Father Richard John Neuhaus Dead at 72
First Things Founder Suffered From Cancer
NEW YORK, JAN. 8, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Father Richard John Neuhaus, prominent Catholic priest and founder of the religion magazine First Things, died today after a short battle with cancer. He was 72.
According to a note sent out by Joseph Bottum, editor of First Things, Father Neuhaus died shortly before 10 a.m. at Manhattan's Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
In a post on the First Things blog after Christmas, Bottum reported that Father Neuhaus was diagnosed with serious cancer over Thanksgiving. At the time he said the long-term prognosis was not good, but that the priest would be undergoing outpatient chemotherapy treatment.
The day after Christmas, however, Father Neuhaus was admitted into the hospital after suffering a systemic infection caused by side effects from the cancer.
Bottom reported that Father Neuhaus never recovered from the infection, and on Tuesday evening he "lost consciousness ... after a collapse in his heart rate, and the next day, in the company of friends, he died." Father George Rutler had administered the sacrament of last rights just after midnight on Tuesday.
"My tears are not for him," wrote Bottum, "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."
Funeral arrangements have not been announced.
Storming the gates
Father Neuhaus publicly announced his battle with cancer at the end of his First Things column on Dec. 5. He wrote: "I cannot begin to respond to the deluge of assurances of prayer and concern about my health. Please be assured that I am grateful and count mightily on being remembered by you before the Throne of Grace. Or, as Catholics are wont to say, on your storming the gates of heaven.
"The nature of the cancer is beginning to come into clearer focus, and I hope to have more details in short order. Meanwhile, I will, please God, continue to be as engaged as possible in the work of First Things and other apostolates, even as I am compelled by grace to know more deeply our solidarity within the Body of Christ."
Richard John Neuhaus was born May 14, 1936, in Pembroke, Ontario. He was one of eight children, and his father was a Lutheran minister.
Neuhaus himself was ordained a minister around 1960. Later, he moved to the United States where he became a naturalized citizen.
In 1990, Neuhaus founded First Things, a journal published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life.
He was received into the Catholic Church on Sept. 8, 1990. A year later Cardinal John O'Connor (1920-2000), the then archbishop of New York, ordained him as a priest.
Father Neuhaus authored several books, including "The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America" (1984), "The Catholic Moment: The Paradox of the Church in the Postmodern World" (1987), and "Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy, and the Splendor of Truth" (2006).
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From the New York Times obituary section:
Father Neuhaus’s last book was “American Babylon,” to be published in March by Basic Books. In it, he depicts America as a nation defined by consumerism and decadence and argues that Christians must learn to live there as if they are in exile from the promised land.
So it will be published!
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Neuhaus' own summary:
The argument, in short, is that God is not indifferent to the American experiment, and therefore we who are called to think about God and His ways through time dare not be indifferent to the American experiment. America is not uniquely Babylon, but it is our time and place in Babylon. We seek its peace in which we find our peace as we yearn for and eucharistically anticipate the New Jerusalem that is our pilgrim goal. It is time to think again—to think deeply, to think theologically—about the story of America and its place in the story of the world. Again, the words of Augustine: “It is beyond anything incredible that God should have willed the kingdoms of men, their dominations and their servitudes, to be outside the range of the laws of his providence.”
God bless you, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus.
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More....
Bush Saddened at Death of Father Neuhaus
Funeral Set for Tuesday in New York
By Karna Swanson
NEW YORK, JAN. 9, 2009 (Zenit.org).- In a message sent on the occasion of the death of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, President George Bush called the founder of the religion magazine First Things an "inspirational leader" and a "dear friend."
Father Neuhaus, a prominent theologian and prolific writer, died Thursday in New York of complications from cancer. He was 72.
Bush said in his message that he and his wife Laura were both "saddened" by the death of Father Neuhaus. The president called him "an inspirational leader, admired theologian, and accomplished author who devoted his life to the service of the Almighty and to the betterment of our world."
"He was also a dear friend, and I have treasured his wise counsel and guidance," Bush added.
Many Catholic leaders, especially those working to promote the dignity of life, echoed the president's comments.
Christ Slattery, president of Expectant Mother Care and leading pro-life activist, called Father Neuhaus "the most influential Roman Catholic in the United States."
"He was a profound thinker and writer and spokesman for the truths of the Catholic faith," Slattery said in comments to ZENIT. "He was a long-standing civil rights leader, intellectual, and a fierce pro-life advocate who cannot be replaced and will be sorely missed.
A loss for all
Carl Anderson, the supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, called the death of Father Neuhaus “a great loss for people of every faith.”
“Father Neuhaus was a passionate and effective advocate for preserving an honored place for religion in the life of the nation, and one of the most accomplished Catholic intellectuals of our time,” Anderson said on the Web page of the Knights of Columbus.
He added, “Few men have made as great a contribution at a pivotal time our history as Father Richard John Neuhaus."
William May, senior fellow of the Culture of Life Foundation, praised Father Neuhaus for his "profoundly Christian" writings.
"Long before he became a Catholic I learned much from his writings, so profoundly Christian in nature and challenging philosophically and theologically," said May. "He thoroughly knew the modern, post-Christian mind and the tragic capitulation of many Christian theologians, Protestant and Catholic both, to a secularized Christianity that had lost its bearings."
"His courage and brilliance in showing the relevance to authentic Christian thought in the market place inspired many," he added.
Burial
Joseph Bottum, the editor of First Things, announced that a funeral Mass for Father Neuhaus will be celebrated at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in New York on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
A Christian wake service in the form of a Vigil for the Deceased will be celebrated at the Church of the Immaculate Conception on Monday evening at 7:30 p.m.
Richard John Neuhaus was born May 14, 1936, in Pembroke, Ontario. He was one of eight children, and his father was a Lutheran minister.
Neuhaus himself was ordained a minister around 1960. Later, he moved to the United States where he became a naturalized citizen.
In 1990, Neuhaus founded First Things, a journal published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life.
He was received into the Catholic Church on Sept. 8, 1990. A year later Cardinal John O'Connor (1920-2000), the then archbishop of New York, ordained him as a priest.
Father Neuhaus authored several books, including "The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America" (1984), "The Catholic Moment: The Paradox of the Church in the Postmodern World" (1987), and "Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy, and the Splendor of Truth" (2006).
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