When he died at work, on a perfect June day that happened to be Friday the 13th, Tim Russert upstaged both the president and the pope, who were meeting in Rome. The newsman became the news. As the days crept by, and shock morphed into resignation, commentary and remembrances flooded the airwaves: Russert from Buffalo, Russert the politician, Russert the devoted dad, Russert the loving son, Russert the Catholic. Russert the Catholic? It was not his first credential, but he never denied it. Someone said he’d have been a pope, or at least a cardinal if he’d become a priest. But Tim Russert belonged to the 99 percent among the billion or so Catholics in the world known as “laity.” He was part of that largest group of Catholics-the lay people working at their jobs, raising their families, trying to get the best in life for them and for their children. He was the ultimate regular guy.

(Phyllis Zagano is senior research associate-in-residence at Hofstra University and author of several books in Catholic Studies.)