Shortly before 10 this morning. Zenit's report is here and Inside Catholic rounds up responses, including one from John Podhoretz which ends:
He was an exemplar of the truism that a righteous man need not be or conduct himself as though he were holier-than-thou. But in the end, his work was his life, and whether he was ministering to fatherless youths in Brooklyn or offering his considered and always highly informed opinion on the matter of stem-cell research, Richard John Neuhaus did what he did and said what he said for the betterment of humankind and for the greater glory of God.John Allen's obit is here.The best response, of course, remains his own. Gonna go have a cry and wallow for awhile.
Update: So, mid-wallow, the mail came, bringing with it the latest issue of First Things, in which the very last words are Fr.'s announcement to his readership that he has cancer. He begins
Be assured that I neither fear to die nor refuse to live. If it is to die, all that has been is but a slight intimation of what is to be. If it is to live, there is much that I hope to do in the interim.And ends:
Please God, we will be pondering together the follies and splendors of the Church and the world for years to come. But maybe not. In any event, when there is an unidentified agent in your body aggressively attacking the good things your body is intended to do, it does concentrate the mind. The entirety of our prayer is, "Your will be done" --not as a note of resignation but of desire beyond expression. To that end, I commend myself to your intercession, and that of all the saints and angels who accompany us each step through time toward home.
Update: Danielle Bean has an extensive round-up, plus video.
