Seeking More: A Catholic Lawyer's Guide Based on the Life and Writings of Saint Thomas More

by C.T. Rossi

The short answer is “yes.” But you can’t do it without understanding that being a lawyer is a special vocation — one that calls upon you to know how your Catholic faith intersects your professional life. In these times when developments in the civil law run contrary to traditional Catholic moral teaching, how is a lawyer expected to properly render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's?

Seeking More is a guide designed to help you discover the Church’s perennial teachings on the nature and purpose of law, the balance required in Church and State relations, and the duty of all Christians to work for the common good. However, like any good lawyer, author C.T. Rossi goes further than merely providing those teachings in the abstract and applies the rules to the facts through an in-depth study of the life of St. Thomas More.

Unlike other popular works about the patron saint of lawyers, here St. Thomas struggle in our own morally confusing times. For the legal professional, this guide’s St. Thomas More is more than an object of saintly veneration. Instead, he proves to be a beloved legal colleague and guide worthy of imitation.

Genres: Christianity, Catholic

304 pages, Hardcover

Published November 11, 2016

Reviews

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author of this book Clay Rossi is a prosecutor in Mobile, Alabama. Before being hired as a prosecutor, he was a lawyer handling mostly small claims lawsuits, and his firm can best be described as struggling. As a prosecutor, he has been accused of a number of misconduct allegations while focusing on “white collar” crime. He has been accused of vindictive prosecutions going after political adversaries of the sitting district attorney, as well as adversaries that he previously faced in small claims court. One of his most prevalent tactics is to pit witnesses against each other. In one case, he injected himself into a civil lawsuit between two business partners. He attempted to course one of the parties in that lawsuit into filing and maintaining criminal charges against the other party in both an attempt to gain an upper hand in the civil lawsuit, and an attempt to settle a score with a person that he had previously lost against in small claims court.

All of this is relevant because this book, and the others he has written, appear to be some sort of a reckoning with his absolutely evil conduct in the courtroom, while trying to portray himself as a practicing and righteous Catholic. He attempts to distance his day-to-day work of ruining peoples lives with going to church on Sunday. Before reading this book, you should google the name of the author and read his background.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the answer to my long-standing question of what it means to be not just a good lawyer, not just an ethical lawyer, but to be a Catholic lawyer. Through short sketches of episodes in the life of St.Thomas, the author draws out lessons on how practically one can strive to be a Catholic lawyer. Reflection questions at the end of each chapter remind the reader to discern in their own life where they fall short and the goal for which they are striving.

The answer ultimately is to be an excellent lawyer, who never compromises their faith and integrity, and who doesn't let the practice, pride, and privilege of being a lawyer overwhelm our duties to God, our families, and the common good. Quite the tall order! But such the straight and narrow isn't the easy path, and this book is a useful companion to Catholic lawyers seeking to walk that road.

I'll be returning to the book again and again.