Requiescat in Pace
Fr. Neuhaus (at right) with Martin Luther King, Jr.
Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, founder and editor-in-chief of First Things, passed away last night. It is a sad day for all of us. As a Catholic convert and as a human being, Fr. Neuhaus has become one of my heroes. Not least because of the wit, wisdom and good sense he displayed regularly in his "The Public Square" column that appeared monthly in the magazine. But I did not have the honor of knowing him, and I cannot eulogize him. Joseph Bottum, the editor of First Things, puts it better,
My tears are not for him—for he knew, all his life, that his Redeemer lives, and he has now been gathered by the Lord in whom he trusted.
I weep, rather for all the rest of us. As a priest, as a writer, as a public leader in so many struggles, and as a friend, no one can take his place. The fabric of life has been torn by his death, and it will not be repaired, for those of us who knew him, until that time when everything is mended and all our tears are wiped away.
Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.
posted by timothy at 8:38 AM
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