Noting that today’s world is “beset by pride,” the speaker at the John Carroll Society’s 40th Annual Awards Dinner on May 8, 2026 said the virtue of humility offers true happiness and a pathway to heaven.
“We have Christ’s example of humble service, putting others before ourselves,” said former Congressman Michael A. Ferguson, who spoke at the dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel and was one of four recipients of the John Carroll Society Medal, the group’s highest honor.
The John Carroll Society, which is marking its 75th year since its founding in 1951 in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, is dedicated to the service of the archbishop of Washington and to enriching the faith and providing fellowship for its nearly 900 members. The society, which includes lay men and women from all areas of business and professional life in the metropolitan area, is named for Archbishop John Carroll, who in 1790 was consecrated as the first Catholic bishop in the new United States, leading the Diocese of Baltimore which then included all 13 original states.
Ferguson, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2009 representing New Jersey’s seventh congressional district, now is AT&T’s senior vice president for federal legislative relations.
After graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in government, he taught at a high school in the Bronx in New York City, Mount St. Michael Academy. Ferguson earned a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University, and he served as the executive director of the Catholic Campaign for America that encouraged Catholic participation in public life. After serving in Congress and before becoming a senior vice president for AT&T, he was a senior advisor and federal policy team leader at BakerHostetler, a national law firm. He and his wife Maureen have five children and one grandchild.
In his talk at the annual dinner, Ferguson noted that “the temptation to pride is all around us. It was the original sin.” Today’s culture, including politics, often seems driven “by selfies and click baits and performances for social media… It has the signs of other civilizations throughout history which have failed, those that have crumbled under the weight of ego and self-indulgence,” he said.
At a time when our culture is “starving for authenticity, we Catholics have a gift” – Christ’s example of humble service, Ferguson said, adding that Jesus offered “the perfect example of humility” for people to follow today.
Noting how St. Augustine said “humility is the foundation of all the other virtues,” Ferguson pointed out how in an address this past summer, Pope Leo XIV, who is an Augustinian, underscored how “humility is really freedom from ourselves.”
“We can find this freedom from ourselves in Christ’s gift of humility,” Ferguson said.
The former member of Congress said in his time serving in politics, he witnessed something that the late Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz had jokingly observed, that, “When all is said and done, more is said than done.”
Ferguson said that “especially inside the Beltway in Washington, life has a way of providing us with opportunities to grow in humility.” As a new member of Congress elected at the age of 30, he had a lesson in humility when a World War II veteran at a VFW post introducing him as a speaker seemed to groan with exhaustion after reading the expansive biography that his congressional staff had provided.
The contrast between that veteran’s accomplishments and his as a freshman congressman were on “humiliating display,” Ferguson said, adding “those humbling moments offer us a great favor. God created us to love Him and love one another. He wants us to come out of ourselves and focus on others… We’re made to know and love and serve Him and one another.”
Focusing on ourselves and seeking control, power and attention might seem to be a pathway to happiness, but that is a mirage, he said.
He pointed to the example of the early Christians, who “were known for how they loved each other. Their pathway toward Christ and away from pride and self-indulgence was the gift of humility.”
Ferguson noted how St. Peter in his first letter encouraged Christians to “clothe ourselves in humility.”
“Jesus told us that the meek, the humble will inherit the earth and will gain an eternal reward in heaven, and that’s the goal we all share, to go to heaven,” he said.
Catholics have “a unique opportunity to be healers,” he said, emphasizing that “we have Christ’s teaching in the Gospels, the timeless wisdom of the Church and the example of the saints.”
He added that “practicing humility will make us happier… It will help us heal our culture, with its complementary gifts of charity and kindness and patience.”
Ferguson closed his talk by humorously pointing to another lesson in humility he had as a young member of Congress, visiting his son Jack’s preschool for a “Breakfast with Dad” event. In a poster, his young son filled in the phrase “My dad’s job is…” with “taking out the garbage.”
That offered him a meaningful reminder of focusing his life on loving his family, and how humility offers “the true pathway to heaven,” he said.
Moments later as he received the John Carroll Society Medal, Ferguson was commended for “your career in public life and government service, where you gave witness to your faith in your action in the public square.”
Earlier during his talk, Ferguson praised his fellow recipients of the John Carroll Society Medal, saying, “For all the good they do, they are humble about what they do and how they do it.”
