April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
REFLECTION
He kept the faith
It was an end to an unmatched record of public service to the people of New York State and to the Albany Diocese as a lawyer, judge, state legislator, law school dean, court reformer, criminal justice advocate and leader in abolishing the death penalty in New York State.
Only a few days before his death, as he waited with patience and in good spirits, Judge Bartlett was asked by his biographer: "Is there any way that you would like your career to be remembered?" His response was spontaneous, but not surprising: "I'd like to be remembered as somebody who tried -- tried hard. It's about taking your responsibilities seriously."
It reminds one of St. Paul's admonition to Timothy on how to face death: "I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith" (2 Tm 4).
The faith that sustained him as he sought to make this a better world did not come easily. The son of a Baptist father and a devout Catholic mother, Dick Bartlett was baptized into the Catholic faith, but was casually raised a Baptist. When he entered Georgetown University, the Jesuits introduced him to scholastic philosophy, whose discipline, he acknowledged, was "good for training the mind."
At 19, Dick entered Harvard Law School, where he "became" a Catholic, he said, in appreciation for his mother's devotion as "an example of how faith can be important" and his belief in the principles of Christianity, which he found "better expressed in the Catholic Church than elsewhere."
In the ensuing 60-plus years, his commitment to justice was tested while trying to resolve conflicts involving issues of social, civil and criminal justice. Despite his education, rich life experiences and legal expertise, Dick rarely resorted to the conceit of, "I'm right and you're wrong," while advancing and debating proposals. Rather, he saw his mission of service was "to persuade people that this is really in the public interest and that it is fair."
Yet, Dick did have a very deep personal sense of right and wrong. Despite his happy, friendly personality, he possessed an inner sense of commitment to religious and ethical principles which would not allow deviation while seeking the common good.
Truly, he was a "man for all challenges" -- and what challenges they were! As chair of the panel to revise New York State's criminal laws, he prevailed over a divided commission to recommend that New York abolish capital punishment, insisting that "the social need for the grievous condemnation of the gravest crimes can be met without barbarism of this kind." He convinced the entire Legislature to remove the death penalty from the state's penal laws.
When it came to implementing a constitutional mandate to restructure the state's unwieldy trial court system, Dick was assigned to devise a plan to centralize management while maintaining the quality of the court system and of justice.
In the wake of the Attica Prison riot, he chaired the Select Committee on Correctional Institutions, which advanced a series of proposals to balance public safety with a need to correct prison conditions which had given rise to the uprising.
A father of two, Amy and Michael, Dick was aware of the crucial role of the family in a just society as he chaired the Judicial Commission on Justice for Children, advancing measures to define the role the state and the Family Court play in protecting children.
Those high-profile roles were only part of his record. In the wake of the disclosure of clerical misconduct in the Church, Dick was one of a small group of laypeople invited to advise Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of the Albany Diocese on the formation of a policy and response. Dick led many of the panel's discussions, which produced policies to seek justice for all parties.
I often wondered how Dick had time for a personal life. He and his wife, Clair, were engaged in their hometown with equal dedication, working with the United Cerebral Palsy Association, the Glens Falls branch of the NAACP and the board of the Hyde Collection and the Glens Falls Symphony. He loved the outdoors: hiking and fishing in the Adirondacks, sailing on his beloved Lake George, enjoying his island-lake cottage and always adding to his bird-watching "life list."
In the end, as he waited patiently for God's call, he brought true meaning to the issue of "death with dignity" -- reminiscent of his hero, St. Thomas More, who, when he met his execution, declared: "I die the king's good servant, but God's first."
May you, dear servant and friend, rest in God's sweet embrace.
(Sen. Dunne is senior counsel at the law firm of Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna in Albany. He was a New York State senator from 1966-89 and currently serves on the The Evangelist's board.)[[In-content Ad]]
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