海角大神

At Princeton University, you鈥檇 better have your facts right. Especially if your topics are sensitive, misunderstood, or controversial. If you鈥檙e wrong, you can count on someone here to set you straight. If not that, 10 libraries are within steps of you, their stacks just begging to challenge your conclusions.

One person who鈥檚 up for the challenge is Alexi Sargeant. He鈥檚 an artist at heart and an ideas person by temperament, and he has a fact-checker鈥檚 conscience, making him keenly aware of the value of truth in argument and principle. Managing director of the Aquinas Institute, the university鈥檚 Roman Catholic campus ministry, he spoke to the Monitor about the Ninth Commandment 鈥� Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour (Exodus 20:16). The conversation was part of our series exploring ways in which the Ten Commandments鈥� ancient concepts continue to matter in modern life.

鈥淚 was an extremely bookish kid,鈥� says Mr. Sargeant, whose dining room features a shrine-like homage to William Shakespeare, complete with a nearly life-size bust. His appetite for 鈥渢hick books,鈥� along with his boredom in public school, led his parents to home-school him from third grade through high school. He went on to get a degree in English and theater at Yale. While he was there, he 鈥� as well as his parents and siblings in Pennsylvania 鈥� converted to Catholicism. The conversion was a long time coming, he says, the Episcopal Church of his childhood finally too 鈥渇ractured鈥� for the family鈥檚 liking.

It was his college debate club that gave Mr. Sargeant鈥檚 understanding of the Ninth Commandment a workout. At the time he was full of 鈥渘erdy鈥� questions: 鈥淲hat is truth? How do we get there? What does that mean for our lives?鈥� His most convincing interactions were with what he terms 鈥渢raditionalist Catholic鈥� students, a minority in a mainly libertarian group. In a reference to his conversion, he says the students 鈥渉elped pull me across the Tiber.鈥�

Recruited together

After graduation and work in publishing, Mr. Sargeant 鈥� and his wife, writer Leah Libresco Sargeant 鈥� were recruited to serve as staff and resident role-model couple for the Aquinas Institute. Here, the young couple aim to round out an already robust worship community with the intellectual and social side of Catholicism via lectures, debates, and plays. Mrs. Sargeant, a fellow Yale alum, is a former atheist who also is a Catholic convert.

The views that Mr. Sargeant holds now with so much conviction can be flashpoints in the worlds he straddles: education, religion, theater, art, publishing, and even game design. 鈥淚 know there are people who would object to things I believe in as a Catholic,鈥� he says.

He grapples with the need for integrity in the ways he presents himself. 鈥淚s forthrightness the thing I鈥檓 called to do? I don鈥檛 know if I live up to that.鈥� But he tries. 鈥淚鈥檓 pretty consistent about wearing a cross necklace wherever I go,鈥� he offers as an example. The piece reminds him of his own convictions, sends a signal to kindred spirits, and holds the hope of mending any perceived wrongs that may have been inflicted by his faith-mates. 鈥淚 want those even with legitimate problems with 海角大神s they鈥檝e encountered to encounter me as kind and gentle,鈥� he says.

Mr. Sargeant can walk from his home in town through the Gothic-style campus to the 1880s Murray-Dodge Hall, which hosts religious groups at Princeton. A recent evening seminar and supper he hosted there took up Titian鈥檚 painting 鈥淧resentation of the Virgin in the Temple鈥� and Isak Dinesen鈥檚 short story 鈥淏abette鈥檚 Feast.鈥� The aim: to discuss how Catholic practices of fasting and feasting, both literal and figurative, might connect with ordinary life.

Arthur Acuna, who hails from Las Vegas, would seem an unlikely attendee of such an event. He鈥檚 a freshman chemical and biological engineering student, and rarely has time amid his studies for what he calls 鈥渢he aesthetics.鈥� Still, Mr. Acuna attended not only this event, but also most of the other six seminar meetings organized by Mr. Sargeant this semester.

The conversation on fasting and feasting resonated with Mr. Acuna. 鈥淚 came to realize that these seemingly minute tasks, if you take the time to look at them, and why we do them in the first place, are beautiful 鈥� that the means of nourishment, and how we intake that nourishment, elevates us in daily life,鈥� he says.

Fact-checker stint

In dealing with his charges, Mr. Sargeant makes sure to separate fact from fable, a holdover from his stint as proofreader and fact-checker for Magnificat. The prayer book, published monthly, runs a regular feature on Catholic saints. While many of the saints have strong historical records, others鈥� stories are shrouded in folklore or pious legend. When editing the feature, he sought to clarify the stories in ways that honored the truth without judging their validity. 鈥淚鈥檇 add tags, consistent with my philosophy that we do want to distinguish those things,鈥� he says.

