RIP: Fr. Richard John Neuhaus

I have been an admirer of Fr. Neuhaus for years, in fact he helped inspire me to get involved in writing in what he calls the "Naked Public Square". It was my great honor to tell him so in person at the Society of Catholic Social Scientists Gathering at St John's University in October of 2007.
As a world class intellectual and apologist, he has done so much good for the public image of the Church, so you should not be surprised to learn he was a convert, having been a Lutheran minister. He knew and appreciated the great deposit of faith we have in Catholicism, as anyone who has read his journal, "First Things" will attest. Here is his meditation on his conversion from which I take this quotation,
"As for now, I end where I began—as in my life’s course I began where I have ended—by saying again: “To those of you with whom I have traveled in the past, know that we travel together still. In the mystery of Christ and his Church nothing is lost, and the broken will be mended. If, as I am persuaded, my communion with Christ’s Church is now the fuller, then it follows that my unity with all who are in Christ is now the stronger. We travel together still.”
We still travel with you, Fr. Neuhaus, in the Mystical Body, and ask for your prayers as we, the Church Militant, try to uphold your legacy here in the Vale of Tears.
May the angels lead you into Paradise, Fr. Neuhaus!
Related post: Acton Institue Blog
Brownback Mourns the Passing of Father Neuhaus
Contact: Brian Hart, Becky Ogilvie; both with Sam Brownback, United States Senator - Kansas, 202-224-6521
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 /Standard Newswire/ -- U.S. Senator Sam Brownback yesterday offered his condolences on the passing of Father Richard John Neuhaus.
"I offer my condolences to the family and friends of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. For several decades, he has been a critical voice in our national discussion of religion and public life. He taught us that our public conversation must always be about the 'first things' of how we ought to order our lives together. He wrote more persuasively than perhaps anyone today of the need for democracy and free markets to always be sustained by a vibrant moral culture. We are a grateful nation because of the witness of Father Richard John Neuhaus. May he rest in peace."
Father Neuhaus founded the popular journal First Things and was credited with bringing together Evangelicals and Catholics into an effective coalition. He was a prolific and influential writer focusing on religion and public policy and he argued that faith should not be excluded from the public square. Father Neuhaus died due to complications with cancer. He is survived by four brothers and two sisters."
Senator Sam Browback
Read the entire article here.