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| Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson, Father Richard John Neuhaus and Raymond Arroyo of the Eternal Word Television Network. |
Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson called the death of Father Richard John Neuhaus “a great loss for people of every faith.” Neuhaus died on Thursday, Jan.8, at the age of 72 of complications from cancer.
A Lutheran minister who converted in 1990 and was ordained a Catholic priest by the late Cardinal John O’Connor, he founded and edited First Things, a “journal of religion, culture and public life,” even as he served as a parish priest at a church in Manhattan.
“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. “Our paths crossed frequently, and last April I had the opportunity to join him for a discussion on EWTN at the close of Pope Benedict’s visit to the United States.
“We were on an open-air TV set a dozen floors above the streets of Manhattan, and by mid-evening the weather had turned quite cold. We were all chilled to the bone, but his joyful description of the importance of the Pope’s trip continued despite the fact that he was shivering visibly.
“We commandeered a coat for him, turned up the space heater under the counter, and he soldiered on, just as he had done all his life.
“His magazine, First Things, was designed to be an intellectual meeting place for people of faith who wished to exchange thoughts and ideas about the role of religion in society. Father Neuhaus ensured that articles in the journal were always of the highest quality.
“Sometimes challenging, always engaging and invariably enlightening, it has been among the most important vehicles for forging a closer relationship among Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants and Jews as we confront together the challenges of an increasingly secular society that is too often hostile to religious faith.
“Few men have made as great a contribution at a pivotal time our history as Father Richard John Neuhaus,” Anderson concluded. “We mourn his loss even as we know that he approached his passing from this world unafraid, and filled with the hope of Christ.”
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