‘Called to serve others’: Attorney general’s Catholic faith guides life as a public servant
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, left, speaks at a March 16 news conference at the Terre Haute Catholic Charities Food Bank. John Etling, right, executive director of Catholic Charities Terre Haute, also participated at the gathering during which Zoeller announced the second annual “March Against Hunger” food drive. The initiative is a friendly competition among lawyers and law offices to raise the most donations for regional food banks that serve the hungry. (Photo courtesy of Indiana Attorney General’s Office)
By Sean Gallagher
Greg Zoeller, elected the attorney general of the State of Indiana in 2008, has worked in government in one capacity or another in the Indiana Statehouse, U.S. Senate and White House for nearly 30 years.
In all of that time and in the various duties that Zoeller has carried out, he has always seen himself not as a political mover and shaker, but as a servant of the people—a perspective that he attributes to his Catholic upbringing and education.
That has led him to help people in ways that go beyond the duties laid out in his job description, serving as a chaperone for an archdiocesan pilgrimage during the March for Life and spearheading a food drive to assist food banks across the state.
The Catholic faith was a conscious part of the life of his family as he grew up. His father and a brother had both been seminarians at Saint Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad. His family became good friends with now Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein when he was the president-rector of the seminary in the 1970s.
Zoeller attended St. Anthony of Padua School and graduated from Our Lady of Providence Jr./Sr. High School, both in Clarksville.
After graduating from the Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington in 1982, he worked as an assistant for Sen. Dan Quayle and continued to work for him after he was elected vice president in 1988.
Currently, Zoeller and his family are members of Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis.
Zoeller recently sat down for an interview with The Criterion. Here is an edited version of that conversation.
Q. What was it that you learned in your Catholic upbringing and education that prepared you for the wide and varied public service that you’ve dedicated yourself to for nearly 30 years?
A. “I do think that it leaves an indelible mark that there’s something more important that you need to remember.
“You’re there in school. Education was important. But there are things that are more important. The sense that each of us were called to serve others was a pretty strong lesson that I think really left its mark on me.”
Q. On the other hand, how would you say that your experience as a public servant and as a lawyer has affected your life of faith? Has it helped you grow in your life of faith?
A. “It definitely has. Your mission as a Christian is to love God above all and love your neighbor as yourself.
“Now the ‘God above all’ seems like something that you can really get your hands around and focus on. It would lead you to a cloistered life where that’s all you did. If that’s all that you were to do, I could see disappearing into the woods, following the example of a monk or a hermit or John the Baptist.
“But it’s the second part that’s tough. ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ doesn’t lend itself to leaving society and community.
“Looking at my father’s demonstration of it, I always thought that he paid very little time to himself. He didn’t buy himself new things. He had hobbies, but he would always kind of make things.
“And it led me to this appreciation for the way you can best love your neighbor as yourself is if you don’t spend so much time loving yourself. And the more that you commit yourself to serving others, then it’s easier not to focus on loving yourself so much.
“I know that all of us are going to fail in that command. But, if you’re in public service, if every day you wake up thinking about how you can better serve others, it gives you at least a fighting chance to love your neighbor almost as much as yourself and keep working at it.”
Q. Your vocation in the world ultimately devolves down to your life as a husband and a father. Does service that you have to give to them, to your wife and to your children, feed in or interrelate with your service as a public servant?
A. “It does. The tough part of public service is that you do have to balance your commitment and service to your own family. … You lose some personal time to give more to the public.
“But both of them really help you remove yourself as the center of your life. Again, the more that you do it, the easier it is not to be so self-focused.
“So when I see somebody like [Blessed] Teresa with her complete commitment to serve people at a very personal level—it just eliminated her own sense of self almost. I think that emptying of oneself and kind of particularly in the perfect example of Jesus in serving others—it’s almost something that the more I’m involved with public service, the more I can see that.”
Q. The duties of your office are secular in nature. Given that you neither make laws as a legislator nor interpret them as a judge, does your faith still shape the way that you approach these questions? Can you give an example or two of how that has happened?
