By Jeff Miller
Special to The Texas Catholic
Even as a pre-teen attending St. Monica Catholic School, Steve Rasch showed an interest in the law. Maybe it came from watching movies like “12 Angry Men,” with Henry Fonda, or “The Verdict,” starring Paul Newman.
Young Rasch was also devoted to a Catholic faith diligently taught to him from both inside his Dallas home and from the monks who instructed him for eight years at Cistercian Preparatory School in Irving.
Justice and faith formed a sturdy personal foundation for Rasch, who recently began his year-long term as president of the national Catholic Bar Association. The organization recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, its founding very much rooted in Dallas.
“The Catholic Bar Association is needed to serve as a counterweight to the secular forces that seek to marginalize people of faith or hold that they should be disqualified from public service on account of their religious beliefs,” said Rasch, 63, a partner in the Dallas firm Holland & Knight. “Law is rooted in morality, and there is great beauty and truth in the rich Catholic moral and intellectual tradition.
“Catholic lawyers have a special responsibility to advance a vision of human flourishing that protects the vulnerable and recognizes that our obligations to each other supersede our own volition.”
Rasch’s pursuit of a law career following his graduation from Cistercian in 1980 took him to Notre Dame (as a zealous Irish football fan while in high school, he was among the fridged few who watched Joe Montana rally Notre Dame past Houston in the 1979 Cotton Bowl) and the University of Texas Law School.
“Being a passionate advocate for your clients who needed help solving their problems was something that appealed to me,” he said.
Rasch has been practicing in Dallas since 1987 and soon became involved in local Catholic legal organizations such as the St. Thomas More Society, with Rasch joining its board of directors in 2012. Discussions about the possibility of creating a national group began in 2013 and came to fruition two years later, in great measure through the efforts of Catholic lawyers Ellen Dorn and Thomas Brandt in Dallas.
Rasch was named to the Catholic Bar Association’s board in 2022 and was asked a year ago if he would “like to be considered” to be president-elect. His term as president officially began the first weekend of September during the organization’s annual conference in Kansas City.
He almost immediately dealt with one of the Catholic Bar Association’s charges, to address remarks that are contrary to Church teaching made by public figures who promote their Catholic faith. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia recently stated that human rights come from the government and not from God.
“All rights come from our Creator,” Rasch said. “Law can safeguard those rights, but those rights don’t originate from government.
“We don’t get involved in politics, and we don’t take political positions; but when Catholic public officials come out with public statements that directly contradict Church teaching, we feel the need to speak publicly so the faithful are not confused or misled.”
Rasch and wife Ellen have three grown children — twin daughters, Lauren and Hilary, plus son, Chase. As empty nesters, they recently relocated to Uptown after years as parishioners at St. Rita and now attend Holy Trinity.
The beginning of Rasch’s term as president nearly coincides with the Jubilee of Justice to be celebrated in Rome on Sept. 20 as part of the Church’s Jubilee Year of Hope, with several Catholic Bar Association members attending.
His term will end during next year’s conference, which will be held in Dallas. The Red Mass —during which legal professionals pray for divine guidance, wisdom and judicial integrity — will be celebrated on Sept. 26, 2026.
Dallas’ Red Mass, hosted by the St. Thomas More Society of the Diocese of Dallas, will be celebrated this year by Bishop Edward J. Burns at the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Oct. 4.
Cutline for featured image: A court gavel is seen in this illustration photo. (CNS photo/Andrew Kelly, Reuters)
