Reverend Thomas J. Davis, Jr., JD, LLM, MA, is the founder and president of Liberty Institute for Faith & Ethics (L.I.F.E). He is a priest of the Melkite Catholic Church, one of the Byzantine Catholic Churches privileged to enjoy full communion with the See of Rome. He serves as pastor at St. Ann Melkite Catholic Church in Danbury, Connecticut.
Fr. Tom teaches Bioethics & Law at Holy Apostles College in Cromwell, Connecticut where he serves as Chair of the Bioethics Graduate Concentration Program. He has also taught courses in the graduate program in Medical Ethics and Case Studies in Bioethics. He is the Director of L.I.F.E.’s Saint John Paul II Bioethics Center, Religious Liberty Observatory, and Center for the Study of Bioethics & Law. He has been an assistant attorney general of the State of Connecticut since 1991 and previously served as an assistant corporation counsel of the City of New York. He has been actively engaged in the practice of law for forty years.
Fr. Tom earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Fordham University (Bronx, New York 1978), Certificate of Studies in International Human Rights and International Energy Law from the University of San Diego School of Law Institute on International and Comparative Law (Paris, France 1979), Juris Doctor from Quinnipiac University School Law (North Haven, Connecticut 1981), where he also served as the Lead Editor of the Law Review from 1980-81, Master of Laws in Trade Regulation from New York University School of Law (New York, New York 1988), Certification in Teaching Advocacy Skills from the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) at Harvard Law School (Cambridge, Massachusetts 1998), Master of Arts in Moral Theology from Holy Apostles College & Seminary (Cromwell, Connecticut 2004), and is an Allied Attorney Graduate of the Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Academy (Laguna Niguel, California 2011) and a member of its Honor Roll for pro bono legal service in defense of life, family, and religious liberty.
His publications include:
- Evaluation of the Mechanism of Action of Anti-Fertility Treatment in Cases of Sexual Assault: Moral Certitude and Human Acts (book chapter in Contemporary Controversies in Catholic Bioethics, edited by Jason T. Eberl, in the Springer Catholic Studies in Bioethics Series, ed. Christopher Tollefsen (2016)
- The Labeling of Plan B, A Summary of the Regulatory Discussions, Ethics & Medics, National Catholic Bioethics Center (August, 2012)
- Plan B Agonistics: Doubt, Debate, and Denial, Lead Article, National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly (Winter, 2010-2011)
- Remaking the Church, Four Part Series, National Catholic Register, 2010 (Retrospective exposé of Voice of the Faithful, its role in attempts to amend Connecticut’s Religious Corporations Act to oust clerical authority in Catholic parish corporate entities, and the theological and exegetical errors driving its agenda)
- A Case Specific Primer on the Principle of Cooperation: Emergency Contraception Mandates, presented at the Twenty-Second Workshop for Bishops (2009), National Catholic Bioethics Center
- Plan B and the Rout of Religious Liberty, Ethics & Medics, National Catholic Bioethics Center (December, 2007)
- An “A” Plan for Plan B, Connecticut’s Cautionary Tale, National Catholic Register (2007)
- Understanding Plan B, The Catholic Transcript (April, 2007)
- Advance Medical Directives in the Autonomy Wilderness: Anthropology, Culture and Meaning (2004)
- Fine Art and Moral Rights: The Immoral Triumph of Emotionalism, Lead Article, 17 Hofstra Law Review 317 (Winter, 1989)
Fr. Tom founded the Catholic Medical Association Guild in the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut in 2011 and is a member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, the Federalist Society, the Heritage Foundation, the state Bars of Connecticut and New York, the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut and United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Liberty Institute for Faith & Ethics 