Claire Gilligan, Mr. Sargeant鈥檚 friend and predecessor at Magnificat, recruited him to be her replacement knowing that the religion side of the job would appeal to his faith, while his judgment, integrity, work ethic, and smarts would make him good at it. 鈥淗e works hard and absorbs a lot of things in great nuance,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 knew that he would be meticulous about anything he cared about.鈥�

Ms. Gilligan had been swept into the Sargeants鈥� inclusive and diverse circle of friends one day after church, when they were networking for a play reading. The couple are known for 鈥渟killet cookie鈥� gatherings of friends at their home, where vigorous conversation is the hallmark and the prevailing ethos is 鈥淚 don鈥檛 care听飞丑补迟 you think, but that you think.鈥�

鈥淭hey鈥檙e careful about their lives bearing witness to reality,鈥� Ms. Gilligan says of the couple. They鈥檝e encouraged her to do the same. When she shifted from a career in theology to one in software engineering, the single piece of advice Mr. Sargeant had for her was to 鈥渨ork someplace that matters.鈥�

One stumbling block

As acknowledged by Mr. Sargeant, one stumbling block 鈥� especially across an ideological divide 鈥� are words themselves. A telling example when it comes to life issues is the classic 鈥渇etus鈥� versus 鈥渂aby.鈥� 鈥淪ome of the most interesting conversations we have had across the divide have been with people willing to work out what lexicon to use, or with people willing to [set aside] the language鈥� in the interest of an exchange of ideas, he says.

That language has become personal for the Sargeants through the course of repeated miscarriages they have suffered. In particular, they felt that as their miscarriages were taking place, the doctors shifted their language away from talking about 鈥渢he baby鈥� too quickly. 鈥淲e felt that wasn鈥檛 being true to the reality we were experiencing,鈥� Mr. Sargeant explains. The couple are expecting a daughter, Beatrice, in January.

It also follows that Mr. Sargeant wants scrupulous honesty in the discussion of life issues. 鈥淲hen stakes are high, there鈥檚 the temptation to grab a piece of evidence without putting it through the rigor of fact-checking,鈥� he says. He is not convinced, for instance, that there is evidence for a link between breast cancer and abortion, something often cited by anti-abortion activists. 鈥淭he imperative is never only to pursue an end, but to pursue it virtuously,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f the goal [of life] is union with God 鈥� who is truth, beauty, and goodness 鈥� then adopting evil means is self-defeating.鈥�

He adds, 鈥淚 aspire to be a good example in these conversations 鈥� to win a convert, not just an argument.鈥�

Counsel on a T-shirt

If there鈥檚 a perfect marriage of art, intellect, and morality for Mr. Sargeant, it would have to be his recent direction of the reading of 鈥淓quivocation鈥� for Princeton鈥檚 Being Human festival. Shakespeare with a twist, the Bill Cain play centers on the Gunpowder Plot, a failed attempt by English Catholics to take the life of King James I. With its central moral dilemma whether to equivocate and betray moral principles or risk life for truth, it shines a light on the integrity of the question at hand.

These may be complex thoughts for a complex time, but not for Mr. Sargeant. With a flourish worthy of the Bard himself, he flashes a T-shirt he鈥檚 wearing under his flannel. It cites the play鈥檚 conclusion: 鈥淎nswer the question really asked. And answer it with 鈥� your 鈥� life.鈥�

Part 1: The Commandments as a moral source code in modern life

Part 2: How does the First Commandment fit in today?

Part 3: 鈥業 have to have humility鈥�: How Second Commandment helped man find freedom

Part听4:听One woman embraces Third Commandment in feeding 1,600 at Thanksgiving

Part 5: 鈥楻emember the sabbath鈥�: How one family lives the Fourth Commandment

Part 6: 鈥楪rowing up is hard鈥�: How Fifth Commandment guided a child during divorce

Part 7: Is saying 鈥業鈥檇 kill for those shoes鈥� OK? One woman and Sixth Commandment.

Part 8: Is chastity old-fashioned? An NFL veteran鈥檚 take on Seventh Commandment.

Part 9: 鈥楾hou shalt not steal鈥�: Even someone else鈥檚 joy, says one educator

Part 10: 鈥楾hou shalt not bear false witness鈥�: Ninth Commandment goes to Princeton

Part 11: Jealousy at Ivy League level: How a law professor views Tenth Commandment