The other recipients of the John Carroll Society Medals in 2026 included:
- Mary Devlin Capizzi, who was recognized as “a distinguished legal counsellor and generous donor of time and expertise for many Catholic charitable causes and pro bono activities.” She is a partner in the law firm Faegre Drinker and has served as the co-leader of the firm’s health & life sciences industry group. Capizzi has provided pro bono services to the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, the Sisters of Life, the National Veterans Legal Services Program, Catholic Charities Legal Network, and the Legal Counsel for the Elderly organization. She has been a board member of her alma mater, the University of Dallas, of the GIVEN Institute (a not-for-profit organization dedicated to activating the gifts of young adult women for the Church and the world), the Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington, and Mercy Health Clinic. A longtime member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Bethesda, she has served as a CYO coach there and co-chaired its 100th Anniversary Committee. She is married to Joseph E. Capizzi, the dean of the School of Theology and Religious Studies and a professor of moral theology at The Catholic University of America, and they have six children and three grandchildren.
- Dr. Eileen S. Moore, a prominent internist who serves as associate dean for Community Education and Advocacy and as an associate professor of medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine. She also serves as an attending physician at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and is the immediate past president of the John Carroll Society. Dr. Moore was commended for being a distinguished physician-educator and advocate whose career is defined by a commitment to care for the whole person. She specializes in health justice, community-based education, and serves as the medical director for the Health Justice Alliance and the HOYA Clinic, focusing on underserved populations. Dr. Moore was also commended for her clinical practice at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, where she is known for modeling the compassionate, patient-centered care she teaches her students, and for being a master teacher at her alma mater and “a tireless champion for health equity who continues to inspire a new generation of medical professionals to view healthcare not just as a service, but as a fundamental human right.”
- William M. Treanor, the Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Constitutional Law and Constitutional History and dean emeritus at Georgetown University Law Center. Treanor served as dean and executive vice president there from 2010 to 2025. Treanor earlier served as the dean and Paul Fuller Professor of Law at Fordham Law School and in government positions including as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice and as an associate counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel during the Iran/Contra investigation. He has a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and a B.A., summa cum laude, from Yale College. Treanor has spent his career since 1991 teaching at Jesuit and Catholic law schools, and as the dean of Fordham Law and Georgetown Law, he focused on fostering ways to support the Catholic and Jesuit mission of the “faith that does justice” and the formation of “people for others.” His areas of academic expertise include constitutional law, property law, criminal law, intellectual property, and legal history, and his writings have principally been in the area of constitutional history. He has been recognized as one of the 10 most-cited legal history scholars in the United States.
About 250 guests attended the annual dinner, which serves as the primary source of funding for the Agnes E. and Joseph P. Vaghi/John Carroll Society Scholarships. The scholarships provide a $4,000 annual award toward high school tuition for six students at Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington. The scholarships are named for the late parents of Msgr. Peter Vaghi, a retired priest who has served as the society’s longtime chaplain. The Vaghi Scholar attending the annual dinner was Andy Garcia from Archbishop Carroll High School’s class of 2027.
Also attending the dinner was Andrew Bilo, a student at Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Maryland, who was the first place winner in the society’s Margaret Mary Missar High School Essay Competition, writing about Pope Leo XIV’s 2025 apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te, “On Love for the Poor.”
At the dinner which was held on the one-year anniversary of Pope Leo’s election as the new pope, David Florenzo, an attorney who serves as the president of the John Carroll Society, led the society’s members in offering a toast to the pontiff. To mark the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Florenzo offered a toast to the founding fathers, that the spirit of 1776 may continue in the minds and hearts of Americans for many generations to come. He also offered a toast to the John Carroll Society for its 75th anniversary, and a salute to the society’s chaplain, Msgr. Vaghi, who was unable to attend the dinner.
Washington Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, who offered the closing prayer at the dinner, praised Msgr. Vaghi as a “true pastor” to the society and its members.
In his prayer, the cardinal gave thanks to God “for the 75 years of grace that the society represents in our archdiocese, the grace of Catholic men and women coming together across professions to deepen and witness to their faith.”
He also noted the grace of the John Carroll Society members’ volunteer service to the Catholic Charites Legal Network and Health Care Network serving those in need.
In his prayer, the cardinal offered prayers for the lay leadership of the society, who he said have served as architects and guides for the group during times of change and growth. And noting the 250th anniversary of the United States, he prayed for those who work to continue the legacy of “this great experiment of American democracy.”
