Rev. Paul Scalia’s New Book ‘Leads Us Closer to God’

Late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s son, Rev. Paul Scalia, is a Catholic priest in the Washington, D.C., area — and his new book discusses Catholic doctrine and devotion to the faith.

“It’s really going against ourselves to try to live in a way contrary to the divine that God has established in society,” Rev. Scalia told LifeZette in an interview.

“One of the things that is to me most attractive and compelling about the Catholic faith is the unity of thought.”

Scalia’s new book, “That Nothing May Be Lost,” was published by Ignatius Press on March 25, 2017.

“Father Scalia has written a book that deepens our faith and leads us closer to God in a hundred different ways,” Rev. Charles J. Chaput, archbishop of Philadelphia, wrote for the book’s foreword. “His good work and the powerful witness in his words remind us that we need each other’s love and support as brothers and sisters in the Lord’s work.”

“Above all, it’s proof that the bond of Christian people and their priests is the strength of the church in a skeptical world that has never needed the word of God more urgently,” Chaput added.

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Scalia, a Virginia native, studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He was ordained in 1996.

“One of the things that is to me most attractive and compelling about the Catholic faith is the unity of thought that it has in there,” Scalia told LifeZette. “The different teachings are not isolated from one another, but everything the church teaches becomes an organic whole.”

The Catholic doctrine has a “life-giving nature,” Scalia observed.

“Fr. Scalia has a unique gift of taking stories from scripture that we’ve heard many times and casting them into a whole new light,” Carrie Gress, author of “Nudging Conversations,” said in a review of the book. “In this book he opens up Catholic teaching in fresh and sometimes surprising directions that will change the way you think about your faith.”

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Scalia’s father passed away over a year ago, in February 2016. The elder Scalia’s vacant spot on the Supreme Court remained empty until Judge Neil Gorsuch filled the role earlier this month, after his confirmation by the Senate.

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Scalia said his father knew about the book while it was still in progress. “When I told him I was working on this book — I mentioned it to him about a year before he died — he was very encouraging and supportive,” Scalia said.

He also noted that he and his father shared “an affection for the same authors.” “That Nothing May Be Lost” includes introductions to each chapter by prominent Catholics.

While the book is geared toward practicing Catholics, “I hope it has a broader appeal … to those who have been intrigued by Catholicism in some way or those who have grown lukewarm in the practice of their Catholic faith or perhaps fallen away completely,” Scalia said. “I hope that the reflections in there can help to rekindle the faith in their hearts and minds.”

“I think there’s a lot in there for non-Catholic Christians to benefit from,” Scalia added.