Days after the death of legendary college football coach and Catholic Lou Holtz, the Thomas More Law Center announced on March 13 the release of a 3-minute video outlining what the organization described as Holtz’s personal plan to restore America’s moral values.
Holtz, who died March 4 at age 89 in Orlando, Florida, delivered the original 37-minute speech on Dec. 10, 2004, during a celebration of the law center’s fifth anniversary.
In the clip of excerpts from his speech, Holtz pointed to family, faith, and shared values as the answer to what the Thomas More Law Center called the “chaos caused by the culture war.”
“I’m a great believer in family and faith,” Holtz said during the speech. “And I’m a great believer in family and faith because I’ve seen what it does in people’s lives, and I don’t believe you can have one without the other.”
At one point during his speech, Holtz highlighted the legacy of Saint Thomas More, the English statesman and Catholic martyr executed in 1535 for refusing to recognize King Henry VII as head of the Church of England. Holtz said More gave up political power and ultimately his life rather than betray his conscience. According to Holtz, More’s final words were, “I have to be honest to my conscience and to God.”
“Here is a guy who had it made and gave up his life because he believed in a cause,” Holtz said of More. “And what upsets me the most is we have people who won’t stand up and speak because it’s politically incorrect.”
Holtz also argued that shared moral principles are essential to holding a nation together.
“You don’t have to like one another, you don’t have to wear the same kind of garments, you don’t have to like the same music,” he said. “But if we don’t have the same core values, that’s where things disintegrate.”
Holtz coached six college programs over 33 seasons and led Notre Dame to the 1988 national championship. He is well-known for incorporating his Catholic faith into public life by advocating for his Catholic values, holding team Masses before games, and working on several Catholic initiatives, Zeale News previously reported. President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2020 for his contributions as a coach and teacher.
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