A. “We don’t just represent the state for better or worse. Our mission is still to serve justice first. And I think there is an opportunity where we see that there have been errors to address them. There are ways that we can work with law enforcement and prosecutors and judges in improving the system of justice.
“That’s on a systemic basis.
“On a personal basis, something like the death penalty … I’ve privately talked to prosecutors and judges about my own beliefs, the Catholic view of the death penalty, [that it should be used] only where it’s needed to protect society. …
“On the one hand, I have the obligation to represent the state on appeal. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that I have to support the death penalty. It means that I have to support the state’s process.
“But I’m not a big advocate for the death penalty. In fact, I have reached out to a number of prosecutors who are well known in the area of capital punishment, and you may hear more on that subject.”
Q. In a speech you gave at your inauguration ceremony last year, you mentioned St. Thomas More, a patron saint of lawyers and statesmen, and noted that you often reflect on his version of the lawyer’s prayer. What is it about St. Thomas More that you admire?
A. “[He made a] clear analysis that you’re there to serve your clients’ interests above your own. God is first, your client is second. I think he lost his head to the king because he kept that ‘God first’ part in mind.
“The reason he’s the patron saint of lawyers is [that he had] that sense of commitment of serving your client. It’s a challenge.
“The lawyer listens to people’s problems every day. It’s not quite at the same level as a priest hearing confession. But you often hear all the problems of society brought to the lawyer’s desk. You have to seek, I think, the strength of your faith and ask God to help you as you take on the problems of other people.
“And it can be trying at times. But we’re here to give our best effort. It’s not simply going through the motions. You have to do it with what attorneys would always say, ‘Represent your client zealously.’
“I do think that’s a theme that St. Thomas More embodied. When you see his life in A Man for All Seasons, you kind of understand what the mission is.”
Q. I understand that you recently traveled to Washington on the archdiocesan pilgrimage to the annual March for Life. Why did you do this? And what did you gain from it?
A. “It’s actually the second trip I’ve taken. I went when my oldest daughter, Gretchen, was a freshman at North Central High School four years ago. We took the bus out with a group of her friends [on the archdiocesan pilgrimage]. That was one where I was a chaperone. But you also go and provide your own witness for life.
“This time, I saw the archbishop was taking a group. And I had contacted them. I wanted to bring my daughter in her senior year. It was not only an opportunity for me to show my own commitment to respect for life, but also to impart that to my daughter, who’s very committed to her mission in supporting life.
“It was a great opportunity. I got to spend some time with the archbishop. That’s always a bonus. It’s something that’s not necessarily part of my job. But just because I’m the elected attorney general doesn’t mean that I still can’t be a faithful Catholic practicing my faith. That’s part of the mission.”
Q. “You have worked with Feeding Indiana’s Hungry to promote the March Against Hunger in which Hoosier law firms make food or monetary donations to support food banks around the state, including some run by the Catholic Church, which serve those in need.
What has motivated you to serve the public in such wide ranging ways from your fairly defined role as attorney general?
A. “I thought it was a great opportunity to remind all of my fellow members of the bar that focusing on those who are without food is a great way of avoiding looking at their own problems [in the bad economy]. So instead of thinking about myself, if I look at the people who are having a hard time putting food on the table, it would do two things.
“One, it’s better than just focusing on just your own problems.
“And, two, it helps the profession change a little bit the reputation that we’re not as engaged with serving the public. I think the attorney general is in the right position to lead [them to be] attorneys for the public.” †
About Greg Zoeller
- Age: 55
- Job: Indiana Attorney General, elected in 2008.
- Family: Married for 21 years to Kerrie (Turner) Zoeller. The couple has three children, Gretchen, Katherine and Michael.
- Hometown: New Albany. Zoeller was baptized at St. Mary Church, and attended St. Anthony of Padua School and Our Lady of Providence Jr./Sr. High School in nearby Clarksville.
- Current parish: Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis. †
