EULOGY FOR BOB - AS DELIVERED ON THE DAY OF HIS FUNERAL AND BURIAL

By Tim Rohr

I shared the following thoughts about Bob at the conclusion of Last Respects for Bob and before commencement of his Funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Yigo, Guam on April 15, 2025. 

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On February 20, 2016, a certain priest celebrated a funeral Mass for his father. His father was rather well-known, so everyone expected the deceased man’s son, the priest, to deliver a moving eulogy. 

At the homily, the priest began:

“We are gathered here because of one man. A man known personally to many of us, known only by reputation to even more. A man loved by many, scorned by others. A man known for great controversy, and for great compassion.” 

Everyone present believed he was describing his father. However, the priest went on to say:

"That man, of course, is Jesus of Nazareth." 

The priest was Fr. Paul Scalia and his father was the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Fr. Scalia went on to say:

“It is He whom we proclaim. Jesus Christ, son of the father, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified, buried, risen, seated at the right hand of the Father. It is because of him. because of his life, death and resurrection that we do not mourn as those who have no hope, but in confidence we commend Antonin Scalia to the mercy of God.”

While Fr. Scalia went on to include some memories of his father in the ensuing homily, it was clear that the point of his sermon was not to memorialize or even honor his father, but to remind everyone present that they were really there to honor God and to participate in the eternal memorial of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and, in so doing, commend the soul of his deceased father to the mercy of God.

This, of course, is not only what we are doing here today, but it is exactly what Bob would want. While he may have appreciated the fond remembrances of all the many things he accomplished, he also knew that none of that would matter if he didn’t make it to Heaven.

And this is why at one point, already in his mid-70’s, Bob sought and received reception into full communion with the Catholic Church. 

And it was right there, in that spot, before this very altar, in this very church, that I put my hand on Bob’s shoulder, as his sponsor, and saw the smartest, most analytical, most calculating, most skeptical man I had ever known, humbly hand over his life and eternal destiny to the authority of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, receive the oil of confirmation on his forehead, and receive, for the first time in his 70 plus years, the real Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ on his tongue and into his heart and his immortal soul.

A few years earlier, Bob and I, were having breakfast one morning at a local restaurant. The discussion turned to religion as it often did. And while he was asking me questions about Catholicism, I asked him “So why aren’t you Catholic?” He replied, “No one ever asked me.” I replied “Well I just did.” He said, “Where do I sign?” 

Later he told me that he had told his wife Lou about our conversation and had asked her why she, in their 44 years of marriage at that point, had never asked him to become Catholic. Lou replied: “For 44 I have been praying for you.” 

In the years since his conversion, Bob, whenever asked why he became Catholic, would answer in his typical Bob Klitzkie figure-it-out-yourself way: “Paschal’s Wager.” Paschal’s Wager is the philosophical proposition I had used in a series of columns I had written for the Umatuna, and ultimately a book, under the title “Why I’m Catholic.” 

By the time I had asked Bob to become Catholic, he didn’t need convincing, he only needed to be asked. But, probably due to his philosophical mind, he grasped the Pachal’s Wager idea and made it his own. 

For those who don’t know, Pachal’s Wager is essentially the proposition that while we can’t know for sure if there is life after death, there is at least a 50/50 chance, so why not bet (wager) that there is. 

Ultimately though, I am very sure that it wasn’t Paschal’s Wager, my invitation, or even his own inquiry that brought Bob home to the Catholic faith, but the prayers of the one who said “For 44 years I was praying for you.” 

And so now we join his beloved child bride (as he called her to the end) in praying for Bob that he really does get home, all the way home, and us with him.

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AFTERTHOUGHT

Since Bob and his wife Lourdes (Lou), as in Our Lady of Lourdes, also attended the other church in Yigo, Santa Bernardita (Saint Bernadette), it is providential that the day after Bob was laid to rest (today) is the Feast of Saint Bernadette, the young girl to whom the Virgin Mary appeared at Lourdes. Another reason to believe Bob is now in good company.