “has drawn upon her studies of law, theology, philosophy and diplomacy to make lasting contributions to the Church and society, both nationally and internationally.” The citation also praised Glendon’s career-long defense of human dignity and the common good.

In her acceptance remarks, Glendon called the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World — from which the award gets its name — “a wake-up call” for the laity, both then and now. She also thanked the Order, which she called “the very model of a transformative force in all sectors of society,” for its longstanding support of the laity — including its role in giving men like her father, “a proud Knight of Columbus,” the courage to run for public office as a Catholic.

Time for ‘Another Wake-Up Call’

Mary Ann Glendon, States Dinner, Aug. 5

Recently, I was somewhat surprised to read in a Catholic magazine that Vatican II is old history for most Catholics today — something like the Council of Trent. But I’m sure at least some of you recall what a wake-up call Vatican II was for many of us who grew up at a time when it was all too easy to get the idea that the role of the laity was to “pray, pay and obey.” Then, all of a sudden, we found out that, whatever else we’re doing in our lives, we’re also supposed to be transforming the whole political, economic and cultural arena in a Christian spirit! The temporal sphere is so much the responsibility of the laity, they said, that no one else can do the job.

Now, some of you are probably thinking that if we had paid more attention in catechism class, we would have known that’s always been the mission of the laity. That’s the Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples. That’s the mission we all received in baptism.

Of course, that’s true. But there’s a reason why John Paul II once called the laity a “sleeping giant.” The mission was the same, but the challenges were new. And most of us, frankly, weren’t quite ready for those challenges. We weren’t ready for what Fulton Sheen called “the end of Christendom” — not the end of Christianity, not the end of the Church, but the end of a society where economic, political and social life was permeated to a great extent by Christian principles. So, it really was time for the laity to wake up.

Former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon stands with the supreme knight and supreme chaplain. — Mary Ann Glendon stands with Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly and Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori after receiving the Gaudium et Spes Award on Aug. 5. (Photo by Matthew Barrick)

But there was one group of lay Catholics that never dozed off: the Knights of Columbus. From the time they were founded and up to the present, the Knights have been the very model of a transformative force in all sectors of society. As each new challenge came along, the Knights were there to respond.

When Blessed Michael McGivney founded the Knights, it was in part to help the families of men like the first Glendon who came over from Ireland. He went to work one day, keeled over dead in the street, and left his wife and children destitute without even the money to give him a decent burial. In those days, the Knights also helped to shore up a sense of dignity and worth in men like him — Catholic men who were struggling to find a foothold in a society where many opportunities were closed.

Later on, that sense of dignity gave men like my father, a proud Knight of Columbus, the courage to run for public office as unapologetic Catholics. In our little Massachusetts town, it was a kind of milestone when Martin Glendon became the first Irish Catholic to chair the Board of Selectmen.

But as times changed, and Catholics advanced in political and economic life, different kinds of challenges came along — especially if getting ahead came at the cost of keeping your religious beliefs strictly to yourself. That’s why I think it’s a little too soon to dismiss Vatican II as old history. In fact, it just might be time for the sleeping giant to get another wake-up call.

For example, on the pro-life and religious freedom fronts today, there’s been truly impressive progress. But lay support continues to be needed as much as ever. Recent court decisions have finally opened up more space for these matters to be handled through ordinary democratic political processes of bargaining, education and persuasion. But what will happen in that space depends on what we laypeople do with the room for action the lawyers worked so hard to get.

Now as always, building the civilization of life and love is first and foremost a matter of reaching hearts and minds. And that work will never end.

Pope Leo XIV speaks with Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly and Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori.

‘A True Renaissance Woman’

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